Anybody ever break a WD torsion bar doing this.... ?

[3930dave]

Short of hitting the gym a lot more, or carrying a 4' pipe with me.... is there anything wrong with using the tongue jack on the trailer to help pre-load the torsion bars/chains on a weight-distributing hitch ? In other words, once I'm hitched up, use the tongue jack to lift the tow vehicle a bit, just until I get the WD torsion bars latched where I want.

Pull truck is a one-ton, so I have a fairly stiff suspension to work against.

I'm not looking to go crazy (was it Reese's old ad.... that had a Buick Riviera pulling a trailer using a WD hitch, and the car had no rear wheels ?), but I don't have a good feel yet (first WD hitch) for how tough these torsion bars are.

Rgds, D.

 

[vulcancowboy]

That's the way my father always didi it, never caused any problems.

 

[George2615]

I have set my load bars the same way and I remember that ad just not sure what brand of hitch was in the ad. They used an Olds Toronado for the ad because it had front wheel drive.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Short of hitting the gym a lot more, or carrying a 4' pipe with me.... is there anything wrong with using the tongue jack on the trailer to help pre-load the torsion bars/chains on a weight-distributing hitch ? In other words, once I'm hitched up, use the tongue jack to lift the tow vehicle a bit, just until I get the WD torsion bars latched where I want.

Pull truck is a one-ton, so I have a fairly stiff suspension to work against.

I'm not looking to go crazy (was it Reese's old ad.... that had a Buick Riviera pulling a trailer using a WD hitch, and the car had no rear wheels ?), but I don't have a good feel yet (first WD hitch) for how tough these torsion bars are.

Rgds, D.

This may sound like a dumb question, but what is the weight capacity of that trailer? I've never seen a 1-ton that needed that much "help" from a WD hitch. :confused3:

 

[brain55]

Before I switched to a gooseneck I used my wd hitch every day, and I always hooked up the torsion bars before I set the trailer all of the way down on the ball.

Brian

 

[Diamondpilot]

That's the way I was taught.

Chris

 

[3930dave]

Thanks for the sanity check guys, on hooking up.

(Knew it was an old, big GM front-driver.... from back when legal departments would let a picture go out like that ).

It's a travel trailer, older, so heavier than today's trailers. I've towed it w/o the WD hitch, and it's doable, but for this weekend I'm hauling with the fresh water tank full, so the WD hitch that came with the deal is nice to have hooked up.

My 1 ton is an extended length E350..... so it has a much longer moment arm on the back than a short wheel base 1 ton p/u.

Digging through the trailer just now, found that the PO had left the hitch manual in a drawer I hadn't got into before. It recommends hooking up the coupler, then using a jack to raise both units 5-8" - lot's more than what I'm going to need. Looks like I have the 1000# rated bars, so I'd really have to work on beating these up....

Thnx, and Rgds, D.

 

[jejeosborne]

My trailer with the electric jack I use it exclusively without the cheater bar. Other trailer with manual jack, use cheater bar because it requires fewer calories to be spent.

 

[newbury]

My 1 ton is an extended length E350..... so it has a much longer moment arm on the back than a short wheel base 1 ton p/u.

Same here.
I've got load bars for a Equal-i-zer with 1400lbs of tongue weight, it was real easy to put the bars on with a farm jack versus hand cranking it up with the tongue jack.

 

[3930dave]

After breaking enough things when I was young, I learned to think about excess torque/force..... hence this thread check....

Using the tongue jack, I have 2 more chain links to easily utilize.... good stuff !

You're talking major moment arm there Newbury, can see why you go with a farm jack.

Thanks again guys.

Rgds, D.