Need more tongue weight

[LITEPHIL]

I have a 2002 Sandpiper T22 Lite and need to somehow add a couple of hundred pounds to the tongue weight somehow. Seems most everything is at the axles and back inside. Its a great little trailer but is a little unbalanced. The GVW is 6,200 and the tongue weight is only around 400 lbs loaded. My brother was a Forest River dealer and I have had many trailers and have found that the best handling trailers are at around 15% tongue weight.The truck and the hitch set up are not the problem,in fact I am using two friction sway controls and I have pulled this weight and size trailer before with no sway control and handled better then this setup. Truck is more than adequate for a 6,200 trailer. Problem is, all the tanks,bathroom,fridge,heavier mattress are at the rear. I have a pass through up front but it's not very big and I do have have my tools and heavier stuff in there but I am still light up front. Any ideas? I have dual tanks and a very heavy single battery up there. Can't fit 2 batteries.Thanks!

[Jarlaxle]

Boomerweps wrote:
Get larger propane tanks if you have only the 20# units. You can get 30 & 40# ones
Add a second battery.
Replace manual tongue jack with a power jack.
Those are useful additions that cost a little $$. Next are FREE.
Carry a load of freshwater. Clean water tank is usually in front of the axles.
Put your spare tire in the forward storage if it fits.

OP already stated the fresh water is behind the axle-that's one reason for his problem.

[campigloo]

Maybe you could mount a nice tool box on the front of the trailer; over the tanks? Move the spare to an under trailer rack. Are your wd bars properly adjusted, maybe back off a link?
Would like to hear what you did if you find something that works!

[mkirsch]

BenK wrote:
Move the axle assembly BACK towards the rear

This would require significant modification to the trailer. The wheel wells and openings would have to be relocated along with the axles. That's assuming there is no structure, plumbing, wiring, facility, or appliance already occupying the space where the wells would need to be moved.

Hardly something I would want to do to a new trailer, or a 19 year old trailer. I think I'd set fire to a poorly-towing 19 year old trailer and watch it burn to the ground before I'd relocate the axles.

[BenK]

Ops...correction = 6”-8” behind the CG of the trailer...

LITEPHIL wrote:

BenK wrote:
Another possible and will not add much weight to the trailer...

Move the axle assembly BACK towards the rear

How much will take some mechanical engineering.

My guess something in the neighborhood of 6”-8”

Trailer OEM’s, in general, has the trailer axle assembly center line too close to the coupler and IMHO, reduces the tongue weight. At the cost of towing manners.

Thought about that and I could do that but I'm hoping I can accomplish what I need if I can load that front compartment really well.

[Grit_dog]

mkirsch wrote:


I would take the trailer back to where I bought it and COMPLAIN. Get your money back. Their fix will be to add dead weight to the front. Tell them that this is not acceptable.

LOL, you're assuming the OP just bought the trailer (maybe I missed that) and you're assuming that whomever sold him a now 19 year old trailer actually gives 2 ___ks about how it tows. Private party or dealer.
Just add some weight up front. Make it dead weight if can't figure out useful weight (like extra batteries, etc).
Could go to a scrap yard, get some thick steel bar or plate. That's the best bang for the buck save for solid lead. I just scrapped about 400lf of 2" x 4" steel bar. would have been great. Quick calc is 27lbs/lf.

[Boomerweps]

Get larger propane tanks if you have only the 20# units. You can get 30 & 40# ones
Add a second battery.
Replace manual tongue jack with a power jack.
Those are useful additions that cost a little $$. Next are FREE.
Carry a load of freshwater. Clean water tank is usually in front of the axles.
Put your spare tire in the forward storage if it fits.

[LITEPHIL]

BenK wrote:
Another possible and will not add much weight to the trailer...

Move the axle assembly BACK towards the rear

How much will take some mechanical engineering.

My guess something in the neighborhood of 6”-8”

Trailer OEM’s, in general, has the trailer axle assembly center line too close to the coupler and IMHO, reduces the tongue weight. At the cost of towing manners.

Thought about that and I could do that but I'm hoping I can accomplish what I need if I can load that front compartment really well.

[BenK]

Another possible and will not add much weight to the trailer...

Move the axle assembly BACK towards the rear

How much will take some mechanical engineering.

My guess something in the neighborhood of 6”-8”

Trailer OEM’s, in general, has the trailer axle assembly center line too close to the coupler and IMHO, reduces the tongue weight. At the cost of towing manners.

[hkkarlsson96]

Calculating your targeted tongue weight can be a NIGHTMARE, but the information included in this post helped me out allot, so I thought I'd share! I'm a big fan on how in depth some of these posts go!
https://towingpeaceofmind.com/forums/topic/towing-within-your-target-tongue-weight/

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

mkirsch wrote:
So to all of you who suggest putting things like propane, beer, water, and other CONSUMABLES up front for tongue weight...

What happens when you burn up all the propane and drink all the beer???

Apparently trailers don't sway on the trip home, only on the way out.

I would take the trailer back to where I bought it and COMPLAIN. Get your money back. Their fix will be to add dead weight to the front. Tell them that this is not acceptable.

Aaaaaaaa, I would just buy more beer! :B

[LITEPHIL]

I think the key here is to try to find a way to access that front storage area and fill it up with stuff. I'm not going to add weight at this time if I can load it down up front. It's not supper bad towing and I have made around ten trips with it. It's just not a great handling trailer with out a couple hundred pounds added up front. I was thinking about making the front couch/bed flip back for loading. Just trying to dial things in a bit.
Thanks!

[mkirsch]

So to all of you who suggest putting things like propane, beer, water, and other CONSUMABLES up front for tongue weight...

What happens when you burn up all the propane and drink all the beer???

Apparently trailers don't sway on the trip home, only on the way out.

I would take the trailer back to where I bought it and COMPLAIN. Get your money back. Their fix will be to add dead weight to the front. Tell them that this is not acceptable.

[4x4ord]

Concrete is heavy. You could make some forms and pour concrete blocks that would fit where you want to place them. When I have my 1100 lb motorcycle and lift hanging off the back of my fiver I put 5 gallon pails of gravel up in the bedroom closet ..... one of these days I’m planning to add a third axle behind the tandems.

[CharlesinGA]

In the early 2000's there was a recall on certain 21 ft Bigfoot models because of the poor handling qualities of them. The recall added 500 lbs of steel weight to the tongue. There are a number of them out there that didn't get modified and there is a story about a couple that bought one, not realizing the issues with it, and totaled the trailer and their tow vehicle on the way home with it.

Whether you want to or not, you could end up having to add a couple of sections of Rail Road track underneath the tongue area.

As far as water goes, get some blue 5 gal potable water jugs and carry the water in the bed of the truck and fill the tanks after you get to the site. This is not a great option but should help some.

Where is the spare tire? Certainly it can be moved to a holder underneath the front of the trailer.

I would consider moving the water tank. It is probably just braced up or strapped up to framework underneath. Move it forward install a new filler neck and tube down to it (might have to build a box around the fill and vent tubes) and remove the existing fill neck and install a blanking plate over the opening where the fill port was.

I have a Thor trailer with a couch across the front that does the funny flip routine to make a bed. The back swings away from the wall and rotates at the same time till it ends up in front of the seat cushion part of it. The seat cushion frame lifts up to expose the pass thru. You may be able to remove a piece of plywood and get into the pass thru if the seat bottom lifts up. Mine pivots up toward the front wall once the back is out of the way.

Charles