BoatBanter.com - View Single Post

On 07 Dec 2003 13:03:34 GMT, (Wwj2110) wrote:

If you increase the tongue length, you will increase the tongue weight
by exactly the amount of weight of the added tongue material. Leverage
has nothing to do with the tongue weight. If you move the axles
backward you will increase the tongue weight, forward will decrease the
tongue weight. Tom.

I disagree. A trailer is just a class 2 lever. If the distance between
the wheels & the ball were doubled, the tongue weight would be cut in half.

That's assuming it's a perfect theoretical lever where the weight of the
lever itself is 0, which it's not. The actual answer is "it depends".
For example, if the tongue weight is currently 10lbs and you double the
length of the tongue but the extra length weighs 20lbs, you'll be
increasing the tongue weight. But if the current tongue weight is
1000lbs and you double the length same as above, you'll be decreasing
the tongue weight.

With a real world trailer, doubling the tongue length would cause the
new tongue weight to be somewhere between (old weight+weight of new
tongue length) and (old weight/2) but never actually being equal to
either of those unless you use some sort of extra load leveling device.

Steve