Trailer Question

That's usually symptomatic of having insufficient tongue load. You should count on loading the trailer so that 12-15% of the total load weight is imposed on the hitch. That should be true when the trailer is empty, too, unless it wasn't built exactly right. A "heavily built dual-axle trailer" reads in my book like 200-300lb on the hitch, even empty. I just bought an

18' x 7' enclosed trailer for peanuts (had a bent left-rear axle stub). It has an empty weight of about 1200lb, and has a solid 200lb tongue weight, empty. Even then, without a load, it tends to wander around a little behind our 2500 van. Not bad, but a little.

You might also have a tightly sprung suspension, and be experiencing one or both axles bouncing so badly that the tires are momentarily losing road contact. Some trailers don't tow well empty.

LLoyd

Thank you very much for the information. I guess what I can do is put a load on the front of the trailer and see if that helps. I wasn't sure whether the fishtailing was a symptom of front overloading or front underloading. This was a home built trailer so it's proportions may be questionable. In thinking about it, could it be that my hitch is higher than it should be? That could tend to take weight off the tongue and even raise the front axle wheels. Is that right???

Again, thanks. sdh.

Yep. The trailer tongue should be level or angled down toward the truck. (Front of the trailer lower than the rear). A lot of tall 4x4's don't use the proper drop receiver and the tongue is sitting way up in the air. I tow a travel trailer with no antisway or load levelling and the trailer is very stable. I was behind someone towing an empty trailer. It was bouncing up and down. I swear I saw the truck & trailer go perpendicular to the road heading toward the ditch. Somehow he saved it and kept bouncing down the road.

Wayne D.

Some tandem axle trailers will weight transfer between the axles rather than putting load on the tongue when the tow vehicle is lower than normal. ie when you go over a hill it will unload the hitch at the top. Makes for a very exciting down hill run.

Unhook the trailer, let the hitch sag down to the ground. It should have the same hitch weight as it started with. If it just hangs > For anyone out there who knows about trailers:

This is because there is stupid people out there making trailers that don't know what there doing... The axles need to be 2/3's of the way to the back of the trailer... If they are to close to the center of the trailer they will do this and it will be a dangerous trailer to use...

Steve Hopper wrote:

Trailer stability is a complex subject, and the subject of many old-wives tales and outright misinformation. There are a number of SAE papers on the subject if you're up to the math. There is also a pair of excellent books about trailers by M J. Smith (I'm not certain of those initials) that every trailer owner should buy and read. She does a good job of translating the technical papers into English. Basically, every tag trailer/tow vehicle combination has a speed at which it will become unstable. Once this speed is reached, you become a passenger. Fortunately, things start to feel a little squeamish slightly before that. You want the stability limit to be comfortably higher than your planned maximum. The two most critical factors are: distance from the tow vehicle's rear axle to the ball (smaller is better) and the distance from the ball to the trailer axle (bigger is better). Once the vehicles are designed, the only variables you have are tongue weight and tire inflation. More tongue weight increases stability through an indirect mechanism, but it's a poor substitute for a good design. It is possible to have a trailer that is unstable even with large tongue weights (I had one). Home built trailers seem particularly prone to this. In such a case, the only choices are to fabricate a tongue extension or cut it up for scrap (I did the latter), although a really heavy tongue weight and a load-equalizing hitch might get you by. Dual axles and their suspension (or lack of it) introduce additional compexities as noted in this thread. I don't envy you your choices here, but if your trailer is tossing around a long-wheelbase pickup at 40 MPH, it's a bad one. Get rid of it before it kills you. John

I bought a small trailer a few years ago that was home made and it swayed all over the road what ever I did. I called the guy back and he had to buy it back off me. Funny thing is he loved the trailer and regretted selling it in the first place. I do not know how he even pulled it without swaying all over the road.

I just bought a 3 horse slant trailer that was built one foot longer and one foot wider. but they forgot to move the axle forward to off set the extra weight on the tongue. The dry weight is about 3200 lb and the tongue weight is 550 lb empty. When we hall one horse we put her in the center over the axle. I even bought a weight dist head and bars 10,000 lb incase we ever hall 3 horses.

My peeve with people towing trailers is that they do not have them anywhere near level, Even the contractors. I have an adjustable receiver hitch because I have 3 trailers at different heights and I also swap trucks that has a different height and pull the same trailers. Great investment (adjustable receiver hitch)

Lloyd,

I have to know. What peanut country are you in? Not in southwestern Oklahoma are you?

Along with the other ideas presented here, be sure to check the tire sizes and be certain they are all the same size. Smaller tires on the back will cause a lightness of the tongue, which will in turn cause fishtailing. Probably not a possibility on a factory built trailer, but if yours is homebuilt, someone may have put smaller tires on the back.

Heh,heh! Well, we DO grow peanuts here! But I _bought_ it "for peanuts", not to HAUL peanuts!

(northern Florida, peanuts, cabbage, and potatos)

LLoyd

Thank you John for this valuable information. The trailer in question is a home-built. I bought it from the estate of an old farmer and it had probably never been used except behind a tractor. I have a feeling that I can improve the towability of this trailer by lowering the level at which the trailer is connected to my hitch; it think it's too high. Again, thank you and everyone for their thoughts and suggestions. sdh.