Thursday, Jul 29, 2004 at 08:45
Hi Matt, I appreciate you taking the trouble to
send such a detailed response to my query. Were those crappy roads in SE
Qld off the bitumen? If so I thought that you had to disconnect the WDH
anyway. Are BT still saying that a WDH is not necessary? If so, that
certainly muddies the waters.
Regards,
John
----- Original Message -----
From:
MattandJodie1
To:
Bushtracker Owners
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Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2004 6:40
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Subject: Re: Fitting AT35 to WDH?
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Fitting
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Message 9 in
Discussion
From: MattandJodie1
G’day John,
The
reason why I’m now considering a WDH after twelve months is that
I do, and always have believed that a WDH should be mandatory
unless you have a very heavy vehicle and a very light
trailer. I don’t think any size BT could be
called light. I’d advise you read Tom Olthoff’s
articles on WDH
(‘A Weighty Problem’ Caravan World Sep, Oct, Nov 02) for a
detailed explanation on why a WDH is necessary. It’s these
particular
articles and his replies to people’s queries on this
topic, as well as speaking to other caravaners who have towed
with and without a WDH, that led me to believe that a WDH is
definitely necessary.
Put
simply my explanation is this- If you put 10%, 250kg’s plus onto
your tow hitch (which you should be, and some ‘experts’ will
tell you otherwise-e.g. Ian Whiting , 4x4 Australia’s technical
‘guru’ although he retracted this in a later issue after
receiving a blasting from not only readers but I suspect real
towing experts ) it’s obvious that you take weight off the front
wheels and that’s the big problem. It doesn’t matter if you put
solid wooden blocks in place of your rear springs and have the
rear of the vehicle higher than the front (as the 100 series IFS
LC has from factory) there will be less weight on the front
wheels. Stiffer, higher or progressive rear
springs should only be used to assist with carrying the weight
inside the vehicle and do nothing to stop weight being taken off
the front wheels. Less weight on the front wheels means less
steering and braking control. If you have to make sudden changes
in direction or speed in an emergency you would want every bit
of control you could get.
I’m not saying that the only time a WDH is of use is in
an emergency, as I have had plenty of people tell me of
experimenting with and without their WDH (probably skeptical as
you are, and I was) and they all say the difference is very
noticeable. I have experienced some hairy moments with my
current setup towing on some very crappy roads in SW QLD, while
other vans in the convoy of similar weight being towed by
lighter and shorter vehicles experienced no troubles through the
same section. The result was I finished the
days driving feeling a lot more tired having wrestled with the
van over afew hundred very unpleasant kms.
I base a lot of my thoughts on this topic on what I’ve
learnt from Tom Olthoff who I 100% believe knows what he’s
talking about. Not only does he write for
Caravan Worlds ‘Caravan Clinic’, he’s also involved in accident
investigation when towing is involved. In
this role he is responsible for determining whether or not the
vehicle was safe or not, and I promise after reading his
articles, you wouldn’t want him anywhere near your car and van
if you were involved in an accident towing close to 3000kg with
no WDH.
I know BTI’s thoughts on this matter vary considerably to
what I have just rambled on with here but a quick survey of BT
owners who use WDH’s might help you change your
mind.
Sure have gone on a bit here but believe me I could have
gone on much longer!! I’m also aware of how
hypocritical it seems for me to feel this strongly about WDH,s
and not use one!!! It’s something I’ve just
been putting off for to long. Hope this
doesn’t sound like a lecture, just trying to help fellow
Bogger!!!
One last thing. David
(oldperc), $450? Please tell me where!!! as I
haven’t been quoted anything under $550 for a Hayman Reese
WDH.
<o:p></o:p>
Regards
Matt
<o:p></o:p>
P.S. Peter WDH=
weight distribution hitch
AT35= offroad
tow hitch fitted to Bushtrackers (similar to treg and alike
commonly seen on camper trailers)
<o:p></o:p>
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AnswerID:
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