Quote:
Originally Posted by harveyrv
There is absolutely no upside to backing up a steep hill with the WDH bars on.
|
There's no downside, either. The WDH lifts the middle and loads the ends, moving a few hundred pounds, exactly the same way whether you're stationary or rolling frontwards or backwards, and whether you're on an incline as well. You should take the hitch bars off if you don't mind your front axle being unloaded or you don't want your middle lifted, for example if the rear of the trailer bottoms out as you go from the street to the driveway incline. If backing the trailer on the driveway involves sharp turns, I can understand fears of the bars binding. With front wheel drive, as I have, you might benefit from the extra traction from having the WDH fully engaged.
The axles of the TV and the trailer carry a few thousand pounds, substantially higher loads than what's going on at the hitch. The frame members at the axle are the same as at the hitch, therefore you shouldn't be able to bend a trailer frame with hitch bars unless there's something seriously wrong with the trailer frame (broken/missing/poor welds, improperly built/attached swing hitch, etc).
Welding the swing hitch closed fixed your problem by reinforcing the weak spot (thanks for the pictures!). The underlying weakness you discovered at the attachment point for the swing hitch should be of continuing interest to those with swing hitches.