New vehicle hitch set up question
Hey y'all. I need to update my signature, about 2 months ago, I traded the 2000 Ford Expedition in and bought a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado Crew Cab, 1500 4x4. I took the trailer for the first test...
Forum Discussion
Turtle n Peeps wrote:As far as braking, think about the first thing your trailer tongue does when you peg the brake pedal. It dives forward (ie, down) and hard. Not saying there's a whole lot of difference in any case between the two settings, but if you're already 1 1/2" down, it's going to be much lower in a braking situation. I have mine set about 1/2" high when loaded and I have no issues. I believe it's more important to get the hitch set correctly to transfer the proper weight to the front axles for handling. My .02.
Not true at all. When you hit the brakes the weight (energy)transfers as far forward as possible. That would be all the way to the front bumper of the TV.
If anyone doubts that, just look at slow motion video of anything braking. The nose of the car, trucks and especially motorcycles dives to the ground. Anybody that has ridden a motorcycle will tell you that the back brakes of the motorcycle are almost useless because of this.
If you have a nose high trailer and when you brake hard the TV will nose dive and then try to raise the back of the TV. It will look like an inch worm.
Ever see a truck and trailer "jack knifed"? This is one of the reasons why. The trailer will try and lift the back end of the TV off of the ground and if it's not perfectly straight it will kick the back end of the truck around. With ABS on the TV this is even more pronounced.
If you set the trailer up slightly nose down when you brake hard the nose of the TV will dive, the back will come up slightly and even out the coupling height. Look at this video to see why nose high is a bad idea.
See how the nose dives and the trailer lifts up around 22 seconds. This is what your trailer will do at a nose up or level attitude.
Thanks for this excellent post and video. It's hard to argue with your point about the 22sec mark and what the trailer will do during hard braking. I did buy a1 inch riser ball which actually gave me about 5/8 inch over the standard ball. So unloaded i will be about 1/2 inch nose low. Maybe 1 inch low when loaded.
