Ed and Skip , high tongue wt with a 5th wheel hitch is redundant . Tongue
wt. isolates sway forces to trailer tires and 5th wheels keeps sway from
affecting the steering . But then some people like belt and suspenders .
Rear axle weight and sway are separate issues .
> John/Skip -- I think I share Skip's skepticism. The physics of the
> situation suggests to me that the weight on the 5th wheel should be a
> significant amount to give the rear wheels of the tow vehicle extra
> sidewise
> traction to resist the sideways component of trailer deceleration forces
> whenever slowing down. With no 5th wheel experience I personally have no
> good idea of how much down force at the 5th wheel is enough. But it
> strikes
> me that in the case of an 18 wheeler truck that 5th wheel down force could
> be close to half the weight of the trailer. And still the truckers have
> jackknife accidents. So it seems that the loading of a 5th wheel trailer
> ought to be as much as the tow vehicle can safely handle considering all
> aspects of the tow vehicle's operational characteristics.
> Ed Weldon
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Skip Higginbotham" <saltrat@pahrump.com>
> To: "John Burk" <joyseydevil@comcast.net>; "LandSpeed List"
> <Land-speed@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 4:42 PM
> Subject: Re: [Land-speed] Towing a Race car
>
>
>> UhhHUH, really?..................
>>
>> Skip
>> At 11:33 AM 6/2/2009, John Burk wrote:
>> >5th wheel trailers work fine with zero tongue weight .
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