Tongue Weight Rating

Ron Gratz wrote:

waynec1957 wrote:
So my question is, if a given hitch is rated for a tongue weight of (for instance) 600 lbs. and WD hitches do not change tongue weight, how does adding a WD hitch increase the allowable TW to (for instance) 1,200 lbs.? I’m sure there’s something I’m not seeing here.

A WDH does not change the tongue weight of a given trailer. You change the tongue weight by adding, subtracting, or relocating cargo or by changing the structure of the trailer.

Since receivers usually have a greater tongue weight rating when a WDH is used, the WDH allows such a receiver to be used with a greater TW.
It's simply a matter of how the receiver is rated.

I've never been able to make much sense out of why receivers are rated the way they are.

Ron

That’s what I’m trying to understand…how does a WDH allow a receiver to handle a greater TW? It’s the same receiver, made of the same material, attached to the TV in the same manner with or without a WDH. But once the WDH is attached (like in the example of my old ½ ton) the amount of TW the receiver can handle seems to increase significantly and apparently it doesn’t have anything (or very little) to do with the construction of the receiver or how it’s attached to the TV.

The only thing I can figure is without a WDH all (or most) of the TW is on the back axle—which can create the problems folks have already talked about (steering, breaking, overloading the axle, etc.). With a WDH distributing the weight across the TV and TT (if I’m understanding this correctly) allows for more TW because it’s not all resting on the rear axle.

I don’t mean to sound dense and I may have just answered my own question.