Is this trailer configuration safe? (1 Viewer)

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Hey Guys -

My HDJ81 has a factory pintle/ball combo hitch rated for 6 tons. I know there is a healthy debate about the rated capacity of the rear factory bumper, I am not here to contribute to that--I am confident that my 3500 lb load will not be a problem.

My question is whether my trailer geometry is going to be problematic. My hitch ball is sitting up at nearly 26 inches. I was able to get the trailer on the ball with a bit of help from the good people of u-haul, but I am wondering if the angle is going to subject the rear of my truck to more tongue weight than it can tolerate.

I have a 2.5 inch OME lift with medium springs in back.

Including a photo of the trailer/truck combo with no load on it. It will have a 1700 lb Karmann Ghia on it tomorrow and a 2000 lb Porsche 914 on it Sunday :cool:.

I am also curious what tire pressure people run when hauling with their 80s.

Appreciate any feedback.

Cheers,
Austin

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Ideally, the trailer should be level.

You are running OME Medium springs. That thing will squat hard once you approach the 500 LB max tongue weight. You will get some wag the dog effect from the tongue weight.

Depending on how you LOAD the trailer will make the biggest difference. Place the vehicles on the trailer so the heavy end is forward and make sure you have more weight on the front half of the trailer than the rear.

I used to use a rule of 2" drop on the tongue when the trailer is loaded being about right, but that was NOT on a coil spring LC.

I carry a power wheelchair (400 LB + 125 LB rack) on the back of my LC a fair amount and I had to install OME heavy (863) springs and it feels about right, but I still have airbags in there as well to stabilize it and bring the truck closer to level.

Make damn sure your trailer tire pressures are equal as well as your tire pressures on the back of the LC. I run 45 PSI in my LC tires when I'm hauling. I would run 70 PSI in the trailer tires or whatever is max tire rating on the trailer from U-Haul. Check their tire conditions before pumping them up because U-Haul is notorious for poor maintenance.
 
my single-axle camper trailer rides with the tongue pointed up like that and it's not an issue for me aside from dragging the back of the trailer everywhere.

On a dual axle trailer, the main drawback of a non-level trailer is that a higher percentage of the weight will ride on one axle or the other. In your case, the rear axle will will be taking more load. Not a huge deal IMO, as long as your not approaching the trailer's weight capacity. That weight capacity is based on a level trailer, both axles sharing the load. @BILT4ME is spot on, how you load the trailer is even more important when it's not level. You want the center of gravity to be just ahead of the axle.

I actually don't think that angle (in itself) will subject your truck to significantly more or less tongue weight compared to a level. But it's all in how you load it. Your rear spring sag will help level the trailer :hillbilly:

:edit: I run my e-rated 315's at 40psi for light towing (camper) or 45psi for heavy towing (taking a load to the dump). 32psi for daily driving, for reference.

:edit, edit: Photos of these air-cooled hosses!
 
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my single-axle camper trailer rides with the tongue pointed up like that and it's not an issue for me aside from dragging the back of the trailer everywhere.

How many times with this configuration and fully loaded have you had a full on emergency stop?

In an emergency stop the transfer of forces needs to be such that there is no upward/downward force that would load/unload either the rear or front axles of the towing vehicle.
 
Awesome! Thanks, everyone! Appreciate the insights.

The uhaul trailer is rated for a load of roughly five thousand lbs, so the 2k air cooled vehicles shouldn't tax the mismatched dual axle loading too much. Good point though @Heckraiser

I will post up some photos of the vehicles along the journey.
 
UPDATE:

After some 1700 miles of vehicle towing, happy to report that the HDJ81 didn't skip a beat, even in the peak of that Arizona heat wave that had temps around 115...

Certainly found it most comfortable to kick it into 3rd on any sort of ascent, but that became pretty routine after awhile.

I think if I was to haul regularly I would look into a more conventional receiver hitch integrated into an after market rear bumper, but the JDM factory pintle got the job done.

Side note, with the 2.5 inch OME and 285/55R16s (~33.5"H) I found that airing down to about 15PSI got me to the proper height to hook up to the trailer I immediately used my compressor to air back up to about 42 and found that to be pretty comfortable.

Here are some photos of the new 914 and the old Ghia.

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IMG_5449.png
 
UPDATE:

After some 1700 miles of vehicle towing, happy to report that the HDJ81 didn't skip a beat, even in the peak of that Arizona heat wave that had temps around 115...

Certainly found it most comfortable to kick it into 3rd on any sort of ascent, but that became pretty routine after awhile.

I think if I was to haul regularly I would look into a more conventional receiver hitch integrated into an after market rear bumper, but the JDM factory pintle got the job done.

Side note, with the 2.5 inch OME and 285/55R16s (~33.5"H) I found that airing down to about 15PSI got me to the proper height to hook up to the trailer I immediately used my compressor to air back up to about 42 and found that to be pretty comfortable.

Here are some photos of the new 914 and the old Ghia.

View attachment 2719797

View attachment 2719811

View attachment 2719814
Love it! I owned both of those. Later year KG?, 71-74?

My 914 was a '73
 

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