Goning to pull a 5 X 10 utility trailer with my RKC to FLorida 1000miles for the winter. Have a class III hitch on my Mitsubushi Montero.Anyone here pull a similar trailer with similar loadwith SUV and know what their tongue weight is? Just want to set the trailer up correctly and don't want any surprises? How criticle is tongue weigth on a trailer? Thanks

 

Geez...okay....what's the tongue weight of the trailer empty?

Where's the center point of balance on the trailer?

Ah think yer gettin' the idea - yer askin' specific questions without us bein' able ta know the basic values needed ta be able to answer intelligently. However, the key here is that ya want 10-15% of the weight on the tongue. Too light on the tongue an' yer gonna git fishtailin' on the trailer. Too much weight, an' you'll have a light front end on the tow vehicle. Personally, ah'd rather have a tad excess tongue weight - but since ah drive a Ford F-250, ah kin handle a bit more rear-end load than you.

 

usually 10 to 15% of the total weight is recommended tonque weight. i put a bathroom scale under my tonque jack and adjusted the bike's position for 100# then installed my pingel there.

 

Go with the 60/40 rule, 60 % of weight in front of axle, 40 behind.

 

Careful with that "rule" - you COULD cause excessive load on the tow vehicle.

 

Cars and bikes are easy to balanceand easy to pull. Pulled race cars for years..... so I would measure the hitch ball height before hooking up...hook on the trailer, measure the height.... As long as the tounge drops the hitch about 3 inches you know it will not whip... When you load your trailer just load the bike so it will put another inch ofmore weight on the front,or use as balance if the trailer is too tounge heavy.... MAKE SURE you have weight on the hitch.... Nail a couple cleats on the floor oneach side of the tires, strap it down...do down the road....

Later

 

Class III tongue weight can not exceed 500 pounds. Can't pull more than 5,000 pounds. [/align]

 

huffhuff is exactly right. Tongue weight is VERY Critical. Figure out the total weight of the trailer either by math and specs or go actually weigh it. The bathroom scale is a good way to check tongue weight. Tongue weight should be 10 to 15% of total weight. I like it closer to the 15% as this will alleviate the trailers desire to fishtail. I recently towed two bikes on a 7x12 utility trailer and staggering the bikes left the tongue a little light. I pulled it around town to see the implications. It has a wide 8' axle, and was towed behind a heavy truck, but it did want to follow the road. I added weight to the front of the trailer with storage boxes to get the tongue weight correct and the stability was very noticable. Too much tongue weight will put a lot more stress on your vehicle and hitch.
I'm not sure of the towing specs on your Montero, but I would imagine the trailer you're using with the bike set up correctly is within it's specs.