Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric Larson
Thank you all for your responses. You've given me still more things to ponder. I, for one, set up my Equalizer hitch without fully loading my TV or TM. In so doing, I redistributed the tongue weight generated by our empty TM. BUT -- then I go and add another 700 lbs or so to the TV (people, dogs, and gear in the bed). Some folks could have even greater loads with 3 or 4 passengers. Wouldn't a third or so of this additional weight necessarily be distributed BACK to TM's rear axle.........snip......
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Depends, methinks. If the TV load is distributed such that the TV's Center of Gravity(CG) stays relatively close to the unloaded CG, then there would be nearly zero effect on the trailer axle. The TV would settle, but it's pitch attitude would remain nearly unchanged.
OTOH, if the additional weight were biased toward the rear, then the TV would drop more at the rear axle. The vehicle attitude change would be seen to be a pitch up. In this case, the spring bars of the WDH, where they insert below the hitch ball, would rotate exactly the same number of degrees as the pitch change of the TV. Additional down-force on the trailer frame would be minor, the increased load on the trailer's axle resulting from a slight bending of the spring bars. The angle (measured from a hitch reference line) between the trailer frame and hitch would also increase slightly.
Suppose we were to connect the WDH after the TV loading is complete. Connect the spring bars such that the rear axle and front axle of the TV squat nearly equally ( up to 1/2" more squat for the rear axle). My hunch is that one or two additional links would have to be dropped, compared to connecting before loading the TV! Performing just such a comparison test could easily prove the hypothesis either T or F.
Point: I don't think that loading the TV
after WDH hook-up will increase the load on the trailer axle nearly as much as loading the TV
before WDH hook-up (assuming aft CG movement) and leveling!
Denny_A