HAL9001
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When loading your trailer, it's always good to know its accurate tongue weight to ensure that you don't exceed your truck's rated payload and to ensure that the tongue weight is within the recommended 10%-15% of the trailer's GVW. The problem with that is, it's not always easy or convenient to get to a CAT scale, and trying to measure it yourself from home is tricky. I tried using the lever method with a bathroom scale but the results were not accurate or consistent. Maybe it was just my scale but I didn't get good results and I ended up damaging the scale. It certainly was not meant for something like that.
So, I went back to the drawing board and came up with a very accurate and relatively inexpensive way to measure the tongue weight using a few off-the-shelf components that anyone could build. I call it The Guillotine.
It's built out of a few 4x4's and uses a Digital Hanging Scale rated to measure over a ton.
It's very simple to build and use. It can be built in a couple of hours and disassembled for storage in a few minutes.
To use it, you simply place it under the trailer tongue and then, using the electric trailer jack, slowly lower the tongue onto the hung centerboard. The scale will then accurately measure the tongue weight. It works amazingly well.
With this, you can load your trailer and get instant tongue weight measurements which will allow you to precisely adjust the load. No more guesswork and you'll always confidently know the exact tongue weight when you're ready to tow.
My trailer is parked on a significant incline, so its tongue is up very high to get the trailer level. Therefore, I had to build the frame to be quite high. If your trailer is on level ground it can be built much smaller than shown. The one shown here is 6' 3.5" high x 3' wide.
This worked out great for my purposes, so I thought I'd post it here if anyone else was interested. If so, here are most of the parts you'll need:
1 Digital Crane Scale
3-4 of 4x4x8' (depending on the frame height you require)
2 of 1x6x6' (cut into four 3' sections)
2 of 2x4x2' (for the bottom braces)
4 of 10" Corner Braces
3 of Steel Shoulder Eye Bolts
1 Box (50) of 5/16-in x 2-in Hex-Head Lag Screws
2 of 1-3/8-in x 6-ft Steel Perforated Bars (For the bottom braces. Cut into 18" lengths and double them up for strength).
2 of 1/2" Quick Links (These allow you to adjust the chain to whatever length you need without needing to cut the chain).
Length of chain rated for at least 2000 lbs (I just used a towing chain I already had).
The construction should be obvious from the photo, but let me know if you have any questions. Adjust the frame height to your requirements. Use very large, thick washers on the eye bolts to spread the weight. I used a thick piece of steel I had laying around on the top eye bolt.
Adjust the chain length required using the quick links. You can use a dedicated chain or reuse any suitably rated chain (2000 lbs minimum) you may already have. There is no need to cut it to fit as you can see from the photo, just let the excess hang down.
This rig should be good up to 1500 lbs or possibly more, but please build and use at your own risk as I've only tested it for about 800 lbs so far. All the components I used were rated for over 2000 lbs.
So, I went back to the drawing board and came up with a very accurate and relatively inexpensive way to measure the tongue weight using a few off-the-shelf components that anyone could build. I call it The Guillotine.
It's built out of a few 4x4's and uses a Digital Hanging Scale rated to measure over a ton.
It's very simple to build and use. It can be built in a couple of hours and disassembled for storage in a few minutes.
To use it, you simply place it under the trailer tongue and then, using the electric trailer jack, slowly lower the tongue onto the hung centerboard. The scale will then accurately measure the tongue weight. It works amazingly well.
With this, you can load your trailer and get instant tongue weight measurements which will allow you to precisely adjust the load. No more guesswork and you'll always confidently know the exact tongue weight when you're ready to tow.
My trailer is parked on a significant incline, so its tongue is up very high to get the trailer level. Therefore, I had to build the frame to be quite high. If your trailer is on level ground it can be built much smaller than shown. The one shown here is 6' 3.5" high x 3' wide.
This worked out great for my purposes, so I thought I'd post it here if anyone else was interested. If so, here are most of the parts you'll need:
1 Digital Crane Scale
3-4 of 4x4x8' (depending on the frame height you require)
2 of 1x6x6' (cut into four 3' sections)
2 of 2x4x2' (for the bottom braces)
4 of 10" Corner Braces
3 of Steel Shoulder Eye Bolts
1 Box (50) of 5/16-in x 2-in Hex-Head Lag Screws
2 of 1-3/8-in x 6-ft Steel Perforated Bars (For the bottom braces. Cut into 18" lengths and double them up for strength).
2 of 1/2" Quick Links (These allow you to adjust the chain to whatever length you need without needing to cut the chain).
Length of chain rated for at least 2000 lbs (I just used a towing chain I already had).
The construction should be obvious from the photo, but let me know if you have any questions. Adjust the frame height to your requirements. Use very large, thick washers on the eye bolts to spread the weight. I used a thick piece of steel I had laying around on the top eye bolt.
Adjust the chain length required using the quick links. You can use a dedicated chain or reuse any suitably rated chain (2000 lbs minimum) you may already have. There is no need to cut it to fit as you can see from the photo, just let the excess hang down.
This rig should be good up to 1500 lbs or possibly more, but please build and use at your own risk as I've only tested it for about 800 lbs so far. All the components I used were rated for over 2000 lbs.
