Weight Distribution Hitches |
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StephenH
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6288 |
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Topic: Weight Distribution Hitches Posted: 25 Jan 2023 at 9:38am |
That is a great explanation, very understandable.
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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jato
Senior Member Joined: 23 Feb 2012 Location: Kewadin, MI Online Status: Offline Posts: 3226 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 25 Jan 2023 at 9:59am |
+2 Thanks for taking the 'mystery' out of this important topic. Although it was only experienced a couple times as we would tow our 177 up some rather steep inclines on loose gravel in the Rockies and felt the front tires slipping a bit (on both our '08 and '13 Explorers) it now makes sense. Fortunately the fully loaded 177 was only 2900 lbs and tongue weight was just under 295 lbs. After replacing one of our batteries a couple years ago with a Trojan T-1275 (85 lbs) the tongue weight shot up to 320 lbs with a fully loaded trailer.
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God's pod
'11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
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GlueGuy
Senior Member Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2630 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 25 Jan 2023 at 2:24pm |
While our F150 does not "need" the WDH, we discovered during our evacuation for the CZU Complex fire (when we did not hook up the WDH for expediency), we discovered that it made an unfortunate adjustment to our headlight aim. The headlights ended up high, such that they would blind oncoming traffic. Not a desirable effect.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
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lostagain
Senior Member Joined: 06 Sep 2016 Location: Quaker Hill, CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 2587 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 25 Jan 2023 at 2:36pm |
Thanks for the detailed explanation, OG. My reference to mostly getting the vehicle leveled out was a quick and dirty summary of the Fastway video that basically illustrates the steps you described. I have no idea whether the video's steps apply to other WDH's since I've never adjusted any other kind but Fastway. They also provide detailed written instructions, which are basically the same as the video.
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
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offgrid
Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 25 Jan 2023 at 4:56pm |
LA, I figured you might have been taking a shortcut in your post but I thought it might help out our less experienced members to explain the whole process.
I had a Reese Pro and it has the same setup procedure in it's instructions. I think I looked at one or two others and they did as well. It's really the only right way to do it if yug think about it. Bad things can happen if you overtension to get the TV level, and under tensioning kinda defeats the whole purpose of having the wdh to begin with. But yeah, even with a wdh, you may need to adjust your headlights for towing, just like you would if you were carrying a big load in the bed of your truck all the time. Conincidentally I was just looking at how much I can really tow with my Chinook in case we want to take my wife's horse with us on a trip. There are quite a few parks that have set aside special equestrian campsites, and they tend to be less crowded and overbooked than standard sites. It turns out that while the Chinook is built on a heavy dually chassis, it has a really long rear overhang so suffers from the teeter totter problem in my post. I'm going to be able to tow the horse trailer with it but I'll need a wdh. I gave my old one to the couple I sold my rpod to so there's another expense for me to get back into RVing. Can't plan for everything I guess. |
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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lostagain
Senior Member Joined: 06 Sep 2016 Location: Quaker Hill, CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 2587 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 25 Jan 2023 at 6:21pm |
You could have the horse pull your Chinook. Not only would that eliminate the need for a WDH, but would also be a net 0 for green house gasses. Of course, your wife might get a little irritated with you for making such a suggestion.
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
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offgrid
Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Jan 2023 at 2:13am |
Maybe him and 249 more of his friends. That's about what the old 7.5 liter V8 up front is rated for. And I need every one of those ponies. That sucker is heavy, weighed in at around 9000 lbs empty at my landfill scales. Still, I suppose it could work, but where would I keep all the hay? I'd need about 80 bales per day. And then a trailer twice the size of my horse trailer to carry the hay. And then another 20 more horses to haul that. And hay for them too. I don't like where this is heading.... How did our pioneer ancestors ever do it? Oh, I know, on their best days they covered what we do in 15 minutes. Not counting days off for grazing the horses, which they could do but we can't cause it was open range back then. And let's not forget that around 5 to 10 percent of them died on the way from Cholera or whatever. That's no fun. I think Id be much better off converting the Chinook to electric drive and running it off the 1500 watt solar array I'm putting on the roof. By my rough calculations I ought to be able to travel between 5 and 10 miles a day that way. That'd probably be at least as fast as the pioneer method, and a whole lot less work. |
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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gpokluda
Senior Member Joined: 11 Nov 2018 Location: NM Online Status: Offline Posts: 276 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Jan 2023 at 10:47am |
Well, OG, you could always wait for the inevitable Mr. Fusion now that sustained fusion reactions have been achieved. Should only be a few decades away.
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Gpokluda
2017 Rpod 179(sold 2023) 2022 Escape 5.0TA 2022 Ford F150 4X4 3.5EB Triumph T120 |
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gpokluda
Senior Member Joined: 11 Nov 2018 Location: NM Online Status: Offline Posts: 276 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Jan 2023 at 11:20am |
Something else to add to the WDH topic is the use of suspension enhancement devices on the TV such as SumoSprings, helper leaf springs, air bags, and progressive spring enhancements such as the Roadmaster Active Suspension. I think I lucked out in my application on my 2017 Frontier 2WD to which I installed SumoSprings(blue) as well as utilized a E2 WDH. Many many trouble free miles with that combo, just made sure I installed the Sumos first then worked the WDH install and adjustment from there.
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Gpokluda
2017 Rpod 179(sold 2023) 2022 Escape 5.0TA 2022 Ford F150 4X4 3.5EB Triumph T120 |
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StephenH
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6288 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Jan 2023 at 12:59pm |
+1 on the SumoSprings. I opted for the middle grade though as the blue were not quite enough for my 2010 Frontier.
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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