weight and clearance

[lindy706]

I just pulled my new used 621fs home last night, does anyone know the tongue weight on this and when I turned tight the front trailer step hit my bumper; so now I'm looking for a hitch extender.

thank you in advance for your help.

[REW]

Lindy,
Take your rig to a scale and weigh it so you know what weight you are starting with.

Then, figure the tongue weight to be 10% of your total boat and trailer weight. I would guess that your boat and motor is over 3500 lbs and your trailer is about 1,000 lbs, so the total weight is likely somewhere shy of 4500-5000 lbs. If so, then your tongue weight is on the order of 400-500 lbs.

If you can get by without adding a tongue extender I would suggest that you defer the installation of an extender on your tow vehicle.

You are putting extra weight on the frame of your truck and your hitch by moving the ball further away from your truck. The class III hitch will likely hold just fine, but if you really don't absolutely need it, it is less to go wrong and you put less stress on the hitch, receiver and frame of the truck.

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P.S.
You can find highway scales at recycling stations, at refuse transfer stations, at free way truck stops and of course conventional state weigh stations periodically on the freeways.

Nice to keep track of your boats weight over time. As with other things as they age, it seems that the weight continues to increase with boats due to a multitude of reasons. Also, then, with the weight in hand, look at the maximum load ratings on the sides of your trailer tires.

You should take the total weight of the rig - boat, motor, trailer and contents and divide by the number of tires. Then, add 10% of that number to give you a number that you do not want to go under for the max load rating on your trailer tires.

Just because it is a new rig with a new trailer does not necessarily mean that there are appropriately sized tires on the rig for the weight being carried.

However, I expect that you purchased a matched rig of boat, motor and trailer from Ranger. If so, there is nearly nothing to worry about with under sizing anything in the total package.

Best wishes.

[REW]

Please read the following white paper from e-trailers on the use of hitch extensions on your tow vehicles hitch:

https://www.etrailer.com/question-151257.html

Note that the use of a hitch extension reduces your hitch towing ability weight as well as your vertical hitch weight load - by a considerable extent.

i.e. if you add a hitch extension to your tow vehicle you may be exceeding the legal carrying capacity of your hitch and tow vehicle frame.

Add a hitch extension with EXTREME CAUTION please.

Be safe

[lindy706]

I have read what the hitch extenders are doing as far as reducing the load capability of the hitch, I can't have the ladder hitting my bumper, my turn around requires a tight turn. looking for options.

[Huntindave]

Originally Posted by lindy706

I just pulled my new used 621fs home last night, does anyone know the tongue weight on this and when I turned tight the front trailer step hit my bumper; so now I'm looking for a hitch extender.

thank you in advance for your help.

No need to estimate what the tongue weight is. Most folks don't have a scale with the capacity to weigh the actual tongue weight. So most folks will go to the nearest commercial scale, (feed mill, gravel yard, recyclers,) etc. to weigh their rig. In order to obtain the actual tongue weight of your rig, you will need two separate scale readings.

1st reading= pull forward onto the scale with the trailer hooked to the tow vehicle and ONLY the trailer wheels on the scale,,,,,,,,,, get a scale weight.

2nd reading= back up slightly such that you can drop the trailer with the trailer wheels AND the trailer jack is on the scale. Pull the tow vehicle forward so it is NOT on the scale,,,,,,,, get a reading.

The 2nd reading is the entire weight of your rig. It will be more than the first reading, because it includes the weight that was previously supported by the hitch (tongue weight).

Subtracting the 1st reading from the 2nd reading will give you the actual tongue weight of your rig.

[buckmaster7600]

Move the trailer step, unless you have a 3/4 or 1ton tow rig and a class 5 hitch you really don’t want to be using a hitch extender. Puts a lot of unwanted stress on your rig and hitch.

If you decide to do the hitch extender search some camper forums for the guys with the truck campers they often run the extenders to clear their campers.


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[lindy706]

thank you for all the replies, I am going to make the first step removable by taking the bolts out and replacing them with pins. no need for the hitch extender. add some air bags and everything will be perfect.