Whitesnake trailer build

[Beck*A*Poo]

60% to the rear is the rule of thumb for axles placement and that's 60% of deck length not including tongue. the axles are set at 62% to the rear to account for the extra weight of the dovetail, if it feels light and out of balance when we drive it will add ballast, also considering trying to weigh the tongue weight with three or four bathroom scales and some redneck engineering.... lol

"Whitesnake approves of this message"

[AJ99]

ok. i was just curious about that. wasnt sure if it was just the pics or not. As for the scales... As long as you are in the 08 area code that is acceptable.

[Uncle Cracker]

[quote="Beck*A*Poo"]60% to the rear is the rule of thumb for axles placement and that's 60% of deck length not including tongue. the axles are set at 62% to the rear to account for the extra weight of the dovetail, if it feels light and out of balance when we drive it will add ballast, also considering trying to weigh the tongue weight with three or four bathroom scales and some redneck engineering.... lol

"Whitesnake approves of this message"[/quote]


that's fucking HILARIOUS

[chrisrigby]

You should only have about 100 lbs of tounge weight unloaded if it's squirrelly measure from ball to front shackle hanger the same spot on both sides to make sure it's running square then measure spindle to spindle to make sure the axels are parallel

[abendx]

Tongue weight should be about 10-15% of the total trailer weight.... loaded, unloaded.... it doesn't matter.

I have heard all kinds of formulas like the one Becca used, but I found that trail and error work best to find the right spot.... plus you can eyeball it while loading by watching the bed of the truck dip and rise.

I have also found that overloading the tongue sucks ass..... a WD hitch will fix that.

Trailer looks great guys. CONGRATS!




Also.... I believe Chis has a scale at his office, maybe ask and see if he'll let you swing by?

[Lake_v2]

Good call chris a bit of research came up with this

ou can also take your trailer's tongue weight with a common bathroom scale if it's less than about 300 pounds. If the weight is greater than 300 pounds, you can use some boards and pipes and set up a test as shown in Figure 4-4:

Figure 4-4: Measuring Tongue Weight

Using this setup, you take a reading off the bathroom scale and triple it to find your actual tongue weight.

[Desert Dog]

When I got my trailer, I tried to use the tongue weight calculator I found on Pirate. Cliff told me to not sweat that shit, through trial and err, you will find out exactly where the trailer wants the rig to be. On my 1st big trip to Moab, I moved my Jeep around a couple times before I found that sweet spot.

Here is the interesting thing I noticed; pay more attention to the axle group than the tongue. The axle group acts like a fulcrum, and you can tell from "tire bulge" if the weight is distributed too far back or forward. When I did the tongue weight thing I found on Pirate, the trailer was very flighty, and I noticed that the tires on the front axle were holding most of the weight. After moving my jeep back on the trailer to the point where all the tires had an even bulge, the trailer tracked perfectly. At the very least, balancing the rig on the axle group fulcrum is a good starting point.

[Beck*A*Poo]

well I got home and did a oil change on my jeep , then I hooked up the clear liner in garage and hooked the Whitesnake trailer up with some black paint and we layed the boards and this is how it looks so far ....



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[Lake_v2]

Weighed the tongue of the unloaded trailer, right at 185lbs, if weight balance is correct trailer should weigh around 1750- 1900 lbs, pretty close to specs for a 16ft big tex car trailer.

Really happy with how its turning out a few little things to finish before dmv... Yay

Big thanks to Becca for hooking up the paint, wouldnt have got it this far without you

[Zak.Taylor]

Lookin real good.

[VIC]

Looks good. Nice truck too

[abendx]

Okay.... I guess you are all too far in the closet to have said it, but damn.... nice dancing skills Matt!

[Beck*A*Poo]

LIGHTS are INSTALLED


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[Lake_v2]

Details, details, details.... Sheesh...

Had a 7 wire molded harness in garage, decided to make use of it for the trailer, found out the hard way that all the light related wires were wrong, but after extra time got the lights wired up.

Also finished up the driveover fenders

Left on todo list
Brake wiring
Check and repack bearing
Breakaway wiring

[Lake_v2]

Took it for a test load and tow, worked great, withe jeep on and strapped dropped the bumper 1” with weight, took it for a couple miles at about 40mph tracks straight and doesnt bounce over bunps and dips.

Waiting on breakaway kit to ship, all wiring is done except for that.

Oh and one last pic to finish it off

[munepit]

Well done Matt! Looks good!

[H. Badger]

NICE!!!!

[Uncle Cracker]

nice job sunshine,,,, i'll be welding on my trailer new years day in hopes
of being out with the rig this weekend somewhere

[Lake_v2]

Gave it a little test today towed victors cj from my place to his, found out that even a stock width cj has to drive over at least one fender

Towed great at freeway speeds and is steady when braking without a brake controller

Two things left mount junk box, buy and mount cheapo winch just in case

[abendx]

Congrats!