Kilometer 31
Novice
It's a Hitch, Girl, and It's Gone Too Far
About the point where it all pivots. I'm talking reality *and* metaphor.
craiglancaster.substack.com
Time. Speed. Distance. Another good entry today
- Thread starter Kilometer 31
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craiglancaster.substack.com
TheSongDogHouse
Ranger
Great stuff!!! Subscribed on substack.It's a Hitch, Girl, and It's Gone Too Far
About the point where it all pivots. I'm talking reality *and* metaphor.
I should have scrolled down to this post of yours before mine blathering on about "trailer sway" on full gas jugs on CI rear hitch bike rack...
Its that second youtube is the one I remembered- had same prob on a little tent trailer I modded to add welded steel flat rack on back to carry firewood, fire ring etc.
Great idea but too much weight aft and it would get verrryyy...sketchy above 65 mph so took it off except for short trips to beach etc slower.
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SethB
Ranger
My experience of a weight distributing hitch was pretty different than this blogger’s, but then my situation was different. But I do think the reason he was vulnerable to the dealership’s sales pitch was lack of info about what they’re good for.It's a Hitch, Girl, and It's Gone Too Far
About the point where it all pivots. I'm talking reality *and* metaphor.
We had a 10’ box Coleman tent trailer quite a few campers ago, and changed TVs from our blown dodge caravan “k” car minivan to a brand new 2nd gen Honda Odyssey. As many FWD heavier 6-cyl cars of the day, it had a 3500Lb towing capacity.
However, on our first camping trip we discovered that the front end was dangerously light. That’s where the steering and most of the braking is supposed to happen. Fortunately this trip was on secondary highways with a 45mph speed limit, we carefully made our way there and back.
What we discovered of course is that while the Ody could accelerate and brake 3500, there was no way it could take the minimum tongue weight of 350Lbs, or even the apx 260Lbs that we had with our camper.
This is the perfect application of a weight distributing hitch! Once we plunked down our $1100(?) for the tiniest Curt hitch, and figured out how to set it up and tension it(!!!) the nose of the TV came right down and we had many miles and many years of safe family travel at any speed. Man, that Ody 6 could pull!
NONE of this story is about oscillation control of the trailer, nor those fascinating clips on YouTube. In my experience oscillation is about insufficient tongue weight. Yes, heavier weight distributing hitches often are fitted with a dampener, but I think that’s about much heavier rigs with insufficient tongue weight.
So, my take is that Lancaster was talked into an expensive weight distributing hitch on the basis of scary oscillation… which he didn’t have.
But that’s not why you need a weight distributing hitch… when you need it you really need it!
TheSongDogHouse
Ranger
Good point on any FWD towing.
In re sway, respectfully disagree
Too far aft c.g. Aka center of moment is the sway reason, as it sets up an oscillation that diverges vs converges back to stable centrr...
but yes its also related to tongue weight too.
Fwiw: In the UK they tow at 50kph and use 4% on hitch as the target. Thats why they can tow a caravan of 2000 kg/4400lb with an Estate Wagon ( the size of an outback -its a VW mk7 tdi.)
That VW won tow car of the year 2012,3,4...in UK.
In the US we tow at 70 mpg with 10% rule of thumb. Or higher...despite CA tow limit of 55...I can not recall how many RVs or trailers with sand toys piled on back,
I've seen returning from car camping, backpacking etc-
that we'd see in the ditch on sides or exploded in pieces on I8 in the 80's, 90's
due to sway induced by Santa Annas,
when people were coming back from the desert in a hurry Sundays.
Same problem for semis...slow wayyy down.
Ps: nice thing about AutoW or ebrakes on CI is a little tap will center the trailer, in a starting sway...
or a beep on the fob Velcro'd to the dash if you have the presence of mind to use it that way.
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SethB
Ranger
Great info! Are there standards for center of moment in the EU/UK vs the US? Is it proportional to tongue weight :: gvwr?
It seems to me that by the time you need anti-sway, you’re already in serious trouble… but those Santa Ana gusts are radical. What do you think is the best use of sway dampeners?