Trailer nose weight

timboli · 09 May 2004, 17:57

My trailer was a bit nose light-25kg jockey wheel on bathroom scales-had a play today and brought rib forward on trailer so that nose weight is now 50-55kg,trouble is it seems very heavy,the trailer seemed very easy to manouevre before but now I am looking at using the jockey wheel screw thread as a matter of course to get the hitch onto the towbar,I dont know how my old jeep cherokee will handle it,i was getting a very occasional bit of swaying before at 50 mph and according to the manual,I should be looking at 75kg nose weight.
Am I measuring the weight incorrectly,(managed to break the bathroom scales today in the process-cheap rubbish),the jockey wheel is very close to the hitch.

mstacey · 09 May 2004, 19:48

To get the correct nose weight you should measure it at the hitch point, not the jockey wheel.

Easiest way is with the (fixed) bathroom scales and put a length of 4x2 under the actuall ball hitch point. Slowly wind the jockey wheel in until the trailer nose weight is all on the length of wood /sacales and the jockey wheel has just left the ground.

Garygee · 09 May 2004, 19:55

Hi Tim

50Kg is the max for most cars, some mine included is 75KG.
This if the max however !.

Their are no hard & fast rules but I tend to tow at about 50Kg, which when you try and pick it up does feel heavy. 25Kg to me though is a bit light.

I would start at 50Kg and if it tows right leave it. If not try going up a bit or down a bit, may 40 & 60Kg.
When you towing though if you carry extra things, fuel etc, keeping it over the axle helps with swaying as it has less momentom their. The other things you can try is a stabiliser, but I would be supprised if you need one on a RIB.

The way you are measuring it is right, but a piece if 10mm ply, about the size of the scales, help keep the scales on one piece. Just remember not to cover the display

mstacey · 09 May 2004, 21:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garygee

Hi Tim

The way you are measuring it is right, but a piece if 10mm ply, about the size of the scales, help keep the scales on one piece. Just remember not to cover the display

Have to disagree. To get the correct nose weight it MUST be measured at the ball hitch. That is the point on the trailer used to hitch it to the car, which is not the jockey wheel. It should preferabbly be done on a level surface.

Doing it elsewhere does not give the true noseweight.

If you don't want to use the bathroom scales then caravan shops often stock a nose weight gauge,

timboli · 10 May 2004, 04:53

Ok,thanks for that,1st step buy new scales,2nd step,find level surface,the boat is stored(and was measured) on a slight slope,front to back where the bow is slightly high,would this make the nose weight reading lower or higher?
I,ll use the block of wood and plywood to see what it comes out at,the jeep suspension seems quite soft so what the car looks like when hitched up may also be a consideration.

Pete7 · 10 May 2004, 08:03

Timboli, just to throw a spanner in the works, I prefer to tow with a lighter nose weight. I can just lift the trailer with one hand. Not sure what the weight actually is but it means the rear suspension of the car isn't squashed flat and the nose of the car in the air.

Think its just a matter of experimenting to find a good balance with car and trailer.

Peter

Garygee · 10 May 2004, 12:19

Hi Martin

To be 100% accurate your are correct, and using this methord will always give you the most accurate measurement.

However on trailers which have the tow hitch a long way for the axle, such as boat trailers the difference in the weigth measured using the jockey wheel & the hitch is very small.

As long at the jockey wheel & hitch are close toghther.

This does not work well for short trailers as the closer the ratio of distance from axle to hitch gets compared with hitch to jockey the greater the error.
(does that make sense

)

Peter

As I said their are no hard & fast rules. You just need to find what works with your trailer/boat/car setup and once you find what works best stick with it.

I must say however i often cringe at some people I see towing, often caravans with the back end flat, tyres buldging with what looks like 250Kg over the tow ball

Regards Gary

Scary Des · 10 May 2004, 12:31

Just to throw a couple more spanners in the works, instead of moving the rib forwards, to increase nose WT, move the axle back (if you can).It has the same effect except it should improve towing because the longer the distance from the tow bar to trailer axle (within reason) the better a trailer works. Des

Scary Des · 10 May 2004, 12:47

Oh and another thing, auxiliary springs, such at these http://www.mad-suspension.co.uk/, are the dogs danglies when it comes to soft suspension and trailers. A mate was always getting stopped because his car looked over loaded with trailer (4 bods ,their kit, lots of beer etc) but it never was it was just that his car was very ‘soft‘ at the back. We fitted a pair of these and it's fine now. I seem to remember that they were about £100 ish.

Des