Triton trailer tongue torture

[Jim Smith]

Say that five times real fast! I need help figuring out what is happening to my trailer, with a problem that I’ve had since I bought my TR21 in 2003. When I go over a “jump” in the road ( a small rise or bump) like the ones on I20 between Terrell and Dallas, my boat literally rises up on the front and slams back down on the bow stop. In 2005 the “bouncing” resulted in the swing away tongue actually breaking.



The trailer was still under warranty and we decided to change the swing away to a push-pull type to try to minimize the movement in the tongue. This seemed to help for a while but soon the bouncing became more obvious. Well a couple of weeks ago I was returning from Fork and when I hit the first jump, I noticed that the bounce felt pretty hard, so I let off of the gas by instinct and looked in the rear view mirror just in time to see the boat literally bounce high enough to see the trolling motor. I immediately pulled over and found that I had failed to strap down the bow. The boat came back down on the bow stop hard enough to bend it.



I am not satisfied with any answer that I have gotten after checking all of the dimensions on the setup. Any thoughts are welcome.

[CatFan]

What kind of vehicle do you tow with? Any suspension mods or specialty tires?

[Jim Smith]

GMC Sierra 2500HD. Air Lift (inflatable air bag) on 16" PathFinder All Terrain tires, with 80psi in bags and rear tires, and 65psi in the front tires. I carry a Lance slide in truck camper that weighs about 3500 pounds. I let the air out of the bags and down to 65psi all the way around when not carrying the camper, and the bounce is less severe. The rig rides like a Cadillac as far as the suspension goes, but the boat bounce is worse I think due to the 3ft. hitch extension that is required when the camper is loaded. I sure would like to nail the cause and find a solution, and I really appreciate your interest.

[CatFan]

To keep it simple, I'd try towing the boat with another truck. Know anybody with a 2500HD that is close to factory? This would help narrow it down to the truck or the trailer.

I suspect your tires are stiff walled for load capacity, and I've had problems with this in the past. My old truck was a 3/4 ton with load range E tires that held 65psi. I had to tie the TM pedal down to tow the boat because the pedal was thrown everywhere when I hit expansion joints or anything much rougher than the white line. My new truck is a half ton with conventional tires at 35psi and I have no issues with the pedal.

My bet is if you throw 500lbs of firewood in the truck without the extension, it will tow much better, because the suspension and tires will be loaded like they like it.

You might also play with the ball height if you have different drops or an adjustable drop.

[oakhillhoss]

My first bet would be that you either have no tounge Weight or to Much. I think it is the No and that be the case you are getting a Whiplash effect on the Boat. I believe you need to get a set of Scales and put as near max to the Tounge weight as you can by shifting you boat forward and moving tackle forward to the front of your boat.

[Jim Smith]

Thanks for your interest. I have pulled my boat with other trucks, and pulled other boats with my truck, but have not been able to come to any conclusions by this test. I have probably not done a fair test on the roughest roads like the ones that caused my latest damage though, and will do a better study. I have my hitch set so that my trailer height is consistant from the ground to the front and rear of the trailer.

[Jim Smith]

I appreciate your input on this and will take your suggestion on advisement.

[Tritonbmc]

I'm willing to bet it's the hitch extension. That is transferring far more up and down motion than a regular hitch where the fulcrum point would be closer.

On tongue weight, measure with bathroom scale and see what it is. You shouldn't be able to lift it without a jack.

[LookOutForShoals]

A quick solution that will absolutely get rid of any bow bounce (I used to have a little) go to the local hardware store buy a turnbuckle and mount to the trailer somehow, when you crank up the boat and get ready to go down the road just hook it on the bow eye and twist it down till snug....you will forget the boat is back there it will run so smooth....

[Jim Smith]

I have put a ratchet strap back on it, but I am still wanting to figure out why I have this problem to begin with. I want to fix it rather than just patch or work around. Thanks again for your interest.

[SwatDawg]

If you have any room to move the wench pole up a bit, that will stop it. I have done several this way and it always fixes the problem. Sometimes the factory just just bolts the wench pole in the same position for every boat... well no two boats are exactly alike. If your boat is bounching, its simply because your outboard is acting like a teetor tottor. Raise the wench pole up a few inches, and load the boat like that.

Now if your whole trailer is bounching, you have problems with your hitch. Im 99% sure if you do what I advised you will find your fix. Basicly your bow is sitting to low on the roller... I bet you can walk to the back and slide something under the pad Once the roller/wench pole is raised, it will place the pad on the trailer, where it cant bouce.

[Jim Smith]

Thanks for your help. The trailers bow roller post is permanent to the trailer and only allows vertical movement of the roller, and the bow eye stops the boat from further horizontal movement, so really the boat can't get closer to the hitch without modification. The boat is sitting on the bunkers completely, however the carpeting is more worn at the rear, so I wonder if that indicates that the boat is too far back on the trailer and heavy on the rear of the bunkers. There is about 3" of bunker visible behind the boat, so I'm still not satisfied with the diagnosis yet.

[SwatDawg]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jsmithwe &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks for your help. The trailers bow roller post is permanent to the trailer and only allows vertical movement of the roller, and the bow eye stops the boat from further horizontal movement, so really the boat can't get closer to the hitch without modification. The boat is sitting on the bunkers completely, however the carpeting is more worn at the rear, so I wonder if that indicates that the boat is too far back on the trailer and heavy on the rear of the bunkers. There is about 3" of bunker visible behind the boat, so I'm still not satisfied with the diagnosis yet.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I guess i should have better clarified myself. I ment raise the bow roller vertical. This will allow the bow to be raised forcing the rear of the boat down on the trailer. If you raise the roller, it will take on more weight, as the weight of the boat will be distribited from the bunks to the roller. There will be a small gap between the boat and the very front of the bunks.

Again this will lift the bow a bit, forcing the rear onto the trailer, therefor eliminating the bouncing... if this still dont make sense, I could mabey draw a picture and post it.... I have fixed the bouncing problem on my Swift this way... It was doing the same thing because the trailer i put under it was a bit short. After i raised the bow roller and put the weight to it, does not bounce.

[Jim Smith]

Thanks! I appreciate all of your suggestions, and I am sure that with all of the help I am getting I will find the solution.