Re: Trailer Remedy from JoelB

["Allan Ericson" <lowvolt@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John-

As usual, you said it better, and gave me a way to look at a situation that
I hadn't quite reached.

I have found that having the tongue weight on the trailer drop the hitch
down just a little bit was the amount of weight I needed. The equalizers
just stiffened things up a bit. In my mind, the fact that they transferred
weight to the front axle was a "by-product" of that, but in truth, that's
one of the major reasons to use them, and actually why they work. They
create stability in that fashion. The upgrade from 3/4 ton to 1 ton on an IH
is a substantial change in the front axle, but not a very big change in the
rear. That should be an indication.

Joel left about an hour ago. He moved the scout forward about 18 inches and
used straps to "hunker down" the body a little, and that solved the problem.

Climbing the hill between Phoenix and Prescott turned out to be a bit more
stressful to the transmission than expected, so he came up in first gear to
avoid the strain.  My daughter TJ got an uncontrollable urge and made a
batch of chocolate chip cookies, so we all lived happily ever after, at
least for today.

-Allan
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Hofstetter" <hofs@domain.elided>
To: "Allan Ericson" <lowvolt@domain.elided>
Cc: <ihc@domain.elided>
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 4:48 PM
Subject: Re: Trailer Remedy from JoelB



On Saturday, June 28, 2003, at 08:48  AM, Allan Ericson wrote:

> The equalizer hitch stiffens the
> connection between the trailer and tow rig, which acts as a damper.
> The less
> "work" the equalizer has to do, the better.
>
I like to think of the equalizer hitch as putting more weight on the
front axle of the tow rig, which in fact it does. My rule of thumb is
to use enough equalizer lift to bring the hitch of the tow vehicle up
to where it would be without any weight on it.

On my GC which has towed some pretty substantial trailers maybe 80,000
miles, the hitch ball sits at 19 inches. I put the trailer on the ball,
and crank up the equalizer bars to where the ball is back at 19 inches.

Side issue: In 45 years of trailer towing, Ive never needed even the
previously installed sway bars to handle sway as long as the equalizer
hitch is set appropriately.

John Hofstetter