WD Hitch effect on TW ratio

DadoPax wrote:
Maybe explaining the reason I ask will help everyone understand why I want to know.

Lets imagine you have a TT that has 12% of its weight on the hitch, and when you put that weight on your TV the trailer tracks right behind the truck straight and great. Only problem is... putting all that weight right on your rear axle creates a situation where you are over your axle rating. So you go get a WDH, move some of that weight to the front axle AND some of it to the rear axle of the TRAILER.

Do you no longer have 12% and straight and great due to the added load on the rear axles and the weight moved from the tongue?

The thing that confuses me is that people say WDH does not reduce the weight of the tongue, it simply relocates the places that weight travels to the ground. That makes sense.

I am confused about the effects this has on the 12%.

Hopefully my question makes sense?

A couple of points ....

1. TW if defined as what you would measure using something like a Sherline scale does not change.

2. W/O WDH the TW will increase the weight on the TV rear axle more than just the TW due to some of the front axle wt. being redistributed to the rear axle of the TV so a 1000lb TW might increase the rear axle TV wt. by 1100 to 1200.

3. With WDH the increase in wt. on the rear axle will become less with some redistributed to the front axle of the TV and some to the TT axle(s).

4. This is subject to debate, but some simply add the wt of the WDH system to the Cargo, but I think and believe it counts as TW with respect to the receiver TW rating. That is to say for a 1K TW receiver and a 100lb WDH system you can only have 900lb of TW as you would see on a Sherline scale until you reach the 1K TW limit on the TV receiver.

Larry

Yes, it will decrease the weight on the rear axle. Yes it should still tow straight and great. I have no idea why it works if in essence it is no longer 12 percent.
Percent sign gone, now replies will work.

Maybe explaining the reason I ask will help everyone understand why I want to know.

Lets imagine you have a TT that has 12% of its weight on the hitch, and when you put that weight on your TV the trailer tracks right behind the truck straight and great. Only problem is... putting all that weight right on your rear axle creates a situation where you are over your axle rating. So you go get a WDH, move some of that weight to the front axle AND some of it to the rear axle of the TRAILER.

Do you no longer have 12% and straight and great due to the added load on the rear axles and the weight moved from the tongue?

The thing that confuses me is that people say WDH does not reduce the weight of the tongue, it simply relocates the places that weight travels to the ground. That makes sense.

I am confused about the effects this has on the 12%.

Hopefully my question makes sense?

Bedlam wrote:
You also have consider the distance from the hitch to the trailer front axle and from the hitch to the tow vehicle rear axle will most likely be different. If you take 50 percent of the tongue weight off the vehicle rear axle, that 50 percent may be distributed differently to the remaining axles based the difference in length. Although you figure this out mathematically, it is easier to find closed weigh station where the scale is still operating and try different WDH hitch settings and their effects on your combination.

These are made up numbers used to create a very easy to understand example.

In this HYPOTHETICAL situation, the variables create a situation where 50lbs is distributed to the rear axle.

The question is about the effects that distributed weight has on the ratio between tongue and axle weight.

DutchmenSport wrote:
In an ideal environment, Weight Distribution hitches will take that 100 pounds and put 33 pounds on the front axle of the tow vehicle, 33 pounds on the rear axle of the tow vehicle, and 33 pounds on the axles of the trailer.

This creates proper steering control of the tow vehicle, forcing weight on the front axle, and reduces weight on the rear axle, keeping the rear axle from bottoming out, or breaking something.

If the weight distribution is not set up correctly, that 100 pounds can be distributed uneven.... instead of 33-33-33, it could be 10-80-10, or it could be 40-20-40 (illustrating extremes here). Properly set up, the weight is distributed "evenly" across both vehicles and all axles.

Hope this helps.

This does not help, but thank you. I don't think you understood the question.

This question is not how does a WDH work, or what percentages are distributed. It's about whether it has an effect on the ratio of weight on axles to weight on tongue.

The answer is either 10% or 5%... I think...

You also have consider the distance from the hitch to the trailer front axle and from the hitch to the tow vehicle rear axle will most likely be different. If you take 50 percent of the tongue weight off the vehicle rear axle, that 50 percent may be distributed differently to the remaining axles based the difference in length. Although you figure this out mathematically, it is easier to find closed weigh station where the scale is still operating and try different WDH hitch settings and their effects on your combination.

In an ideal environment, Weight Distribution hitches will take that 100 pounds and put 33 pounds on the front axle of the tow vehicle, 33 pounds on the rear axle of the tow vehicle, and 33 pounds on the axles of the trailer.

This creates proper steering control of the tow vehicle, forcing weight on the front axle, and reduces weight on the rear axle, keeping the rear axle from bottoming out, or breaking something.

If the weight distribution is not set up correctly, that 100 pounds can be distributed uneven.... instead of 33-33-33, it could be 10-80-10, or it could be 40-20-40 (illustrating extremes here). Properly set up, the weight is distributed "evenly" across both vehicles and all axles.

Hope this helps.