Trailer hop side to side

Hi,
My tandem axle float has a tendency to wheel hop side to side when loaded. We load it front heavy as much as we can. This problem has become worse since we had a new tongue fabricated for it thats 3 longer than the old one. Plus we added ramp racks to the rear so we can tuck the ramps underneath. With out any load on it its tail heavy. Tracks and pulls alright when empty.
The only fixes I can think of is shortening the tongue back up which means cutting off a new class 5 hitch or cutting the suspension off and moving it back 3 to 6

Thanks Bruce

 

Trailer should be slightly front heavy when loaded or empty. Most manufacturer's recommend 10-15% tongue weight. Sounds like you have a weight-balance issue. A three point hitch set-up might help, check with a local trailer service shop.

 

Stick some weight at the front of the trailer....maybe two hundred pounds, concrete, stone or whatever and then try it....15 to 20% is correct for additional tongue weight and I think it increases the longer the yoke...Try that before doing any more mods, probably will solve your problem

 

Thanks for the help. I'll try 200 lb weight up front.

Bruce

 

we strapped a couple of bags of cement into the tongue on one of ours. 160 lbs did wonders.

 

Thanks for the reply. Talked to a fab shop who makes custom trailers, rule of thumb is the axle assemblies center line should be aft by 1/2" to 1" for every foot of trailer length. Mine being a 16' bed lengthr the axles should be 8" to 16" back of the center line.
Bruce

 

Bruce,

Question, please: Was that axle assembly centerline "rule of thumb" referring to each foot of trailer length? Or each foot of bed length? I ask because you referred to your 16' bed length when you stated that the axle assembly should be 8 - 16' aft of center on your example. If you should be referencing against the entire trailer length, then your offset should be about 10 to 20 inches aft of the trailer centerline.

I'm not trying to take pot shots at your math; just trying to make sure 'cause I may end up whacking about 3' off the tail end of my already front heavy car hauler trailer if it doesn't sell for a decent price. That means that I'll also have to relocate the axles assembly, fenders, etc. forward a ways.

As always, thank you for your response.