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Date:         Wed, 22 Aug 2001 12:37:32 -0700
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <swright@SLS.BC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <swright@SLS.BC.CA>
Organization: Shawnigan Lake School
Subject:      Re: Trailer Fishtailing...
In-Reply-To:  <003e01c12b34$c3cd7400$22cbfea9@wnsopc3>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

On 22 Aug 2001 at 14:03, Walt Spak wrote:

> John & list, > > What you are calling fish tailing sounds like what I call sway. It is a > result of improper load distribution on the trailer. There was too much > weight towards the rear, which resulted in too little weight on the tongue > of the trailer. I learned this lesson years ago when hauling cars on > various flat bed trailers. I even had a van & loaded trailer turn 180 > degrees around on the Ohio Turnpike. It is interesting to sit in the middle > of the road & watch traffic coming at you. The highway wear & rain grooves > affected your tow because of the improper distribution, but were not the > cause. > > I do not remember exactly how much weight you want on the tongue & I believe > it changes with the trailer size & weight and the hitch class. Proper > tongue weight is very, very, very important. >

I learned this after towing a small 16' boat behind a fully loaded Suburban with 6 people + gear. Even though the boat towed just fine on my Jetta (with a smaller outboard), adding a larger outboard to the boat without adjusting the trailer for tongue weight made the big suburban sway like crazy on the highway. If I recall, a good rule of thumb is tongue weight should be about 10% of total weight, at least for smaller trailers. ======================== Shawn Wright Computer Systems Manager Shawnigan Lake School http://www.sls.bc.ca swright@sls.bc.ca


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