M101 trailer, loading tips/weight distribution

[VicMackey]

I have the M101 trailer pictured below. With the cap on it, I can travel with a lot of gear. I don't routinely haul trailers, so I don't know too much about how to distribute the cargo weight. I have been told to prevent a serious fish tail situation, its best not to have too much weight in the back/tail of the trailer. Because of this, I tend to keep the heaviest stuff toward the front. Now the tongue weight is getting pretty heavy. I would love to be able to spread the weight around more. With the short length of the trailer, I would think it would difficult to get it to start to sway. But I don't want to find out the hard way.

The point of this post is to solicit feedback on how people have loaded their M101's and in particular if they have had any occasions where the trailer has started to sway too much at higher speeds due to improper loading.

Thanks in advance.

 

[shifty98]

I would suggest having about 60% of the weight forward of the axle. What can cause the fishtale is when there is not sufficient weight on your rear tires to give them maximum traction. The biggest thing I can say is that if the tail starts wagging the dog, hit the brakes and slow down. I will say though that my military trailer is incredibly stable so that isn't a huge concern. One thing I did was put a truck bed slide in the trailer which allows me to put the heavy stuff like cooler in the front of the trailer for towing but have it accessible easily in camp. I picked up a used one for $200 and it has been amazing thus far.
Also I love the topper!

 

[ex m38a1er]

What shifty said.
60% in front of the axle 40% behind 10-15% tongue weight and of course try to keep center of gravity as low as possoble.

 

[Buffalobwana]

When in doubt, err on the side of overloading the front a little.

Fish tailing is no fun and dangerous to you and everyone around around you should something happen.

 

[VicMackey]

Thanks for the replies fellas!