Trailer Ball Height to Increase Tongue Weight to Help with Sway Control on a Single Axle Fish House

Updated 06/09/2020 | Published 01/23/2012

Products Featured in This Question

Reese Sway-Control Bracket for 2" Ball Mounts - Class III and IV

(315)

$44.40

Reese Friction Sway Control Kit - Economy - by Draw-Tite, Reese and Hidden Hitch

(479)

$60.91

Question:

I have a 16 ice castle single axel fish house that sways quite a bit. I have an adjustable hitch on my pickup and I would like to know, do I raise or lower the height of the ball to increase tungue weight?

asked by: Lyle B

Expert Reply:

You should have the hitch ball height set so that the trailer tows as level as possible behind your pickup. If there is a setting that goes between slightly higher than level and slightly lower than level, opt for the slightly lower setting, when the trailer is sitting on the trailer ball.

An increase in tongue weight will most likely help with your sway situation. Adding weight in front of the trailer axles would be the best way to increase the tongue weight, just make sure you stay within the capacities of your towing setup.

If you still have issues with sway after correctly setting the ball height and adding weight to the front of the trailer, you might want to consider adding a sway control unit and bracket. You could use the Reese Friction Sway Control Kit, # 83660, along with a Reese Sway-Control Bracket, # RP26003, if your adjustable ball mount will accommodate the sway control bracket.

We have a section in our weight distribution article that explains this type of sway control for you to review, see link.

expert reply by: Robert G

Mark K.

6/5/2020

i have a 23 ft trailer with a 22 ft i/o. the entire package weighs 5500 lbs. while towing, i experienced major trailer sway. i measured the tongue weight and it was only 220 lbs. i moved the boat forward as far as i could, (2.5 inches) and it increased to 330 lbs. my next step is to move the axle more to the rear. do you think i can assume a rule of thumb in my case, that 2.5 inches of weight moving forward will gain 110 lbs? or is there another way to figure out how far to move it, or just do a little at a time and measure along the way? my trailer total length is 23 ft 3 inches, with the transom even with the trailer and the outdrive and wood swim platform overhanging. thanks for any advice you can give me,

Chris R.

6/9/2020

It sounds like a pain but the best method is really to just move it a bit forward and re-weigh everything to see how much tongue weight it added. There isn't really a rule of thumb that you can go by as far as a certain distance equaling a set amount of tongue weight added. Trial and error is the way to go when moving the axle.