Re: Maximum trailer tongue length?
I didn't get a ticket that day. But got a warning stating 'Unsafe vehicle" with 'tongue too long hand written on it.
No statue number on it at all.
I stopped at a local truck weigh station and asked one of the DOT officers there, he had never heard of it, but asked a supervisor who said he thinks there is a law stating 5 or 6' max length but wasn't sure. He said all their concerned with is medium and heavy truck violations, they don't stop passenger tagged vehicles in general.
If the law is 5 or 6' max length then every last trailer I've ever owned is illegal, so is every trailer on the lot at the dealer too.
The trailer under my 12' tinny measures 16' overall, the rear frame loop is 40" wide, 40" front to back, the rest is tongue. The trailer is made by Venture. I bought it here in NJ new from a dealer under a 17' jon boat in 1998. The bunks are screwed right to the stamped frame rails, carpetted 2x4s standing on end. The tongue tube intersects the front part of the frame and bolts to the rear in the middle. They sold that same trailer with various length tongues for both boats and jet skis. I've got one built for a jet ski that's got only a 3' long tongue and two long bunks out the back. The whole trailer frame and tongue is only 8' long without the bunks. Both tongues are 2x3 galvanized steel tubing. Nearly every trailer I've owned has looked just like it.
I think it was something like $329 brand new back then. The one built for the jetski was only $159.
A few of my trailers have 2x3" tongue tubes, a few have 2x2" and two are 3x3". The shorter tongue trailers have larger tongue tubes. My Load Rite Lil' Rider roller trailer has about an 8' long tounge beyond the point where the side rails bolt up, the trailer is 18' long overall with 12 rollers.
Every other trailer has a much longer tongue tube.
The trailer I got pulled over with is an even longer version of the one pictured. All of the Venture branded trailers have 8" wheels, all of the Shorelandr' trailers have 12" wheels, and the two Load Rite Lil Rider roller trailers have 14" wheels.
The GVW on the trailer pictured is 890 lbs on the frame sticker. The axle has 1" spindles, 4.80x8 tires, and very light springs. The axle is mounted in a fixed location on the frame, the frame loop is all one piece. The entire trailer here consists of a rear loop, tongue and two piece bow stop with a coupler and two fenders. The whole trailer is super light, as pictured I can grap the thing under my arm and carry it from the balance point, which is just ahead of the axle. Its very light guage steel but it only carries a 180 lb aluminum boat, its trolling motor and a battery. Maybe 320 lbs loaded on its way to the lake less than a mile down the road.
so it must be wrong.
