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.

You get too many doe-eyed female trailers
following you around.

Gould 0738 wrote:

You get too many doe-eyed female trailers
following you around.




Watch it with the sexual innuendo, Chuckster...we have Republicans
about, and you know how nervous sex makes them...

--
Email sent to is never read.

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.

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

"Steven Shelikoff" wrote

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

Right. And in most cases the added tongue material (in our case about
7 lbs/foot) is minimal compared to the tongue weight 400#.

"Wwj2110" wrote in message
...
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.

I'm sorry, I'm just not following this train of thought. Let's forget a
trailer for a moment. Take an object that is long, like a 10' piece of pipe
for instance, and lay it on the ground to simulate the trailer. Support the
pipe at say 60% of its length with another object, say like a 2x2, to
simulate the axle. The longer end of the pipe is the tongue end; weigh the
very end of the long end. Now move your 2x2 so that the tongue end is 90%
of the pipe's length. Now weigh the long end. Won't the weight at the end
of the long end be greater that it was when the 2x2 was at only 60% of the
length?

It really depends upon the center of mass of the boat in relation to the
axle position. If the center of mass is directly above or behind the
axles you will end up with neutral or negative tongue weight(dangerous
situation). Ideally, the center of mass of the boat should be just ahead
of the axles, just enough to give you the tongue weight you're shooting
for. All else being equal/unchanged increasing the tongue length will
increase tongue weight by the amount of extra material in the tongue.
However the longer tongue does have advantages in more predictable
maneuvering/backing, and in longer reach at a shallow angle launch ramp.
Tom.

On Sun, 7 Dec 2003 16:31:25 -0500 (EST), wrote:

It really depends upon the center of mass of the boat in relation to the
axle position. If the center of mass is directly above or behind the
axles you will end up with neutral or negative tongue weight(dangerous
situation). Ideally, the center of mass of the boat should be just ahead
of the axles, just enough to give you the tongue weight you're shooting
for. All else being equal/unchanged increasing the tongue length will
increase tongue weight by the amount of extra material in the tongue.

Sorry, but that's just not true. Even if you discount the fact that the
tongue is acting like a lever, not *all* of the extra weight of
lenghtening the tongue is supported by the hitch. Some of it is also
supported by the trailer wheels. The only way this would not be true is
if all of the added weight of the new length of tongue was centered
right over the hitch, which isn't likely. Now, if you take into account
the fact that the extra tongue is lengthening the lever, the only way
the tongue weight will be greater by doubling the tongue length is if
the extra material in the tongue weighs more than over half the original
tongue weight.

Steve

wrote in message
...

Ideally, the center of mass of the boat should be just ahead
of the axles, just enough to give you the tongue weight you're shooting
for. All else being equal/unchanged increasing the tongue length will
increase tongue weight by the amount of extra material in the tongue.

That's true, the tongue weight will increase by the weight of the
added material. (Actually, as Steven pointed out, some of that
added weight will also be supported by the whels.) But most
of it is nearer to the ball, and most will be supported there.

BUT, the weight of the added material is very small
and I believe can essentially be forgotten about. In our
example, an extra 3 feet of tonge would be maybe 20 lbs
of material. When we're looking for a tongue weight of
400#s, thats nominal.

What is ALSO true is that that longer tongue (all else
staying the same) moves the end of the tongue farther
away from the pivot point (axel). A longer arm (tongue)
gives more leverage. It would be easier to lift that
tongue off the ground or up off the ball. There would
be "less tonge weight".