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Advice please on setting up my tongue weight

778 views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  Big Horn 
#1 ·
When I initially set up my 18’ Fish & Ski behind my ‘02 F350 i bought a drop hitch to get the trailer back to level. I have been surprised on the amount of hitch bounce I get on rough uneven roads. I would like to check my overall weight and tongue weight.
How do the CAT scales work at the truck stops?
There is one located close to home in Litchfield IL close to where I fish sometimes.
What’s the best way to measure my tongue weight.
The boat trailer is rated 3500 lbs. max (single axle trailer)
With the 2 stroke 150 Merc, 24 gallons of fuel, and 3 12V batteries at the transom it puts a lot of weight behind the axle. Plus loaded with gear and it’s a heavy wood core fiberglass construction. Interstate, highways, and city roads, I never notice the boat behind me but with the airlift 5000 rear bags (5#) and new Rancho 9000 shocks I was kind of surprised to feel the boat bouncing the rear of the truck on bad roads.
Sorry for the novice questions on the scales—never towed anything big yet.... thanks!

(2002 F350 CC DRW 4WD 8’ Box)
 
#2 ·
There are good links to be found but the gist of it is you weight it twice with the rear tires on the same spot each time. First with the trailer and then w/o. The difference between the rear tire weights is the tongue weight.
You might want to drop the tongue lower and/or move weight forward is my guess.
 
#3 ·
Thanks 69mach! I looked this morning and found a trailer tongue scale for sale on etrailer.com, I want to find out the weight first—then I have room to move the winch post forward a few inches which will move the whole boat forward...... if still not enough then I guess I’ll loosen the axle and move rearward. There’s really no way to shift any weight load inside the boat (still amazing that this heavy a boat will plane out and WOT to 60 mph, but the Merc is a XR4–supposedly equivalent of 165hp.
Eventually I’ll stop at the CAT scales or one of our local feed/grain services to see what my truck weighs.
 
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