Hauling wood with a sedan

[Phil_Marino]

Rosered:

1. Load properly, so the weight is over the trailer's tires, not on the tongue/car hitch.


S

Not quite. You want some of the weight to be on the car hitch, so that the load on the hitch is about 15% of the total trailer weight. So, the center of the load weight should be forward of the trailer axle, not just above it.

If you put all the load over the axle, you will end up with very little ( or no ) tongue weight, and the trailer will be unstable at speed, and the trailer will "fishtail". Not safe at all.


Phil

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Rosered:

1. Load properly, so the weight is over the trailer's tires, not on the tongue/car hitch.


S

Not quite. You want some of the weight to be on the car hitch, so that the load on the hitch is about 15% of the total trailer weight. So, the center of the load weight should be forward of the trailer axle, not just above it.

If you put all the load over the axle, you will end up with very little ( or no ) tongue weight, and the trailer will be unstable at speed, and the trailer will "fishtail". Not safe at all.


Phil

+10...need 15% of the weight on the tongue.

 

[formula_pilot]

You can haul firewood with a sedan, I do it.

I have a Honda Accord and a 5x8 Big Tex Trailer, single 3500lb axle. The trailer can easily handle over 1/2 cord worth of green rounds, but I would never load it that heavy and pull it any distance with the car. If you are careful with not overloading, and balance the tongue weight, and keep safe distance with traffic in front of you, it can be done safely.

The biggest issue with hauling a trailer with a typical passenger car is the automatic transmissions. Hauling a trailer will get the transmission fluid hot, and drastically reduce transmission life. If you are going to pull a trailer with an auto trans car, you should have an auxiliary transmission cooler added, it is basically a small radiator dedicated for the transmission fluid, not too expensive. Many trucks have them as standard equipment.

My car has a standard transmission, so I just take it easy on the clutch.

If I had a shorter daily commute, I would buy a truck. Then I could overload the trailer :coolsmile:

 

[vvvv]

smooth road u can overload moreso than a rough road, illegally.....watch the gap between the tire & the body or look @ the springs

 

[thinkxingu]

Phil, thanks for the clarification, but I assumed Rose would know to keep some weight on the hitch (otherwise, it could pop off and backwards; happened to a friend of mine!).
Just last week I saw a VW Rabbit truck with the trailer front loaded--the truck was getting hammered with the tongue weight.

S