Trailer tongue length

rnArmy

Adventurer
Tongue length and tongue weight are kinda/maybe related, but still two separate issues.

Tongue weight has more to do with axle placement (and how you load your trailer from front-to-rear) vs. tongue length.
 

jwiereng

Active member
Ex m38

The wheel base of the tow vehicle is much shorter than the the wheelbase of the trailer.

The effect of this 'steering' is that the trailer wheels follow fairly closely to where the truck wheels went. How closely depends on the ratio of the length of the 'stinger' as measured from the pivot point on the truck---usually the center of the tandems, to the hitch as compared to the distance from the center of the trailer tandems to the hitch. If those distances are exactly equal the trailer would necessarily follow precisely in the truck tracks.

There is the telescopic part because the trailer is actually being pulled by the logs, and the hitch must elongate around turns.

Let’s not fixate on the loggers, we are travelers on this site. The logging example was given as an extreme example that shows that if the distance from center of rear axle of truck to pintle is equal to the distance from pintle to centre of axle of trailer then the tracking will be perfectly same.
 
Last edited:

ngirondo

New member
WOW! I did not expect such an awesome response. Thanks for all the information guys I will defiantly take it all into consideration when making mine.
 

ex m38a1er

Adventurer
I wish you luck and success.
I just don;t understand how this''..if the distance from center of rear axle of truck to pintle is equal to the distance from pintle to centre of axle of trailer then the tracking will be perfectly same...''
can practically happen...
Maybe it's just me.
 

ex m38a1er

Adventurer
Tongue length and tongue weight are kinda/maybe related, but still two separate issues.

Tongue weight has more to do with axle placement (and how you load your trailer from front-to-rear) vs. tongue length.
Maybe this will help understand that it's not one vs the other.
It's a 1st class levr system.
Imagine the axle's center as the fulcrum.
Of cource the length of the lever has alot to do and often can ''play''
with both in order to get the desired result.
Not trying to be sa but to make sure we all talk about the same thing.
 

jwiereng

Active member
I wish you luck and success.
I just don;t understand how this''..if the distance from center of rear axle of truck to pintle is equal to the distance from pintle to centre of axle of trailer then the tracking will be perfectly same...''
can practically happen...
Maybe it's just me.

I agree with ex m8a1er. It is not practical for the tracking to be perfectly the same.
 

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