User Manual
24
FastwayTrailer.com
Appendix B
Weight Distribution Adjustments:
You should carefully consider the following items and their eects when
setting up initially and when adjusting your hitch before each trip:
• Vehicle wheel base: Shorter wheelbase vehicles react farther
and faster than longer wheelbase vehicles to weight distribution
adjustments.
• Vehicle suspension: Soft suspensions, such as an SUV will react
farther and faster to weight distribution adjustments than stiff
suspensions like a 3/4 ton pickup. For a smoother ride, some vehicle
suspensions are designed to be very soft with the first few pounds of
payload, and to then stiffen as the load increases. This means that
initially the springs move a long way with very little weight applied,
then later move much less, even with a significant change in applied
weight.
• Trailer length: Longer trailers will try to force distributed weight
forward to the tow vehicle before absorbing it into the trailer
suspension. Shorter trailers absorb more of the distributed weight into
their own suspensions.
• Tongue weight: To operate effectively, your tongue weight should be
at least 10% of the gross trailer weight. This provides the sway resisting
friction force on the L-brackets of the hitch that give it the ability to
resist movement and thus to resist trailer sway. It is also an indication
that the center of gravity of the trailer is slightly forward of the axles,
which helps provide stability and avoid sway.
• Trailer loading: This is one of the most significant factors that
influences trailer sway. Most trailers are designed to have a tongue
weight of between 10% and 15% of the overall trailer weight. Always
follow the trailer manufacturer’s guidelines for tongue weight.
Trailers that are “back-end heavy” can often cause trailer sway. Trailer
loading changes tongue weight dramatically, and loading can change
dramatically from one trip to the next, or even during the course of a
short weekend trip.
For example, full water and propane tanks that are tongue weight
when you leave can become full waste tanks that subtract tongue
weight for the return trip. Shifting just 40 gallons of water from the
front to the back of your trailer can change 330 lbs. of positive tongue
weight to 330 lbs. of negative tongue weight. Toy haulers without toys
are designed to have very heavy dry (empty) tongue weights so that
when they are loaded with toys they become a more balanced load.