"Steve Hopper" wrote in message
...
For anyone out there who knows about trailers:
Last year I bought what seemed to be a heavy-built,
double-axle trailer. While towing it home with
my Full size Chevrolet long-wheel base truck using
a 2" receiver, the trailer pushed the truck around
whenever I got above 40 mph. It seemed to 'fish-tail'.
I had no load on it whatsoever, but the tongue load
seemed higher than my other dual-axle trailer.
Would a too-heavy tongue load cause this fishtailing?
Many thanks. sdh.

That's usually symptomatic of having insufficient tongue load. You should
count on loading the trailer so that 12-15% of the total load weight is
imposed on the hitch. That should be true when the trailer is empty, too,
unless it wasn't built exactly right. A "heavily built dual-axle trailer"
reads in my book like 200-300lb on the hitch, even empty. I just bought an
18' x 7' enclosed trailer for peanuts (had a bent left-rear axle stub). It
has an empty weight of about 1200lb, and has a solid 200lb tongue weight,
empty. Even then, without a load, it tends to wander around a little behind
our 2500 van. Not bad, but a little.

You might also have a tightly sprung suspension, and be experiencing one or
both axles bouncing so badly that the tires are momentarily losing road
contact. Some trailers don't tow well empty.

LLoyd