{"id":193,"date":"2022-01-16T22:44:17","date_gmt":"2022-01-16T22:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/?p=193"},"modified":"2023-07-04T12:29:43","modified_gmt":"2023-07-04T12:29:43","slug":"trailer-stability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/trailer-stability\/","title":{"rendered":"Trailer stability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The only empirical data I’ve found on trailer stability is Darling, Tilley, and Gao<\/a>, published in 2009. Highly recommend reading, although you’ll need some UK \u2192 US translation. (Estate car \u2192 station wagon, nose mass \u2192 tongue weight, tyre \u2192 tire). You probably already knew that last one.

They found the most important factors are in order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Speed (slower is more stable)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. “Trailer yaw inertia”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Tongue weight; they recommend 6 to 8 %.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Axle position<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Trailer yaw inertia. Moment of inertia<\/a> in the horizontal plane. It is complicated to calculate, but the more weight further away from the axle, the higher it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A greater distance from the hitch to the trailer axle is more stable, but the axle position is fixed for a given trailer unless you’re going to rebuild the trailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A couple of factors not studied by Darling are tow vehicle (TV) mass and axle-to-tow hitch distance (“overhang”). A bigger tow vehicle and shorter overhang are better, according to Aussie journalist Robert Pepper,<\/a> which I find credible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Tongue weight<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    There are lots of statements about tongue weight on the interwebs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n