Al-Ko Trailer Tongue failure
On Friday, March 2, 2018 at 10:57:50 AM UTC-5, JS wrote:
The AlKo trailer tongue on many trailers has a placarded limit of 100kg.
Some are rated 80kg.
Don't overload the tongue if you don't want it to fail.
In the case of smaller vehicles, this also avoids overloading the rear of the tow vehicle, perhaps putting too little weight on the steering axle.
If you need to carry more weight, put some elsewhere, perhaps in a drawer below the trailer, a Cobra option, or an IMI retrofit. I've installed both..
My last drawer install successfully took the tongue weight of a trailer down from close to 400 pounds to below 220lb / 100kg with the same load on board.
Jim
Another trick. I relocated the spare wheel/tire (approx 7kg) from the mount inside the trailer at the glider nose-cone. I made an under-trailer mount with a steel plate and bolt pattern to match the rim. It sits just behind the axle, so it has very little moment and is also below the trailer's vertical CG. Bought a nice tire cover with elastic closure to keep the mud and grime off of it. Works great. A little less convenient to access, but makes the front of the trailer much more usable, especially with the short wingtips mounted in the front of the trailer.
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