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A narrow trailer can have a shorter tongue while a squared off nose of a trailer 102 wide needs a five foot tongue if possible. The trailer came with a 10 extension and I added another 7 extension to fit into the truck receiver.
3-5 of total weight of boat and trailer is the recommended tongue.
How to extend a trailer tongue. So asking for an arbitrary number to lengthen the tongue isnt going to work. Yes you are increasing the ball to axle length with a longer tongue but tongue length alone is meaningless. Well it does matter for how much articulation you can get.
Once had a straight tongue trailer that was long enough I could turn it 90 to the vehicle. The hinge kit is designed for 3 x 3 trailer tongues so youd need to use some steel plate to shim the widthheight difference. Youd need to obtain a 36 inch length of 25 x 25 tubing to complete your extension.
Mine was 2x3 if I remember corectlybasicly I cut it in a chop saw sawzall and a steady hand should do Took the cut end to the local metal fab supply and found something that fit inside nicely to make a slugso I had some internal supportIn my case it was 2 peices of 18th thick angle iron that I made a box out of with my mig and grinder that was 6 inches longer on the tonge side and 8 longer on the trailer. It bolts into the existing holes for the bulldog so you dont have to do anything to the trailer at all. You could also extend the saddle back to give it more leverage against the tongue and take some stress off the bolts.
Whether you can extend it far enough for what you need I couldnt say. Often the best approach is a combination of the above methods. For instance adding material in the front over the tongue plus an extension of the tongue if needed.
Then cutting the trailer near the rear to insert new material there. The skys the limit for blending the approaches so be creative. I use a fold up jack because I want to open a tailgate with out having a jack to be in the way.
12 percent tongue weight is a good number. One important concern is the connection of the tongue connection to the trailer. A offset bbq smoker is different from a trailer because of the weight on the rear of fire box is heavy.
You can calculate the total weight of the trailer to locate axle placement or as I do support the side members and weigh the tongue. Changing a boat trailer. If you have enough tongue weight you can lengthen the bunks and move the boat back on the trailer.
The trailer I have is best suited for a 12 boat my boat is 14 long. I added extended bunks and moved the fuel tank battery and anchors to the front of the boat when towing. Extend your trailer hitch receiver opening so that you can clear your spare tire when using your hitch-mounted bike rack or so that your trailer wont hit a rear-mounted propane tank when you.
Maximum tongue weight. 400 lbs Maximum TW when used with weight distribution. 650 lbs Distance from center of hitch pin hole to center of hitch pin hole.
14 Limited lifetime warranty Note. Short tongue trailers are prone to rapid and sometimes unexpected turning slight movements of the towing vehicle can put the trailer into a jackknife in a moment of inattention. Extend-able and tilting tongue.
Each of these is discussed below. Fixed length tongues are the most common and account for probably 95 of all trailers built. Lengthening the trailer for a larger boat will change the location of the fulcrum and add quite a bit of weight to the trailer tongue.
This is going to be a guaranteed trailer adjustment due to boat length alone. 3-5 of total weight of boat and trailer is the recommended tongue. The trailer tongue is attached to the overall frame of your trailer almost always spreading out from the hitch cover to the trailer in a triangle shape.
This entire exposed metal piece is the tongue and its overall weight is key to towing your travel trailer and hitting the road. Weve welded a steel box section around the old tongue and added a skid plate underneath it to take the weight when the trailers parked. There are drain holes underneath to prevent water from accumulating in the joint.
The extension is secured with three 12 hitch pins the same type used for Class II drawbars. Fitting the removable trailer tongue extension - YouTube. I think that doing so would actually give the vehicle receiver more leverage on the trailer treating the trailer axle as a fulcrum.
The trailers tongue weight would still be applied to the vehicle directly at the vehicles receiver since we are not moving the coupler away from the body of the trailer we are basically just extending the tongue. Lengthening the tongue will not decrease the tongue weight. You will still have the same amount of weight behind the axles.
But now you will have the added weight of the longer tongue in front of the axles. Only two ways to decrease tongue weight. One is to move the boat back.
Thats where the tongue will break under stress. Bolting it together as you did is a lot safer but I would either make the entire tongue a new piece or add a piece with a hinge. Tongue thicknesses are depending on the max load besides the outside dimensions.
My trailer has a 3x4 tongue in 11g but I have seen 18 and 14 for larger trailers. A competent welding shop could extend the tongue by cutting the A and using identical frame tubing welded in steps to extend it. My TT toy hauler was towed by an A class Diesel pusher and the previous owner extended the tongue this way.
How to lengthen a untility trailer - YouTube. Part 1 of 3 of making my trailer fit my boat. In this video we extend the tongue.
The tongue length depends a lot upon the width of the trailer at the front. A narrow trailer can have a shorter tongue while a squared off nose of a trailer 102 wide needs a five foot tongue if possible. This is because you need to have room for tight backing.
Two tubes are better than one. The center frame member of the Calkins trailer is 8 of 18 wall 3 x 4 rectangular box tube. To make the tongue extension I purchased 10 of 18 wall 2-12 square box tube to telescope inside it.
The only obstructions were the wiring that exited the frame in the center of one side the top. Extending trailer tongue Thread starter sseaman. Start date Nov 18 2008.
Joined Sep 26 2006 Messages 1899 Location Nashville TN Visit site. Nov 18 2008 1 After using my trailer now for a few months i can see how extending the tongue would help alot esp. I like the idea a few have you have done with.
The trailer came with a 10 extension and I added another 7 extension to fit into the truck receiver. I have a Catalina 250 with wing keel and need 6 of water to launch. The 7 extension requires a STRONG receiver to hold it and the system works fine as long as you be sure to also have a.