Hensley Arrow: How does it REALLY work?
There have been several discussions on this hitch that have become somewhat 'controversial'. I am NOT trying to stir this controversy/bashing back up. Instead, I'd like to see a good, intelligent di...
Forum Discussion
Ron wrote: The reduction in lateral force results from the effective increase in the TT's tongue length due to the forward projection of the virtual pivot point.
Longer pendulums move slower, but they still move.
I am thinking that the linkage itself resists the angular change in the travel trailer due to outside influences. In operation, there are effectively two links between the TV and the TT, 7 inches and a little bit apart, with the TT being the entire load. As pointed out previously, one link is under tension and one is under compression as the trailer angle changes. The rear cross link is fixed in place by the struts, and the only force that can be applied to the TV must travel through the links.
This must decrease the input from the TT to the TV, and while the diagrams are informative, in actual operation, they only apply when we turn the TV. When towing straight, the VPP stays in a very short arc, left and right.
The connection between the TT and TV is rigid during forward straight line travel, with a heavier trailer and a larger frontal surface increasing that rigidity, and the forces are applied to all of the wheels, TT and TV, as a result.
Or so I think. So far.
Longer pendulums move slower, but they still move.
I am thinking that the linkage itself resists the angular change in the travel trailer due to outside influences. In operation, there are effectively two links between the TV and the TT, 7 inches and a little bit apart, with the TT being the entire load. As pointed out previously, one link is under tension and one is under compression as the trailer angle changes. The rear cross link is fixed in place by the struts, and the only force that can be applied to the TV must travel through the links.
This must decrease the input from the TT to the TV, and while the diagrams are informative, in actual operation, they only apply when we turn the TV. When towing straight, the VPP stays in a very short arc, left and right.
The connection between the TT and TV is rigid during forward straight line travel, with a heavier trailer and a larger frontal surface increasing that rigidity, and the forces are applied to all of the wheels, TT and TV, as a result.
Or so I think. So far.
