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Originally Posted by 3DogNight
Hi Nick,Thanks for the referal to your thread of the mathematical analysis of WD hitches. I had more fun studying it than sitting with the inlaws for Thanksgiving. It would be my guess that somewhere along the line you taught Mechanical Engineering. Your explanations were clear and I think understandable.
Please correct me if I am wrong but as I understand from your equations, D is in direct relationship to L. I didn't try to figure out if this was 1 to 1 and am quite sure it is not but as trailer hitch to axel length decreased the the necessary chain tension to level the truck diminished.
Sooo-- with not yet taking delivery on my 20' Safari or the Equal- I- zer hitch and it's still the Holiday I used the garbage in garbage out principle. I guestimated L at 140". T is 600# per specs. Having a F250 crew cab short bed diesel with a W similar to your TV setup I used your numbers as well as B of 33" and came up with D= 763#. A number which is not worth the time it took to type but it leads me to the conclusion that the 1000# spring bar from Equal-I-zer is a better choice than the 600# alternative. Do you see a flaw in my reasoning? Thanks, Jerry
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Since you are towing with a 3/4 ton truck You need the
more flexible bars. The tow vehicle has stiff suspension so it doesn't need the rear to lift as much to get the weight transfer to the front.
The reason you want the
more flexible bars is if the bars become unloaded you loose sway control. The
more flexible bars will take a greater attitude change between tow vehicle and trailer before you loose tension on the bars.
Now you are going "More Flexible" ...what the heck is this guy talking about.!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I believe that the weight rating currently on the bars is misleading. That weight rating was designated when people were towing with cars with soft suspension. When you get into a truck especially a 3/4-1 ton the stiffer suspension plays heavily into the system.
There has been quite a few wrecks analyzed on this forum and if you get down to the core problem what happened is in an evasive maneuver if the sway control is lost you are a goner. Its often found that "over hitching" (coined by Andy if Inland RV who use to be an insurance adjuster for Airstream and had done extensive testing and relates to the load bars being too stiff for the application) to be at blame.
So the bottom line is you need the "
most flexible" bars you can get that will get the tow vehicle back to level. If you can't get the bars to level the vehicle then you need to go up to the next level of stiffness.
The above formula is good guide. If towing with a half ton or a car you probably want to go on the stiff side but on a HD truck like yours you want to go on the flexible side.