need help from the weight police

[wasafari]

Hello,
Due to some mods, my tongue weight has gone up, go figure. Anyway, I'm thinking of carrying my propane tanks in the TV bed, only question I have is: does tongue weight get figured into the FRONT ot REAR axle weight? Ford manual isn't much help and neither is the AS manual. Thanks,

Jack

[HowieE]

If you are using a weight distriduting hitch about 75% of the tongue weigth should end up on the rear axle about 20% on the front axle and 5% on the trailer. This will vary with truck springs and lenght of the wheel base of both the truck and trailer, but the weight will be split between all three sets of axles.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by wasafari

Hello,
Due to some mods, my tongue weight has gone up, go figure. Anyway, I'm thinking of carrying my propane tanks in the TV bed, only question I have is: does tongue weight get figured into the FRONT ot REAR axle weight? Ford manual isn't much help and neither is the AS manual. Thanks,

Jack

Jack,
If you are using a WDH it will spread it across both axles. If not the bulk of it will go on the rear axle of the truck.

Aaron

[CanoeStream]

You should review your Safari's GVWR and the GAWRs (check the riveted manufacturer's plate on the outside for the latter?). 2005 Safaris had the lower capacity Henschen axles if I recall. You can (and may have) weighed your tongue in your driveway. I'd want to know your weight when you are packed and ready to leave for a trip -- a CAT scale would answer so much more. How much did the mods add?

One should not tow a trailer the size of a 25' Safari without weight distribution gear. I'd still do that with a beefy 1-ton truck rear axle. Some of the hitch weight will transfer to the front axles once you've engaged your WD bars. I don't think it makes much difference to your tow vehicle whether the weight of the LP tanks is just behind the hitch or in the bed in front of the hitch -- nearly all of the weight is borne by the back end of the truck in either instance. You still can't exceed either the tow vehicle GVWR or the trailer GVWR. If both the truck and trailer are near their individual GVWRs, you'll really need to double check if you're over the GCWR of your Ford. Tow capacity doesn't really fit into this equation -- the other numbers have to be right in the first place.

Another issue -- without some significant anchorage, LP tanks flying loose during a crash could be a big hazard to the truck occupants and I wouldn't want to have them in the bed of my truck.

[wasafari]

first off, the propane tanks will be in a rack securely tied down in the bed, so they aren't going anywhere. If I crash and they move I have bigger problems than propane bottles flying around. The changes I made are adding 6 volt AGM's in place of the 12 v Interstates that came with the trailer and removing that oh so comfortable Flexsteel jacknife bed thingie and replacing it with a LaZBoy reclining love seat. My all up loaded to go weight on the Safrai is 5900 lbs, tongue weight is 910 with the propane bottles still onboard. The truck is a Ford F250, and YES, I do have a WD hitch. I was just curious about how much of the tongue wt went to the front and rear axles as I sometimes have a lot of stuff in the bed on the rear axle. Thanks for the responses,

Jack