[Padgett]

I am learning to think of a WDH as a torque applied to the hitch. The total weight of the tow and towed has not changed but the force relationship between the two has.

My tongue weight is now 460 lbs and placed on the hitch ball adds 460 lbs to the TV. However since there is a 3:1 ratio between lever arm and wheelbase of my TV, this has the effect of also unloading the front axle by 150 lb which adds to the load on the rear axle since the TV wheight is unchanged.

So the effect is to add 600 lbs to the rear TV axle while removing 150 lbs from the front. Front goes up a 1/2" and rear goes down an inch.

So for my TV there is a 460 lb tongue weight and a 150 lb torque.

What a WBH hitch does is to apply a reverse torque to the hitch system to effectively transfer some of the tongue weight back to the trailer axle and and apply an equivalent torque (complex analysis of force vectors is left to the student) to the TV.

However when a WDH says "800 lbs" the real question needs to be "in what direction ?".