Towing max capacity with a 5th Gen 4runner

[calicamper]

Seeing videos like this scare me. What caused this to happen? Was the trailer to heavy for the jeep? Was the trailer to long compared to the tow vehicle?

I have a small off road trailer and have a few trips under my belt, but I am far from experienced and would definitely want to prevent something like this from happening to me.

Rough figuring on that trailer dry it was max tow rating, tongue weight was likely reduced to get it into the Jeep tongue weight but doing that made the trailer unstable at higher speeds.

Sway is simply a stability factor the higher your speed the more stability you need. The shorter your wheel base on the TV the less inherent stability you have so just from basic stability no trailer a long wheel base truck can go faster than a short wheel base jeep before instability factors become an issue.

Trailers have stability aspects that make them more or less stable also. So take a short wheel base jeep with a low stability envelope hook a trailer to it that has a low stability envelope and bingo you got a roller coaster ride at 50mph.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

This video is a great visual on how weight distribution effects stability.

 

[edd M42]

This video is a great visual on how weight distribution effects stability.

Pretty interesting video. Seems better to have the majority of the weight in front of the trailers axels then? What’s the reason to limit tongue weight? Is it simply to keep the load from lifting the weight off of the steering axle of the tow vehicle?

 

[Porkchopexpress]

Pretty interesting video. Seems better to have the majority of the weight in front of the trailers axels then? What’s the reason to limit tongue weight? Is it simply to keep the load from lifting the weight off of the steering axle of the tow vehicle?

Basically when you are too heavy behind the rear trailer axle, any sideways movement or fishtailing will be that much more side force against the trailer hitch. If you have a long distance between the tow vehicle rear axle and the hitch coupler, it will cause even more force pushing your tow vehicle. That is why semi trucks have the coupler over the rear axles and trailer axles are further back. Goosenecks and 5th wheels use a similar layout and are also very stable but you need a lot of weight capacity because more load is on the coupler.

The reason to limit tongue weight is usually the capacity of your tow vehicle. Bumper pull trailers are typically recommended at least 10% of the load weight on the hitch. Uhaul recommends at least 60% of the weight in front of the trailer axles which would probably work out to about 10% on the hitch.

Sorry if this was long winded. Don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence.

 

[edd M42]

Thanks for the info. I feel a lot better about my setup now and have a better understanding of this.