7.5" = 240 lbs

[metalry101]

Okay, silly click bait thread title I know, but I figured this might be useful info for someone else. I loaded up my JK on my car hauler trailer and took it to the Cat Scales to do some testing.

Here's the first weight.

Then I moved it back this far.

And the weights changed this much!

I expected it to change. That's why I was testing in the first place, but I didn't expect that much of a difference with such a small amount of positing difference. It felt a lot better coming home with the new placement as well. It wasn't porpoising at all on the way home, where it was a little on the drive to get weighed, so I suppose someone with more experience (looking at you ShadowsPapa) might have gleaned that from that information. I was also happy that the front axle weight actually went up on the second measurement.

Also, as a side note if you're looking at trailers and wondering what you can haul and all, profile and the resulting wind drag is HUGE. This trailer with my JK on it is well over 1000 lbs heavier than my camping trailer (a NoBo 19.3) even when it's fully loaded with water, generator, etc, and this towed SOOO much easier on the freeway than that thing because this is so much lower profile and more aero friendly.

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[DylanM]

That's why you want your load to be more or less centered on the trailer wheels. Too little tongue weight is very bad for stability, but too much tongue weight from having the load shifted too far forward can be almost as bad. Higher tongue weight translates into more rear axle load and reduced front axle load, resulting in less steering control.

 

[DarthAWM]

That's why you want your load to be more or less centered on the trailer wheels. Too little tongue weight is very bad for stability, but too much tongue weight from having the load shifted too far forward can be almost as bad. Higher tongue weight translates into more rear axle load and reduced front axle load, resulting in less steering control.

Mathematically, you want approximately 10% of the trailer load on the tongue, this will keep you from over loading the rig and also keep you from having too much weight aft of the axles, resulting in sway.

 

[DylanM]

Mathematically, you want approximately 10% of the trailer load on the tongue, this will keep you from over loading the rig and also keep you from having too much weight aft of the axles, resulting in sway.

Correct, and the axles on the trailers are typically positioned so that roughly 10-15% of the trailer's weight rests on the tongue. Positioning the load more or less centered over the axles will still result in the tongue weight being 10-15% of the overall weight of the trailer plus load. Some variation in load positioning is needed if its CG is notably shifted away from its center with it being better to err positioning toward the front of the trailer than the rear if you don't have a good way to directly measure the actual tongue weight, but again take care to avoid excessive tongue weight.

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