Prevention is Better than Cure – Here’s how a good weight distribution hitch can save your life.

0
65
Prevention is Better than Cure - Here’s how a good weight distribution hitch can save your life.

How many times have you gotten lucky with heart-pounding moments when a weight-distribution related disaster struck you? A weight distribution hitch is there to ensure you don’t lose control of the vehicle due to swaying of the trailer, especially when you’re carrying a heavy load. CareYourCars.com cares about your life and wouldn’t want to rely on you getting lucky. So here’s how a good weight distribution hitch can save your life.

But first, let’s see how they are installed and the details of how they are operated. It’s essential to get the installation right to then realize to what extent it can save your life.

The first component you have to install is called a shank. When both vehicles are leveled, one will still often be higher or lower than the other. Therefore, a shank usually plugs into a receiver and can be turned upward or downward to adjust for the leveling.

A head assembly is mounted onto the shank, and it provides a platform both for the hitch ball as well as the spring bars. At this point, the trailer can be re-hitched to the towing vehicle.

Once the vehicles are back together, you can continue installing the weight distribution system. The setup basically works like this, for most of systems.

Spring bars (round bars or trunnion bars) run from the head assembly to a pair of chains.

Hanging below the trailer from a set of brackets, in a way so as to create tension along the bars, are the chains.

As the tongue weight pushes the bars down, the chains immediately pull the bars up.

The spring bars push up on the head assembly, distributing the weight among the axles, in order to straighten out to their natural positions.

The next step in the process is usually to attach the chains to the spring bars and insert the bars into the head assembly.

Then the brackets are mounted on the trailer and the chains are attached to those, often with a lift lock. The brackets should be lined up with the ends of the bars, and generally at least five chain links are kept to be shown.

So how do you know which one to get? What should you consider when selecting the best weight distribution system? Following is a list of things, you must keep in mind while purchasing the best weight distribution system:

  • So the gross trailer weight the hitch can haul and the tongue weight that the hitch can distribute, must be above the weight you’re looking to tow. However, the difference should not be very substantial either.
  • Keep that infamous rule from “The Price Is Right” in mind when choosing a weight distribution system. Do not end up spending a bomb on this one.
  • Choose the type of spring bars that you want in the system. There are two common basic styles: round and trunnion.
  • Decide whether you want additional features like sway control. Usually, the Weight Distribution Systems are less likely to Sway so this feature shall not have a very important contribution to your decision-making. However, provided you’ve not made a blunder while setting the system up and that you’re not driving too fast, if the hitch still sways, you can externally add this new feature.

The hitches offer the same solution but different hitches may have different features/variations and hence different techniques of installation. So you need a professional to not only assist you with selecting the right variant of the hitch for you but also to help you install it.

Author Bio: Thomas Vinh

Thomas Vinh is founder of http://autoizipro.com, a personal blog where he share his hobbies: off-roading and competitive programming. Autoizipro’s mission is to become a number one destination for automotive and garage gear enthusiasts.ss

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here