Quote:
Originally Posted by Beach Boy
a RV trailer. Why do TM owners need a WDH? The information that I read stress the ease of a TM in towing. Do most TM owners use a WDH? Like to hear from TM owners who don't use a WDH. Just wondering.
Thanks to everyone's patience in my pursue of information to whether I should purchase a TM.
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I do not use a WDH but I have a 157" wheel base on my tow vehicle. A long WB makes a WDH
~less needed
in most cases.
The TM is built with the trailer axle farther back than most camping trailers. This makes the TM much less apt to sway but it also makes the tongue weight quite heavy.
The heavy tongue weight results in added weight and friction to the rear tires on the TV and removing needed weight from the front tires of
ALL tow vehicles. The shorter the WB on the TV, the more the tow vehicle is effected.
This imbalance of weight/friction from front to rear tires will lead to loss of braking/friction in the front and increased braking/friction in the rear. When heavy braking occurs (especially on wet roads) the front wheels may lock up (skid) and when that occurs, the driver will have
no steering control. The vehicle will take much farther to stop and will travel in a straight line (no matter what the driver does to try to turn away from a collision)).
When one uses a WDH, part of the tongue weight is distributed off of the TVs rear wheels and placed on the front wheels of the TV (using leverage). This results in much better braking and control. A by-product is that it also makes for a better ride......
Another by-product is that the WDH also transfers part of the tongue weight back to the trailer axle. The owner must then decide if the trailer axle can handle the additional dead weight PLUS the additional shock loading on road surfaces that are not perfectly smooth.
There are compromises in everything that we do when setting up a camping trailer. The best compromise decisions are always toward the safety aspect of the towing rig.
Some of us have reached the age (and bad back condition) that dealing with the heavy WDH is almost as bad as risking
some loss of TV control. That is my case. My TV is well suited (due to the 157" WB) for towing without a WDH but it does come with a certain risk. I am set-up for a WDH and if we will be making long trips or towing in the mountains or if it may rain, I will use it. However, most of our trips are within 150 miles and living in SoCal the risk of wet highways is minimal.
There are a lot of things to consider when setting up for towing. Myself.....I would not tow
any TM without a WDH if my TV has a WB less than 140". I would not tow anything larger than my 2720SL without a WDH with
any tow vehicle............ but that's just me.
My last TV had a WB of 127" and I experienced front wheel lock-up on a few occasions. It was always on the freeway and always when traffic suddenly slowed from a blind curve in the road. It is the scariest feeling that I've ever had while towing. The driver is totally helpless and can only hope that the rig will stop before impacting the vehicle in front. I soon installed a WDH and it helped tremendously. After realizing that I was placing added weight to an already over-burden trailer axle and tires, I purchased our current truck.
I hope this helps........just my experience......
