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Originally Posted by fcatwo
I wonder if anyone has checked their tongue weight with and without their WDH (including shank) attached to the TM's tongue and can share that info. Most WDH's weigh 75-90lbs and that extra weight alone could require moving up a notch in spring bars by some people.
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....in knots thinking about all the permutations and combinations.
How about the weight in the TV load area. Plus the shank of the WDH. Should both be considered? What's a poor camper to do.
Possibility #1: measure front and rear heights, at the owner-selected spot, then load the TV and install the shank and bars. Connect the trailer and cinch the spring bars so that the TV attidude is close to the starting attitude. Might require a lot more load on the bars to redistribute cargo and shank load also.
Possibility #2 (which I used): Load the TV, then measure front/rear heights. Install shank and bars, connect trailer, and cinch the springbars, as above. In this case, the shank weight is accounted for (2/3 of the weight unloaded from the hitch) after returning the TV to proper attitude.
Possibility #3: Load Tv, install shank, measure heights. After connecting and leveling, none of the TV payload, nor shank weight, is redistributed.
So, when consistently applied, the chosen method AUTOMATICALLY determines the load on the springbars, since re-establishing the TV attitude is the ultimate act that results in springbar load.
Example; #2 ----> 510 lb tongue wt + 75 lb shank weight and a perfect leveling job (in this best of all possible worlds) means that 1/3 of 585 lbs acts downward at the receiver (195 lbs). The same force (195#) will have been distributed to the trailer axle and to the TV front axle.
That's my story and I'm............done.......
Denny_A