Re-posted; Trailer with a bent tongue

[mikevr007]

Re-posted from another forum:

I've searched for a similar post....didn't find one.
I was disassembling my trailer tongue to put on a new coupler and jack. The old coupler was bent a little... After removing everything, I noticed the tongue tube is bent. It's off by about 3/8" at the coupler, or about 1/4" at the end of the 3x3 tube. Does anyone know if this is going to be a problem? Should I put a new tongue tube on?

[rev.ronnie]

I don't think you'll have much of a problem as long as everything tightens up good run it. You should see some of the bent, jacknived up snowmobile trailers people run around here!! Check out the "angle of the dangle" post. Seriously, as long as it's not sloppy, it wont beat itself apart.

[mikevr007]

I have already drilled holes in the tongue and bolted on the new coupler. Strength is definitely not the problem. I'll pull it for a while and see how it goes. It seemed to pull fine when I brought it home about a year ago.
Thanks!

[chris_lacey]

I had the same problem and just shortened the tongue about 6" drilled new holes and good as new.

[sho305]

There are a few trailers at our lake that we took the tongue off. We welded a sleeve in so you can remove the part ahead of the winch. That way they could fit inside a standard garage for winter storage, and you can take the 3' section & coupler home for theft prevention.;) Some pinned, some bolted with a couple big bolts. They work great. A little bend should not be a problem, as long as the tube is intact and it does not dog-track bad.

[Raceman]

Sho, a bent tongue won't make a trailer crab track. It takes the axle being out of line with the chassis to make it run crooked. It could make it run off to one side or the other, in relation to the centerline of the car, but it'll be straight if the axle's under it straight still.

[shadowman]

As long as the tracking of the trailer does'nt bother you, It will be fine.;)

[sho305]

That is what I meant, not in-line with the tow vehicle. If the bend causes the coupler ball to be less than a couple inches to the side of the center where it used to be, it should not matter. I have seen them bent closer to the boat, so the coupler was off 6" and then you notice the trailer hang to the side. That would drive me nuts and I'd have to fix it.

[mikevr007]

Yeah...it's only a quarter inch. I didn't even see it until I removed the trailer jack to prep for paint and a new jack. I've been told I'm a perfectionist. I don't believe it, but then again I do like things to be right, but then again, again....being right doesn't make it perfect.
:D

[sho305]

Being a perfectionist is great; you just need to always be aware of what other stuff you will miss while wasting your time perfecting some trivial thing. So you know enough to skip it!

If you are going to boat shows with it then fix, otherwise a 1/4" sounds pretty tiny. Unless you need to remove the coupler for storage.

[Techno]

What no one has mentioned is why the tongue is bent. If it's a nothing thing then I wouldn't worry about it but if it's from towing it then maybe it's something to look into.

[sho305]

All the ones I seen where from not being awake when someone backed up:) Though I had a bumper on my truck with the ball in the step and it can hit there. A receiver is the way to go.

[mikevr007]

I don't know why it's bent. It was that way when I bought it.
It's bent to the side, so it's easy to imagine why. I'm gonna leave it alone. Now that I have the coupler and jack back on, once again it's hard to even see the bend.