Honda generator and tongue weight

immanence

Hi folks, I got a 2200 Honda generator and I was just measuring tongue weights to see if I can haul it in front of my cargo boxes. 

Without the generator my tongue weight weighed in at 250, and with 262. This surprised me, because I thought the added weight would be much closer to the actual weight of the generator. 

262 on the tongue seems fine, close to the 10% ratio, and I plan on mounting some gas cans on the rear racks, which should balance that a little further.

Does the above seem valid for other people's experience? Do other folks haul their generators on the tongue? 

I thought about relocating the spare on the tongue (this is a 2021 tab 320 boondock), but it seems like I shouldn't bother at this point.

KK1L

You are measuring the mass at the end of a beam fixed at the axle extending to the ball. The ratio of the distance from axle to the load (generator in the box) and the axle to the ball where you measure the load is reducing the load you measure. Lame contrived attempt to put words to drawing.

gulfarea

I have the Honda 22000 up front and have towed it several thousand miles on my 320 with no problems. Art

immanence

@KK1L that's amazing, haha! I knew the weight would be reduced, but it seems like my weight is reduced too much. But I thought the generator weighed like 85 lbs, whereas apparently it weights around 47. Still I feel like the math on the weight reduction is surprising me in my measurement. I wonder if there are other variables? I'll give it some measurements at other points just to see if I can eliminate variables, but it looks like I'm well within my tongue weight range.


@gulfarea awesome, thank you for the confirmation!

AnOldUR

Where are you taking your tongue weight measurement @immanence? Some owners think that they can use the tongue jack, but that locations has the same mathematical ratio problems noted by @KK1L. You need to put a block under the actual ball location for an accurate measurement.

immanence

@AnOldUR right on the ball. I just put a 6x6 post to rest the ball joint on. I suppose I should have subtracted the weight of the post, but it can't weigh more than a couple of lbs.

manyman297

Many put the generator on the tongue. I believe it should be fine. It’s the same amount of weight (or less) as people putting a couple of bikes on a bike rack on the tongue (we do this). 

The only concern I would have is having it on one side of the tongue platform. That’s 60lbs of offset weight. Also, the platform is made of aluminum and can actual flex and bend a bit. 

Because of this we put the generator in the truck bed. I didn’t feel comfortable putting it on the platform but others seem to be doing it without issue.