125kg On The Towing Ball

[ORES]

Hi Raiders,

Can any one tell me if this is a problem?

I have a wagon 6cyl with a standard towbar and am towing a 5.25 ally on a brake trailer. The weight in the ball is 125kg.

Is this too heavy, should I move the axels forward a foot? the ass end of the car to me looks as it drops too much

Any thoughts on this would be very appreciated.

[a boat]

Hi, yes too much, about 70-80KGs is all you want. I would think the axle will need to be moved forward more than a foot, but the only way to know for sure is to move the axle then re-weigh and adjust accordingly.

Cheers,

Huey.

[ORES]

Thanks again Huey,

I thought so.

I couldnt move the boody thing and even the jokie wheel was buckleing.

Cheers

[Dreamtime]

Thanks STUCADZ for this question,

Huey, my tandem trailer sits pretty ordinary also, it takes 4 blokes to lift the damned thing off the towbar.

The forward tyres seem to have a lot of weight on them as against the rear which look like they're not doing too much work at all. Try to wind the jockey wheel and you need muscles in places I don't have them.

Should I move only the front axle or do both need to be moved?

Thanks

Carl

[pelican]

Hi Carl - aren't you supposed to be over here soon?

You sure your bilge isn't full of water!!!!

Both axels

But first take the easy options- sometimes you get lucky.. If the transom is still properly supported you can move your winch post back and get the same result but just make sure hull is properly supported. What sort of trailer multiroller or skids?

The other one to watch with dual axel traliers is that your towball height is correct as it should have the trailer parallel with the road otherwise you load one axel. See front axel tryre blow because of this at freeway conditions.

With boats with big fuel loads there can be a difference betwen tanks full or empty especially if they have dual forward and aft tanks.

Cheers Pel

PS Check just how much better you can get the balance to change by jacking up and putting a couple of car stands under where you think you'll be able to recentre the axels (sometimes you can't move them far ) and recheck the weight on the jockey wheel. If it isn't a major improvement it might not be worth the hassle trying to undo all those ubolts if you don't tow far. Considr all your bake lines and so on before you commit as it can tun from a sma jot =b to a big one with welding pretty fast if spring hangers are welded direct to the chassis.

Edited August 20, 2008 by pelican

[a boat]

Hi Carl, yes Pel is right, your axles will both need to be moved as one. The best design for tandem axles should be load sharing suspension and that way, just as the name implies, the axles share the load. Most good tandem trailers have this system.

A few mates and jacks can make this an easy process and as Pel also says pay attetion to weight on board the boat.

Cheers,

Huey.