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Old 03-28-2015, 09:57 PM   #1
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Trouble getting my TV set properly

Ok I look to the experts on this forum to help me understand what is going on with my WDH setup. I weighed at a cat scale my ford excursion TV the other day front axle 3740 rear 3940 for a total of 7680. Today I had the ability to weigh the excursion and trailer together front 3420, rear 5520 for a total of 15960. I had thought my weight on my hitch we 1380 but now I know that was wrong and it is around 1280. As u can see my front loses 300lbs of weight so it appears to me that my wdh is not working. I have tried everything. Currently I have a round bar hitch with 1400 lb bars. The hitch head tilt is maxed out and I have tried to raise and lower the hitch head to no avail as well raised the back of the excursion with the camper jack and put significant amount of weight to a point where the bars ends are tipping up. My fear is that my hitch needs to be replaced but I was trying to use what we had or try to make it work rather than spending a bunch more money. Anyone have any further suggestions? Thanks


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Old 03-28-2015, 10:14 PM   #2
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Colem, First thing i would is figure out your tongue weight. The figures you have provides show it at 1580, which is over the WD hitch capacity. Can your move some weight from the front of the trailer to lighten this up. What trailer do you have? Also is the Excursion have a stock hitch and is it capable of this much tongue weight?
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Old 03-29-2015, 07:38 AM   #3
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Well I know the tongue weight is between 1250 and 1350 depending on how the trailer is loaded. The camper is a 8327ss rockwood with a 1050lbs dry hitch weight.


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Old 03-29-2015, 09:16 AM   #4
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Your WDH is working and is probably shifting around three to four hundred pounds back to the front axle, from the roughly six to seven hundred pounds displaced. You probably have another two to three hundred pounds being shifted to the trailer axles so your real tongue weight is somewhere around 1500.


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Old 03-29-2015, 09:29 AM   #5
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Your WDH is working and is probably shifting around three to four hundred pounds back to the front axle, from the roughly six to seven hundred pounds displaced. You probably have another two to three hundred pounds being shifted to the trailer axles so your real tongue weight is somewhere around 1500.
WDH is not working, he lost 320# on the front with the trailer and wdh engaged. Looks like he is not engaging the torsion bars at all.
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Old 03-29-2015, 09:52 AM   #6
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His tongue weight is going to remove way more than 300 pounds from the front axle. Saying that the WDH is not doing anything is not accurate. It is not restoring 100% of the weight, but it is restoring a bunch.


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Old 03-29-2015, 10:01 AM   #7
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His tongue weight is going to remove way more than 300 pounds from the front axle. Saying that the WDH is not doing anything is not accurate. It is not restoring 100% of the weight, but it is restoring a bunch.
Don't know how you're figuring that, with the wdh engaged, he lost 320# on the front. He went from front 3740# down to 3420 when he engaged the wdh.
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Old 03-29-2015, 10:44 AM   #8
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I'm also going to hit the CAT Scales next weekend. I'm going to weigh just my TV, then TV + TT with everything hooked up and finally TV + TT hooked up without the WDH bars. I'm not sure what I will be looking for with all this weight data. Maybe with the data it'll all make sense? Are these three weigh method all I need to do?
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Old 03-29-2015, 12:25 PM   #9
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Hopefully the OP will weigh without the WDH attached someday and post the results.

Gashog,

Those three weightings will tell you everything you need to know.

Gross weight of truck + trailer minus gross weight of truck alone equals trailer weight.
Gross weight of truck without WDH attached minus gross weight of truck alone equals tongue weight.
Tongue weight divided by trailer weight is your tongue weight percentage.
Front axle weight of truck alone minus front axle weight without WDH equals amount removed from front axle due to tongue weight.
Front axle weight of truck with WDH minus front axle weight without WDH equals amount returned to front axle due to action of WDH.
Front axle weight of truck alone minus front axle weight with WDH equals amount not returned to front axle due to action of WDH or if negative tongue weight moved to front axle.
Difference in gross trailer weights of the two weighings equals the tongue weight transferred to the trailer due to action of WDH.
Gross weight of the truck + trailer should be equal to or less than your truck's GCWR.
Sum of your truck axles with WDH should be equal to or less than your truck's GVWR.
Your individual truck axles with WDH should be less than or equal to your individual GAWR's.
The trailer weight should be less than or equal to your trailer's GVWR.
The sum of your trailer axle weights with WDH should be less than the sum of your trailer's maximum axle ratings. If this is close you may need to try to somehow weigh each axle separately as they rarely weigh the same.



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Old 03-29-2015, 01:55 PM   #10
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Cat Scales

All the Cat Scales I've used have 3 seperate platforms for weighing the front axle, the rear axle of your TV and the third for your trailer axles. Make sure you postion your TT and TV properly on these platforms so they can be weighed seperately. After reading these weights, you should know more about how they're loaded and can make adjustments. It doesn't take much to throw off your tongue set-up.
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Old 03-29-2015, 07:39 PM   #11
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Ok spent the afternoon making adjustments. I may have figured out part of my problem. I have 2sets of 1400 lb bars. Set one are very close in the regards to factory bend but the are also almost level when the hitch head has it maximum angle. The other set tilt downward which creates more pressure transfer. So just by measuring I was able to get the hitch measurement within 1" of uncoupled height. Rear on both sides I was getting one inch on drop with the camper hooked up and the front back to the same height as it was with no trailer. I believe the other bars where doing nothing since my measurements with no wdh and the original setup where exactly the same. Now the real test will be the scales later this week. Also now my bars are not maxed out the have plenty of room to move during cornering. Click image for larger version

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Old 03-29-2015, 08:10 PM   #12
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Colem, Looking at your picture everything sure looks good'n level. I'm by no means an expert, but when everything looks as level as your does, it has to be good to go, IMO. It's scary when you see a TV with the rear squatting and the front raised up. You know there's an obvious problem.
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