Quote:
Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles
That may be the whole point, but it also puts weight back on the trailer -supposedly at the wheels but surely concentrated at the tongue rail.
And as long as we're on the subject:
Though perhaps not in this particular thread, I've seen posts from folks advocating w/d hitches for towing trailers as small or smaller than mine. (2,000 pounds loaded)
Can anyone explain to me the logic behind adding almost a hundred pounds so as to "redistribute" 200 pounds or so of tongue weight????
Francesca
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A WD hitch re-distributes weight both to the steer
axle and also back to the trailer axle(s). The percentage going forward to the steer
axle vs what goes to the trailer
axle depends on the distance to each. Example, on my Nissan and Funfinder combo, of the approx 500 pounds of tongue weight, I am moving approx 250-260 pounds forward to the steer axle and approx 120 pounds to the trailer axles. So we can see that all hitched up, I am also loading approx 120 pounds more onto the drive axle compared to the unloaded truck.
Regarding using WD hitch with a trailer of only 200 pounds of tongue weight, I would suggest to check with the manufacturer of the hitch before doing so. I have the 'old' version of the BlueOx swaypro. The instructions state the trailer must have a minimum of 350 pounds to use this hitch. The "new" version does not have that statement in the install instructions. I do not know what design change may have been made that might have effected that issue.
A guess would be that only 200 pounds of tongue weight on most vehicles that have enough rated tow capacity for the trailer weight, would not require a WD hitch. 200 pounds of tongue weight would be about right for a camper of approx 1500 pounds ready to roll (13%). A simple friction sway bar might be a good addition to a rig such as that. I could also imagine that on a setup such as that, airbags might be a good addition, especially if the rear suspension is rather soft, which is often the case for passenger type vehicles. Also, cars with independent rear suspension ( IRS ) can sometimes suffer geometry changes when they are squatting that likely would lead to rapid tire wear if run many miles in a squat attitude.