Spring bar selection

Ron Gratz wrote:

MStat wrote:
Are the 1200 lb. bars stout enough for the "published" tongue weight of 1100lbs.

Spring bar capacity should be based on how much load transfer you want to achieve.

Since 2010, Ford has been specifying that the WD bars should be adjusted so you restore only about 50% of the load which was removed from the front axle.

If only 50% of load is restored, the WD bars only need to be rated for about 50% of the tongue weight.
If you plan to use the outdated approach of restoring 100% or more, the WD bars should be rated for 100% of the tongue weight.

In a different thread, you indicated the new trailer would have a loaded weight of 9000#.
If that's the case, a reasonable TW% of 13% would give a TW of just under 1200#.

If you want to go with 100% front axle load restoration, the existing 1200# bars should be okay.
If you want to go with 50% FALR, you could stay with the 1200# bars or switch to bars with a lower rating.

Ron

Ron,

Have you been able to find the recommendation you listed in blue above by an WD hitch manufacture? If so which manufacture?

To give an example, with a 1,200# loaded TW where the owner desires 50% FALR per TV mfg recommendations, which WD hitch manufactures states it is OK to use a WD bar with a sticker rating to be used on 600# TW or anything less than the loaded TW can be used at 50% FALR on a 1,200# Loaded TW?

Reason for my asking is what Reese told me a number of years ago. This was long before the new thinking of 50% FALR, where my dealer gave me 800# WD bars and my TT ended up have a 1,200# loaded TW. Reese declared they will not warrant this situation on any TW above the TW sticker rating on the WD bar and the 800# WD bar may break or permanently deform in certain situations.

Now thinking present day, 50% FALR is becoming a topic of discussion. If one does use 600# TW rated WD bars on a 1,200# TW, to achieve 50% FALR, what happens to the WD bar during dynamic situations where heavy back flex in the hitch under of some level of speed occurs? Like coming off a high up RR track or dropping out of a high up gas stations curb, pot hole etc.

The lighter bar will try and deliver all it can and the loaded TW has the ability to be 2 times the weight pushing down on the ball then the WD bar may have been tested for. Will the WD bar permanently deform? This goes directly against the Reese warranty.

If one uses a 1,200# WD bar on a 1,200# TW and adjusts the WD hitch to only deliver the force needed for 50% FALR, then the back flex situation should not affect the WD bar as it has been fully tested to comply with this situation. Or has at least been proven by consumers to not bend in most cases.

I have not yet found the WD hitch mfgs to change their method of how to size a WD bar per loaded TW. Yet some hitch mfg's now declare less than 100% FALR in their instructions. I may have missed a few which state it is OK to down size a WD bar to a lower FALR which is why I was asking.

Thanks

John