WD Hitch Weight % Transferred

Ron Gratz wrote:

Campin LI wrote:
---My guess (assumption using fictitious numbers)is that he is looking at a trailer with say 900 lbs tongue weight but only has 700 lbs available in the truck. That being said if 200 lbs is transferred to the trailer axles, he is thinking he is good to go. All I am saying is that if this is how he is looking at the issue, the weight of the WDH sort of cancels out the transferred weight and the tongue weight is exactly what it is. If I'm assuming his intention wrong then disregard what I wrote.

A poster's intentions often can be ascertained by reading some of his/her recent posts on other threads.

In this post, the OP states:

---My assumption is that with my wife and I plus a dog or two and their kennels plus a couple of bicycles plus WD hitch, we have somewhere around 850-900 lbs available for hitch weight.

(bold and underline added for emphasis)

The OP is properly accounting for the weight of the WDH -- by including it as part of the TV's cargo.
By doing so, he can properly benefit from the difference between "tongue weight" and "hitch load" when WD is applied.

Hence, his question: "what is a good rule of thumb to use when estimating how much weight a WD Hitch will transfer from the hitch?"

Ron

I am guilty of not looking back at the OP's old posts so please disregard my posts as I stated above. Technically though, the OP did start the sentence by saying "My assumption", so he is estimating anyway. Since he is estimating his WDH hitch weight, he can estimate the amount transferred to the travel trailer wheels.

The only point I want to make is that if you spend too much time estimating all your weights, even if you don't mean to, you will always estimate in favor of what you are looking to achieve. The I always pack light is the worst estimation anyone can make. When we sold our first trailer, I could not believe how much stuff we had to take out of it:)