North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Looking for a few thoughts on this. Doing a trip to smith pt in a couple of months 300 ks of dirt. My trailer is a nice voyager 2.5 YO but was originally for a 5m boat my new one is 4.6 (same trailer but adjusted to fit). The axels were moved rearward so the boat sits at the back of the trailer but it feels like there is too much weight on he tow ball. My lifted hilux sags a bit with the weight and to move it around by hand it feels quite heavy.

Not really savvy with the idea of tow ball down weight which I've read a little about so just seeing if any one can share some thoughts on the idea.

Cheers

10% of the overall weight of the boat and trailer as a general guide.

Cheers ben jam

If I've got the tray loaded with gear will this have much effect on it becaus elf more weight on the rear suspension

You will have to re-adjust the trailer wheels forward slightly. Too much tow-ball weight will effect your steering and breaking and could end up being dangerous on a dirt road. You should be able to lift the front of the boat and trailer by yourself, it should be well balanced. If it sags the hilux it is far to heavy.

As long as the load in the back of your vehicle, plus the tow ball weight on your trailer doesn't exceed the recommended vehicle weight you should be ok.

Also when loading the your boat it pays to place the main weight over the axle. When loading your vehicle it pays to place the weight in front of your rear axle. This will distribute the weight better without affecting the steering to much.

Ben Jam wrote:10% of the overall weight of the boat and trailer as a general guide.

X2 you need weight on your rear wheels otherwise the trailer can push your arse end too easily causing a jack knife situation.

Look at your trailer height from front to back. You say you've moved axles. I assume that is two and not a miss print. Picking up a trailer or dropping it down because of poor tow ball height places a lot of stress on your trailer springs and your vehicles. Get your trailer level and make sure there is ball weight also. If your trailer is riding nose high you will load up its suspension poorly and load one axle more than the other. Aluminium bots don't like a lot of load, especially on corrugated roads.

Dex

Cheers guys all good stuff. Only a single axle dex. I might pop into the guys at voyager and see what they make of it. The setup was done by the blokes I got the new boat off and they knew what they were doing. Most people who see the trailer comment on how much dra bar there is due to the shorter boat.

Mate all relevant comments, the only consideration that's been skipped over so far is if the axle is reset too far back again, although its really nice an easy to move by hand and she sits nice at rest, the moment you get some speed up going down the highway with no weight in the tray, she'll get speed wobbles and spit you off into the spoon drain! All bad !! As you've suggested, see the boys at voyager and don't muck around!

Also be very cautious of you max towball down pressure weight limit. Most tow hitchs will have a max of around the 250kg and a few of 150kg.
You need to have some tow ball weight with single axles. Too much (to the extent that the suspension sags) and this will lift weight off the front wheels (they control 60% of your braking) this can lead to premature lock up on the front wheels and loss of steering. No weight on the ball (and an upward angle of the drawbar usually signifies this) and you'll have the trailer pushing the arse end of the car around causing jackknifing under braking.
The trailer must sit naturally level once hooked up to the vehicle with some weight on the towball, if you have to chop and change tow tongues to achieve this then you must. By law it's your responsibility to ensure your trailer is safe. And it will be much nicer to tow with it set up right.
Cheers