Draw bar length, anything magical?
I was wondering about the length of the draw bar (piece that goes into the receiver) on a WD hitch. Is there anything "magical" about it? ie. relationship between it and the weight ratings of the spr...
Forum Discussion
We had a thread on this a while back.
Ron Gratz, our resident engineer weighed in, and Barney the moderator contacted some hitch manufacturers. The focus was on whether the weight rating should be reduced when using a longer shank.. The consensus was that if it was a standard type WD hitch that the WD pretty much canceled out any weight reduction, and made the WD bars effectively stronger. On a hitch that imparts side loads to the receiver such as the Hensely, there would be a negative effect.... But those type hitches use special drawbars, and extended ones are not available anyways.
That is all theory of course.
My real worlds experience tends to bear it out.
When I had my 2001 TV (same as my 2011 in sig) I went from the standard draw bar to the EQUALIZER 18" bar. I noticed that the springs did indeed appear stronger as under lightly loaded conditions the ride was bouncier. Heavily loaded, the bounce went away. With the standard drawbar, there was never any bounce. I was considering putting a little less tension on the bars to see if it would settle down. But since I tow heavy most of the time, it wasn't a big deal and I ended up getting my new truck before I got around to it.
Interestingly my new truck with a much stronger suspension had a hint of front end "float" with the same hitch setup. I added one washer and it settled down. I never tried the old regular drawbar to see what the impact would be on this truck.
So my opinion is that, yes a longer draw bar does make the bars effectively stronger, but whether this effect is actually noticeable will differ on different TVs.
Ron Gratz, our resident engineer weighed in, and Barney the moderator contacted some hitch manufacturers. The focus was on whether the weight rating should be reduced when using a longer shank.. The consensus was that if it was a standard type WD hitch that the WD pretty much canceled out any weight reduction, and made the WD bars effectively stronger. On a hitch that imparts side loads to the receiver such as the Hensely, there would be a negative effect.... But those type hitches use special drawbars, and extended ones are not available anyways.
That is all theory of course.
My real worlds experience tends to bear it out.
When I had my 2001 TV (same as my 2011 in sig) I went from the standard draw bar to the EQUALIZER 18" bar. I noticed that the springs did indeed appear stronger as under lightly loaded conditions the ride was bouncier. Heavily loaded, the bounce went away. With the standard drawbar, there was never any bounce. I was considering putting a little less tension on the bars to see if it would settle down. But since I tow heavy most of the time, it wasn't a big deal and I ended up getting my new truck before I got around to it.
Interestingly my new truck with a much stronger suspension had a hint of front end "float" with the same hitch setup. I added one washer and it settled down. I never tried the old regular drawbar to see what the impact would be on this truck.
So my opinion is that, yes a longer draw bar does make the bars effectively stronger, but whether this effect is actually noticeable will differ on different TVs.
