Brake controller for E70 experiences

[Mabuhay]

Originally Posted by JCL

If you look at the picture above your post, around the hitch ball, you will see the equalizing bars coming back from the hitch (not the electrical hookups, which are looped in the same location). They are under the trailer A-frame, and are about 3' long. Think of those bars like wheelbarrow handles. If you lift on them, you will raise the back of the vehicle, and transfer load to the front axle. Those bars are lifted by being connected to the front of the trailer, on the A-frame. They can swivel left/right, so the trailer can turn corners. But by tensioning them, pulling them upwards, load is transferred off the rear axle, to both the front axle and the trailer axle.

The X5 doesn't have 50-50 weight distribution except when it is empty. Putting a load in the back of it, or a heavy hitch load on it, changes it towards your 40-60 (F-R) number, although I don't know what the actual distribution would be. A weight distributing hitch helps shift it back closer to 50-50, although you won't likely get right to the empty weight distribution %.

So to check my understanding, the "weight distribution hitch" is made to shift the weight OF THE TRAILER...towards the front axle or rear axle OF THE TRAILER. i.e. - your wheel barrow analogy (which helped a lot, btw if my understanding is now correct).

I think the thing that's been throwing me off is when people refer to "vehicle" vs. "trailer" vs. "X5". For example, Karlbalmer states "may be that it transfers too much weight to the rear of the veh." I guess in this case, "veh." means "trailer".

When Houston says, "A weight distributing hitch transfers weight away from the rear axle. Some is transfered to the front axle of the vehicle and some to the trailer axles. You were told right, wsanchez, they are safer."

I assume he means "A weight distributing hitch transfers weight away from the rear axle OF THE TRAILER. Some is transferred to the front axle OF THE X5 and some to the trailer axles..." So this one doesn't make sense in that how the hell does it transfer weight to the front axle of the X5? Houston...we have a problem... (sorry, I couldn't resist!).