How do you pack your trailer??

[landuse]

Hi guys. I would like to ask everyones opinion on something. When going on holiday with my trailer. I have always tried to pack about 60% of the weight in front of the axle and the rest behind (spread evenly). Someone said to me the other day that they do it the other way round. I always thought that having more weight on the tongue of the trailer made for a better ride

What do you guys do?

Here is a pic of the trailer to give you an idea of what i am using

 

[Joe-405]

I always try and center my weight with a touch up front.

 

[itsid]

well, this is about safety more than it is about handling I guess
(well handling itself is great deal to safety so uhm yeah)

the heaviest parts should be as close to the front* as possible (*car)
and the reason is simple:
in case of an emergency brake, you want it to move as little as possible!
Of course in best case you don't want to move anything at all;
but the heavier a single item is, the worse the result of it moving will be.

'sid

 

[landuse]

Anyone else?

 

[OzFab]

Some say too much weight on the front of the trailer can affect the tow vehicles handling because the weight will lift the front of the vehicle; the same "some" say too much weight on the rear of the trailer can lift the rear of the tow vehicle...

I remember, when I was younger (yes, they had cars & trailers back then ), when my father packed the trailer, the front would be sitting on a drum, to keep the trailer level &, as the trailer was loaded, dad would lean on the rear of the trailer to see how balanced the load was; the theory being if he could lift the front of the trailer by leaning on the rear, the load was perfectly balanced, if not the load would be adjusted...

 

[itsid]

The thing is this.. the trailers front MUST be heavier than the rear,
otherways it could lift itself off the coupling.
(main reason why the axle is normally offset to the back)

In germany we have rules for EVERYTHING automotive related,
and that includes min and max vertical load on the coupling,
(min weight is 4% of the trailers weight.. or at least 25kg (if trailer is heavier than 625kg))
and max weight is generally between 50 and 100 kg,
depending on the trailer's and tow vehicle's limits.
(it's the lower number that dictates the max load between the two)
75kg for your Renault if I'm not mistaking, I have no ide about your trailer though...

Anyways,
that's roughly what Tony's dad did.. check that vertical load is not exceeding his own weight.

'sid

 

[Poboy kartman]

OK......A little story from my wild and crazy younger days....(yes....believe it or not I used to be even crazier) .....

My first job was forman of a boat trailer manufacturing company.....I had many duties besides keeping an eye on production flow and employees....one of which was gophering.....

So they sent me to pick up a stack of 5 trailers from the galvanizing plant with the company car....I don't remember the exact model Chebby....but it had a 454 in it......

On the way back....I started rat racing with someone....and the road back has a huge dip in it.....I suckered him into taking it way too fast.....(hee hee.....I'm evil).....but also took it at about the max I could without bottoming out....

Soooooo......I get back to the plant, back the trailers where they need to be....and get out to unhook.....DOH!!!!! ......I forgot to lock the tongue!

So.....tongue weight is extremely important....60/40 is a good rule of thumb....(I did remember to hook up the saftey chains).....but if I had any less tongue weight....things would have gotten messy......