Carl L
Moderator Emeritus
BigDfromTN said:Not disputing anything you say here!!!
BUT I do know that a trailer with too little tongue weight is VERY unstable as well. What I am unsure about is can you "Take Away" enough tongue weight with a WD hitch to cause this unstable condition? ???
And indeed it would be unstable. A WD hitch does not take any weight away. It is all still there. Some of it is merely transferred to the front axle from the rear axle of the tow vehicle. The object is to restore the proportion of weight distribution normal for the unladen vehicle. That is why you adjust a WD hitch by restoring the attitude of the truck to its unladen proportions. See our Library for the procedure.
Imagine the coupler ball as attached to the truck frame by a solid bar. That bar and the frame ahead of the bar constitute a level with its fulcrum (pivot) at the rear axle. Load tongue weight on the coupler ball and the lever pivots the front of the frame up taking load off the front axle. A WD hitch acts on frame twisting the receiver which is welded/bolted to the frame up forcing the front down thereby restoring the proportions of weight.
Gottit? No? Go out to a park and tinker with the teeter-totters and you should catch on to the idea. The board can be moved back an forth on the pivot a bit so a skinny kid can balance a big one. Even so, the balance may not be exact so the big kid has to push up a bit to allow the little one to get back down. That push is what the spring bars of the WD hitch provide -- more or less.
Time for a drink? ???