Posted by mark in MO on Monday, January 26, 2004 at 4:26PM :
In Reply to: still another trailer question posted by mrmc on Monday, January 26, 2004 at 1:18PM :
4'3" should be minimum. If you have to pull vehicle up to front, bumper wil be sticking in to turn radius area on sharp turn. I would consider moving your axel back more than 1" off center. The key to a bumper hitch trailer is proper tongue wieght. slight or no weight on ball will cause trailer sway. Too much will cause overloading your towing vehicle. I have a 16' trailer that has slight axel off center. The good news is you could pull it with a car empty due to minimal tongue wt. But you have to load it carefully to drive safe. As far dove tail clearance, look at some of the manufactured trailers. It seems they basically angle off the I beam or channel iron frame so that the bottome of the tail does not protrude much past the bottom of the frame. IE 12" frame means 12" drop to where ramp starts. Anthing hangin down will be dragging and help get you stuck or tear up trailer.