Tongue Weight/Harley/Pop-up Toy Hauler

Same here. Never have seen a twin-axle trailer in any of their literature or websites for their pop-ups, just the hybrids. The Palomino rep (via email) said the deck is rated for 1300 lbs and that calculating the tongue weight depends on how the load is situated so it's hard to say. He thinks an upgrade to a Class IV hitch would do the trick, though. I've emailed him back with more questions but have yet to hear back....

 

It really is not rocket science to figure out how much of the weight on the deck will press down on the tongue.
A very good approximation would be to assume the weight to sit in the center of the deck. It would definately apply for your Harley. Now if that center of the deck sits in the middle between the axle and the hitch ball, then half of the weight will be on the hitch, the other half on the trailer axle.
From the picture it looks like the deck sits forward of that middle, meaning more than half of the load on the deck will add to tongue weight.
You will also need to add the weight of a battery (50 lbs) and a portion of everything inside the popup.
No matter what, the tongue weight will be in the 800+ lbs range, I am sure.

 

I believe you're right on the money with that estimate. I can't help but notice, though, that the Palomino brochure shows that as one progresses from the B-1 to the B-5, the dry weights increase, of course, but the tongue weights of the B-2 and B-3 models are higher than those of the B-1 and B-5, which are almost equal. Could it be that the B-5 is engineered somehow to distribute the deck load back towards the axles?

 

Not seeing the actual trailer it's only speculation but I would think with the longer frame more of the popup sits behind the axles counter balancing the deck so that dry hitch weight would be less. I'm sure they've engineered the thing to have the least amount of dry hitch weight and still be safe to tow with nothing on the deck. With the class IV hitch that's part of the tow package the hitch weight is 650lbs (630lbs double cab). I went to a trailer show Friday and saw a B-3 (no B-5 there) but looking at the B-3 any cargo more than 18" tall would have to be unloaded from the deck before the front bed could be folded out.

 

I think it Goober is right on with this.
It would make perfect sense for them to keep the tongue weight of a model as low as possible, within safe limits, if there is a deck on that tongue, because it's very likely that there will be additional weight placed on the deck.
As much as you'd like it, juddandjoan (and I understand), I am not aware of any engineering miracle that would distribute the weight on that trailer tongue back to the axle (besides a regular WDH). But a WDH is required in the estimates / specs already.

 

Just some added info, my trailer's dry hitch weight is listed at 279lbs. I weighed it this weekend, it's 550lbs. set up with gas, battery, water. Add 110lbs for the hitch, weight of the leer shell, five gallons of extra fuel that leaves 450lbs for passengers and cargo in the truck. Adds up fast.

 

I guess my last Saturday email to the Palomino rep had too many hard questions in it, as he has yet to reply. Or maybe he doesn't have the answers?

And yes, sechsgang, you've figured us out.....we're trying to make this B-5 work for us because after two years of looking it's the first rig we've been able to compromise/agree on!

 

So what's your plan? Get that trailer, load the Harley on it and just forget that you are way over your limits?
I am pretty sure you won't be happy with the results.

If you like that trailer so much I'd recommend to get a different truck to pull it!

 

Well we've finally come to our senses. My plan was to get the B-5 but not to load the Harley on it until we find a bigger truck, but my wife's plan is to search for a different trailer that has a real bathroom, then get a bigger truck. Guess who's plan wins? Yep, hers.

Thanks guys for all your help. I'm sure we'll have lots of questions soon about the next trailer we start drooling over....

 

Bring them on! And happy trailer shopping!