Quote:
Originally Posted by Chilibit
Something simple I learned from Dennis Olthoff was to merely feel the tire temps when towing. The rear axle tires will run ever so slightly warmer than the front axle. And if the fronts are warmer, they are carrying more load and I would need to raise my hitch. The rears run slight warmer because the air flow to them is blocked by the front axle tires. Measuring the height of my frame to set the loaded distribution matched his advice perfectly. My Serpent Express is 14 feet. That is about as short as you can go. More is better.
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Also trailer tire pressure is very important........I tow a 2800 pound race car on a 16 foot tantem open trailer,with my setup,if I have 32 or less psi in the trailer tires,it will sway like crazy from 55 mph on up,upping the air pressure to 36 to 38 psi and I have hit 80mph passing other vehicles and it will tow straight with no sway to it, tire temps are better at the higher psi in the trailer tires.......
another rule of thumb is to hook the trailer to the tow vehicle,on a level hard surface,measure the heigth of the trailer tongue at the hitch,then load your car, you want the tongue heigth to be about 1 to 1.5 inches lower than before the trailer was loaded,no matter what the load is....this will give you the approximate correct tongue weight, you may need to adjust slighty,but it'll get you in the ball park.......
David