Trailer Tongue Weight

How does one determine the tongue weight on a trailer. I have my tractor on the trailer, the tractor rear wheels are not centered between the trailer wheels, but a little foreward. I can bounce the tongue up, and down fairly easy. Thanks for any informaiton on this. Stan

Heavy duty scale placed beneath the tongue. Jack the tongue up to take weight off then place a scale under the tongue with drop the jack.

if you dont have a scale,just make sure truck bed squats a little when you run tractor up on trailer...works for me anyhow

My experience is that most places recommend at least ten percent of the loaded weight on the tongue. If tongue weight is not enough, the trailer will wander when pulled and if it gets started swaying at speed, it may be impossible to get it under control, with very undesirable results. If a heavy enough scale is not available, there is a method of weighing that will work on a trailer w/tractor like you are describing. A beam for the tongue to rest on, and a pivot point one foot to one side for one end of the beam. Then another pivot point sitting on a scale on the other side for the other end of the beam to sit on. The second pivot point sitting on the scale can be (example two to three feet from the tongue). With the tongue resting on the beam, at it's hook up height, and the beam resting on the two pivot points, multiply the scale reading (minus the weight of the beam) by the number of feet between the two pivot points. The pivot points can be a block of wood with a piece of steel pipe or steel round bar stock for the beam to rest on. The beam should be light enough not to overwhelm the scale before the tongue is resting on it. So if the scale reads 250 pounds multiply by the number of feet between pivots. Example 3 feet x 250 = 750 pounds tongue weight. Example 4 feet x 250 = 1000 pounds tongue weight. Didn't mean to be so long winded, but hope this will help.

Simplest way is to park the truck on a scale with the trailer and jack off of the scale, then jack the trailer up until the hitch isn't putting any weight on the hitch. The differece between the hitched and unhitched weight is the tongue weight.

What I do is stand on the hitch ball and measure the distance to the ground. Since I weigh 250#, I know when I get the trailer hooked up and the measurement is the same, that there is 250# on the hitch. This has always worked very well for me. Remember that when brakes are applied, there is "weight transfer" that can increase tongue weight to double. You don't want so much weight that you risk breaking suspension parts or bringing the front wheels off the ground.

Weigh the truck with trailer connected but off the scale. Then weigh the truck only. The difference will be the tongue weight.

Park on pavement or concrete slab. Measure distance from bumper to ground. Open tailgate, put bags of feed equal to tongue weight you want on tailgate directly above the ball hitch. Measure from bumper to ground. Now put on trailer and when loading tractor, pull forward until distance to ground is the same. You now have the exact toungue weight you wanted.
Tom

That's pretty much the way that I work it. When I pass the axle on the trailer and see the back of the truck start to squat, and not much, I've got tongue weight, not tongue lift, and nowhere near the maximum rated tongue weight. Then I make sure my load is locked down good. I've always been doing it that way, and have never had a problem ever. Gives me enough downward pressure, and that's all that I'm looking for.

Mark