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Old 04-16-2007, 08:53 PM   #12
Bill
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Location: The mountains of Scottsdale, AZ, and the beaches of Maine
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And that leads to the WDH. I have done some research with using one on this vehicle. My owners manual says "Not recommended for use with this vehicle...." and the implication is that if you do not adjust it properly, you can experience handling, braking problems.
If you DON'T have a WDH, you can experience handling and braking problems, because the tongue weight of the trailer takes weight off the front wheels of the tow vehicle. Since the front end of the tow vehicle does all of the steering and most of the braking, unweighting it can indeed cause the problems described. A WDH can only help this situation, not make it worse.
Quote:
There's the kicker - with my Pilot, I really don't have a "frame". The body is sitting on essentially rails, that are built WITH the body (Unit body).
Yup, that's the problem with unibody vehicles. The WDH exerts a torque (twisting force) on the body, which put a downward twist into the "frame". In other words, it tries to bend the middle of the vehicle down toward the ground. Imagine that you put a pair of wheelbarrow handles on the rear of the tow vehicle, and lifted them. Does the lifting force bend the "frame" between the rear and front wheels, dropping the belly of the vehicc toward the ground? Or is the "frame" rigid enough that the lifting force shifts weight directly to the front wheels? A true frame is rigid enough to do the latter. A unibody may bend, which would put wrinkles in the sheet metal since the sheet metal is part of the load bearing structure. This is a force that was not planned in the design of the unibody.

Does that make sense? Hope so.

Bill
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