Homemade VW car dolly - What is a good tongue weight?

[mardak at cogeco.ca (Mark)]

I think that might be only with a trailer, since a car dolly is actually
a 4 wheeled trailer.  I once packed a Uhaul trailer improperly (way to
much weight at the rear) and almost lost it a couple of times at
60mph...)

I was planning on having 100 to 150 lbs on the tongue, since I'd like to
err on the side of caution, and it only seems logical that there should
be 'some' weight on the hitch...  

Thanks!

Mark.
80 S
81 S  2.0 ABA/JH/4K
75    Soon!

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Utley [mailto:mr.utility@highstream.net]
> Sent: January 17, 2004 10:07 AM
> To: Drew Teague
> Cc: mardak@cogeco.ca; scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> Subject: RE: Homemade VW car dolly - What is a good tongue weight?
> 
> I was talking to an engineer friend of mine about this.  He said that
you
> will
> need at least 100 lbs of tongue weight on the rear of the tow vehicle.
> Otherwise, if there is too much weight towards the rear of the towed
car,
> it
> will fishtail at speed...
> 
> HTH
> --
> Regards,
> David Utley
> -----------
> Cable Volkswagen
> 405-470-3129
> 1-800-522-6793
> 
> 
> Quoting Drew Teague <roccnroll@hotmail.com>:
> 
> > Every tow dolly that I have ever used is configured in this way:
> >
> > The platforms where the wheels come to rest on the dolly, where they
are
> > strapped down, are braced rigidly with one another.  This whole
assembly,
> > however, is mounted on a pivot point in between the two front wheels
in
> the
> > center, to the frame of the dolly.  The front wheels will never turn
at
> the
> > car's steering points.  They turn, rather as one unit on the pivot
point
> of
> > the platform they are mounted on.  The rear wheels simply follow no
> matter
> > what.  The tongue weight could be adjusted to nearly anything you
want
> based
> >
> > on where this pivot point is located above the wheels of the dolly.
The
> > farther it is in front of the wheels of the dolly, the greater the
> tongue
> > weight.
> >
> > Sufficiently wordy, as always...  heheh
> >
> > **Drew Teague**
> > Harrisburg, PA
> >
> > '84 8v Rocco --  "Bruise"
> > '85 BMW 318i
> >
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