Lets see your campers being towed
#851
Senior Member
Trust me I'm well aware how all of this works. No "teaching" required.
Even if your rear suspension is not collapsing as much (ala adding air bags) That weight behind the rear axle is still pulling weight off of the front end. Think of a "teeter totter". By making the fulcrum point higher on the teeter totter does not make it harder to move up and down on either side.
The fulcrum point is the rear axle at this point (bumper pull trailers) therefore, no matter how stiff you make your rear suspension there is still weight on the rear end of the truck (behind the fulcrum point) pulling weight off of the front end. This is what a WDH is designed to alleviate.... not airbags. Air bags do not take some of that tongue weight and distribute it to the front of the vehicle AS WELL AS THROUGH THE TRAILER AS WELL like a WDH does...They simply do a better job bearing the load than the stock suspension does.
Its simple....Airbags help to better support the weight, WDH help to better distribute the weight.
The torsion of a WDH distributes the weight between the truck and the trailer. airbags simply support that weight. By adding airbags you aren't distributing weight. you are simply raising the fulcrum point making it look "distributed". Airbags are NOT a sufficient replacment for a good WDH setup if towing heavy loads.
You keep trying to "teach" how these things work when its apparent you yourself don't know how they work.
Even if your rear suspension is not collapsing as much (ala adding air bags) That weight behind the rear axle is still pulling weight off of the front end. Think of a "teeter totter". By making the fulcrum point higher on the teeter totter does not make it harder to move up and down on either side.
The fulcrum point is the rear axle at this point (bumper pull trailers) therefore, no matter how stiff you make your rear suspension there is still weight on the rear end of the truck (behind the fulcrum point) pulling weight off of the front end. This is what a WDH is designed to alleviate.... not airbags. Air bags do not take some of that tongue weight and distribute it to the front of the vehicle AS WELL AS THROUGH THE TRAILER AS WELL like a WDH does...They simply do a better job bearing the load than the stock suspension does.
Its simple....Airbags help to better support the weight, WDH help to better distribute the weight.
The torsion of a WDH distributes the weight between the truck and the trailer. airbags simply support that weight. By adding airbags you aren't distributing weight. you are simply raising the fulcrum point making it look "distributed". Airbags are NOT a sufficient replacment for a good WDH setup if towing heavy loads.
You keep trying to "teach" how these things work when its apparent you yourself don't know how they work.
#853
Senior Member/Vietnam Vet
jcain, just because someone doesn't get how things that you know about work is no reason for this kind of response. You are correct, airbags do not put the weight back on the front wheels, only a correctly adjusted WDH will do that and the one in that photo is not correctly adjusted.
#854
Senior Member
jcain, just because someone doesn't get how things that you know about work is no reason for this kind of response. You are correct, airbags do not put the weight back on the front wheels, only a correctly adjusted WDH will do that and the one in that photo is not correctly adjusted.
#855
Senior Member
Trust me I'm well aware how all of this works. No "teaching" required.
Even if your rear suspension is not collapsing as much (ala adding air bags) That weight behind the rear axle is still pulling weight off of the front end. Think of a "teeter totter". By making the fulcrum point higher on the teeter totter does not make it harder to move up and down on either side.
The fulcrum point is the rear axle at this point (bumper pull trailers) therefore, no matter how stiff you make your rear suspension there is still weight on the rear end of the truck (behind the fulcrum point) pulling weight off of the front end. This is what a WDH is designed to alleviate.... not airbags. Air bags do not take some of that tongue weight and distribute it to the front of the vehicle AS WELL AS THROUGH THE TRAILER AS WELL like a WDH does...They simply do a better job bearing the load than the stock suspension does.
Its simple....Airbags help to better support the weight, WDH help to better distribute the weight.
The torsion of a WDH distributes the weight between the truck and the trailer. airbags simply support that weight. By adding airbags you aren't distributing weight. you are simply raising the fulcrum point making it look "distributed". Airbags are NOT a sufficient replacment for a good WDH setup if towing heavy loads.
You keep trying to "teach" how these things work when its apparent you yourself don't know how they work.
Even if your rear suspension is not collapsing as much (ala adding air bags) That weight behind the rear axle is still pulling weight off of the front end. Think of a "teeter totter". By making the fulcrum point higher on the teeter totter does not make it harder to move up and down on either side.
The fulcrum point is the rear axle at this point (bumper pull trailers) therefore, no matter how stiff you make your rear suspension there is still weight on the rear end of the truck (behind the fulcrum point) pulling weight off of the front end. This is what a WDH is designed to alleviate.... not airbags. Air bags do not take some of that tongue weight and distribute it to the front of the vehicle AS WELL AS THROUGH THE TRAILER AS WELL like a WDH does...They simply do a better job bearing the load than the stock suspension does.
Its simple....Airbags help to better support the weight, WDH help to better distribute the weight.
The torsion of a WDH distributes the weight between the truck and the trailer. airbags simply support that weight. By adding airbags you aren't distributing weight. you are simply raising the fulcrum point making it look "distributed". Airbags are NOT a sufficient replacment for a good WDH setup if towing heavy loads.
You keep trying to "teach" how these things work when its apparent you yourself don't know how they work.
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Buck (01-03-2013)
#857
You need to move your fulcrum point further to the back or "load" to see the point made about air bags. Because your axles are so far back in a truck, the airbags tend to lift both the truck and the trailer tongue point making the "effort " part of your drawing require less effort. The taller the fulcrum and the closer to the load it is, the less effort it takes to raise the load. More basic physics. The air bags "raise" the fulcrum point. This in turn shifts some of the weight back to the front of the vehicle. It also shifts some of the trailer weight back to the axles of the trailer something a WDH can't do. Think of the lever in the drawing as being broken closer to the load, the tongue of the trailer would rise. When not using a WDH, there is a second pivot now happens at the hitch itself. Just food for thought. Now granted a WDH does tie together the TV and TT and makes them more solid like a one-piece unit, but a airbag setup give you more flexibilty when it comes to movement. Personally, I think it a matter of preference on which one you use.
Last edited by atvtinker; 01-03-2013 at 09:51 PM. Reason: typo
#858
Senior Member
You need to move your fulcrum point further to the back or "load" to see the point made about air bags. Because your axles are so far back in a truck, the airbags tend to lift both the truck and the trailer tongue point making the "effort " part of your drawing require less effort. The taller the fulcrum and the closer to the load it is, the less effort it takes to raise the load. More basic physics. The air bags "raise" the fulcrum point. This in turn shifts some of the weight back to the front of the vehicle. It also shifts some of the trailer weight back to the axles of the trailer something a WDH can't do. Think of the lever in the drawing as being broken closer to the load, the tongue of the trailer would rise. When not using a WDH, there is a second pivot now happens at the hitch itself. Just food for thought. Now granted a WDH does tie together the TV and TT and makes them more solid like a one-piece unit, but a airbag setup give you more flexibilty when it comes to movement. Personally, I think it a matter of preference on which one you use.
I'm confident there is a bit of benefit to be had on the front end by keeping the rear end higher instead of sagging. But that does not mean airbags are distributing the same amount of load onto the front end and throughout the trailer as a WDH. A proper WDH setup (adjusted correctly) will level the load by distributing more weight to the front end and to the trailers axles (thats what they are designed to do). An airbag setup will slightly help distribute (not as much as a WDH) as a byproduct of leveling the load and not allowing sag in the rear. But they are not equal or interchangeable pieces of equipment. If you look at a properly adjusted WDH setup the truck will be level (or close to it) but will sit lower as a whole than a truck that is using airbags to support the rear end weight. That is because there is more load being distributed to the front end of the truck using a WDH.
Air bags are definitely better than not running anything, but they are NOT a sufficient replacement for a WDH setup for heavy loads IMO. They serve two different purposes....yet can be used in conjunction when needed. Keeping the load level is not the same as distributing the weight.
I promise I'm not making this stuff up
Last edited by Buck; 01-03-2013 at 11:28 PM.
#859
I have rear airbags on my truck, and use a WD Hitch too when I pull my 20FT. equipment trailer... The airbags sure help A LOT!... I also haul a slide-in-camper and pull a pontoon behind, If I didn't have the airbags, Then I couldn't haul the truck camper!
I used to have a 28FT. camper and I built a hitch for the back of the camper so I could pull a small Tracker boat behind!.... I got tired of pulling doubles, So I bought the slide-in-camper!
This is the type of Weight Distribution Hitch I have!
http://www.equalizerhitch.com/index.php
This is a great WD Hitch!... Its very easy to hookup & adjust!
I used to have a 28FT. camper and I built a hitch for the back of the camper so I could pull a small Tracker boat behind!.... I got tired of pulling doubles, So I bought the slide-in-camper!
This is the type of Weight Distribution Hitch I have!
http://www.equalizerhitch.com/index.php
This is a great WD Hitch!... Its very easy to hookup & adjust!
#860
And you are wrong about the air bags distributing weight back onto the trailer axles more so than the WDH ( I believe you said a WDH doesnt not do that at all which is false).
Last edited by atvtinker; 01-04-2013 at 10:21 AM. Reason: typo