Tongue weight & equalizer

[dernst]

I am buying a Ultra Lite 2702ws which has a tongue weight of 800 pounds. My dealer says that an equalizer will be able to reduce the tongue weight in half. Does this seem correct?

[drsteve]

No, the dealer is incorrect. A WD hitch doesn't remove any tongue weight from the hitch ball. It removes some weight from the rear axle of the TV and puts it on the front axle of the TV, and puts some onto the trailer axle as well. The tongue weight is still the same, it's still on the hitch, and must still be counted against the cargo capacity of the TV.

[73guna]

Here are my scale tickets from our last outing.
First one (left) is without WDH hooked, second with WDH hooked.
Ill try to edit my pic later to get it rotated, photobucket is just not working good for me know.
If you click on the pic if will rotate.

[APT]

800 pounds of TW will cause about 1100 pound increase on the tow vehicle rear axle and decrease the front by 300. A WDH when adjusted to return all 300 pounds back to the front axle will have a net increase of about 650 pounds on the rear axle (instead of 1100) and put 150 on the trailer axles.

That's the closest I can come up with factually to support his "half" claim.

[bikendan]

dernst wrote:
I am buying a Ultra Lite 2702ws which has a tongue weight of 800 pounds. My dealer says that an equalizer will be able to reduce the tongue weight in half. Does this seem correct?

your dealer is an idiot!:S

[1492]

Moved from Forum Technical Support

[MitchF150]

Ummm.. No... That's not exactly how it works.. 😉

800 TW is 800 TW. What a WD hitch does is distribute that 800 pounds between the trucks front axle and the trailer axles as well as leaving some on the rear axle.

Think of a wheelbarrow. Toss a 80# bag of cement in it and what happens when you lift up on the handles? You distribute some of that weight to the front wheel, some thru your arms to your legs and some might still be on the rear skids if you don't lift it all the way up.

The 80# bag of cement has not changed.. It's still 80#.

Good luck!

Mitch

[WNYBob]

I wouldn't believe any weight information a dealer tells you.

Maybe you could call a few of the WD mfgs, and get the proper info.