Tongue weight on trailer

[high 2]

I bought a Ranger 521 and slowly been getting it the way I want it. I have added 6” to the Atlas Jackplate for a total of 10”. I still can’t believe the difference that made. I also added a pair of 12’ Talons. I started to get the feeling of not enough tongue weight on the trailer. The winch tower is adjustable so I moved it forward as far as it would go. I still don’t think that there is enough tongue weight. Is there a formula for figuring tongue weight. It looks like I’ll have to redo the winch tower to move the boat forward anymore. I pull the boat with a dual wheel 1 ton and can feel it bouncing still. forums:

[gehol]

Up to 10% of total weight, minimum of 5%. With your truck a full 10% should work fine. Too little weight will cause swaying. I am not sure what is causing the bounce.

[21XDC]

7-10% of total weight including trailer and contents.

[DrewFlu33]

Above suggestions are spot on. I think 21XDC's point about including trailer weight and contents is one that's not emphasized by enough people. I can't tell you how many times I've seen guys figure tongue weight using the weight of their hull + motor without figuring in the rest. It makes a massive difference.

Have you tried a bigger drop on the hitch to see if that solves it? If it's not sitting level when hooked up, that's an obvious problem. Even if it is, it could be that dropping just an extra inch would be enough to solve your issue without being too dramatic to put markedly more stress on the front trailer axle (and honestly might be closer to what it was before with all of the weight being shifted/added to the back). There are people that will tell you that won't do anything to help, but I've seen it work multiple times. Would be an easy thing to try without having to go to the trouble of completely reconfiguring the trailer.

[Fishead1167]

I went thur the same problem with a 481 ranger, 10" setback, and talons with jackplate brackets. Believe me I spent a lot of money and time trying to get it more road friendly, and
get on plane. Moving tackle and more weight to the front helped some. The biggest solution for the trailer bounce and sway was adding 40#s of gym weights on a "u" bracket to the underside of the frame infront of the bow roller post. If you decide to lower the hitch, be aware that even with the plug out in a downpour you risk a tire blowout from excess water weight.

[high 2]

I have the trailer level on the hitch and pulling with a big truck I’m not worried about control. I just get a little bucking action from time to time. I shouldn’t be able to feel that if things were set up right. 21XDC helped me with the problem with the prop. He told me Mark Croxton could and some flair to the barrel to fix things. I actually went to the lake tray for a test run on the prop work. Mike knee what he was talking about. Croxton’s work was spot on and fixed my problem and then some. I need to find some scales to do some weighing on. Thanks Mike.