weight distribution hitch.

[lewy]

Our little kia has a paltry 100kg tow ball weight our camper has 140kg tow hitch weight,whilst overall the camper is legal to tow the camper even when fully loaded the tow ball limit excludes towing it.I can shuffle a few things to the rear like the battery and tool box etc,but does anyone know if a weight distribution hitch will lower the weight on the towball even further and what would the inspectors actually weigh if inspected.cheers.

[gavinwibrow]

Our little kia has a paltry 100kg tow ball weight our camper has 140kg tow hitch weight,whilst overall the camper is legal to tow the camper even when fully loaded the tow ball limit excludes towing it.I can shuffle a few things to the rear like the battery and tool box etc,but does anyone know if a weight distribution hitch will lower the weight on the towball even further and what would the inspectors actually weigh if inspected.cheers.


Even togh you can reduce the actual towball weight to 100, I'd definitely get an all clear from the Dept Transport or equivalent in your state. Not worth trying to dodge anything with so little to play with.

[p38arover]

Go onto John Cadogen’s AutoExpert YouTube channel and search for his video on levelling hitches. I won’t link it owing to possible language issues. You may not like him but he does know what he’s talking about.

[goingbush]

moving weight to rear is a recipe for disaster.

Have a look at Robert Peppers towing weight calculator to see if your legal.

Towing & Trailer Weights Calculator - L2SFBC (https://l2sfbc.com/towing-weights-calculator/)

[Narangga]

Our little kia has a paltry 100kg tow ball weight our camper has 140kg tow hitch weight,whilst overall the camper is legal to tow the camper even when fully loaded the tow ball limit excludes towing it.I can shuffle a few things to the rear like the battery and tool box etc,but does anyone know if a weight distribution hitch will lower the weight on the towball even further and what would the inspectors actually weigh if inspected.cheers.

Is that actual or what they say it is? Have a ball weight tool in the shed if you want to borrow it to check.

[lewy]

Is that actual or what they say it is? Have a ball wight tool in the shed if you want to borrow it to check.that's is measured with my tow ball weight tool.

[JimN]

I am no engineer, but i expect that a weight distribution hitch is intended to apply a twisting force to move weight from the rear axle to the front axle. But the overall down force on the ball or the car won't be less, and the weight of the wdh would actually add weight onto the ball.

[Blknight.aus]

I am no engineer, but i expect that a weight distribution hitch is intended to apply a twisting force to move weight from the rear axle to the front axle. But the overall down force on the ball or the car won't be less, and the weight of the wdh would actually add weight onto the ball.

in part thats why they work.

the overall force is the same but the distribution is different, by turning the hitch into a "torque point" some of the weight is pulled from the rear axle of the tow vehicle and pushed to the front, following newtons rules theres an equal amount of transfer on the trailer, as its only got one axle (effectively unless its a dolly trailer) the axle acts as a pivot so theres an effective weight transfer from the front of the trailer to the rear...


Theres a couple of issues with this.

1. youre unweighting the rear axle and pushing weight to the front axle.
2. youre unweighting the front of the trailer and pushing weight rearwards.

like highlift jacks, done right its a good thing, but its easy to get it wrong.

getting it wrong usually changes the E adjective, you go from being effective to entertaining.

[trout1105]

Why are you towing with the bantam weight Kia when you have a perfectly good tow tug in your D2a V8?

[PhilipA]

My daughter has this exact problem. They have a camper trailer with over 100Kg on the towball of their Kia Sportage Their trailer weighs maybe 1200Kg GTM..
To know the answer we need to know the GTM of the trailer.

if it is a say 1000Kg then by all means move batteries to the back as 100Kg ball weight is still 10% so stability should not be such a problem.

You could change the batteries to LIFePo4 which would lose weight off the front without adding to the back.

If you trailer is near the 1750 GTM limit of a Sportage , there is no way you should get your towball weight down to 100Kg.

AFAIK from reading a lot, theuse of a equalising hitch will introduce a twisting force to the towbar. My guess is that the substructure of the Sportage is weak for Kia to have a 100Kg limit as they offer stiffer springs on a Sorento, to raise the towball limit to 150Kg.
Regards PhilipA

[Saitch]

in part thats why they work.

the overall force is the same but the distribution is different, by turning the hitch into a "torque point" some of the weight is pulled from the rear axle of the tow vehicle and pushed to the front, following newtons rules theres an equal amount of transfer on the trailer, as its only got one axle (effectively unless its a dolly trailer) the axle acts as a pivot so theres an effective weight transfer from the front of the trailer to the rear...


Theres a couple of issues with this.

1. youre unweighting the rear axle and pushing weight to the front axle.
2. youre unweighting the front of the trailer and pushing weight rearwards.

like highlift jacks, done right its a good thing, but its easy to get it wrong.

getting it wrong usually changes the E adjective, you go from being effective to entertaining.

Yep. An excerpt from a Clayton's Towing article.


Swaybars
Weight distribution hitch, another touchy subject. Do any of us have them? No. Do lots of caravan crashes we see rolled have them? Yes. With a heavily loaded tow ball, they can help. If you have low tow ball weight, we personally consider they make things worse. With their tension, they really could provide the opposite result and have a dangerous lifting effect on the rear of your vehicle. If you are getting them, make sure you know what you are doing, know your weights or go to reputable companies who can give you the time to assist in having the right ones. These should not be used as a solution to a problem, only another tool that may help your towing experience. If they are used with limited tow ball weight, we really feel you are making things worse. If you are getting them, make sure you know what you are doing, know your weights or go to reputable companies who can give you the time to assist in having the right ones. These should not be used as a solution to a problem, only another tool that may help your towing experience. If they are used with limited tow ball weight, we really feel you are making things worse.

[loanrangie]

Why are you towing with the bantam weight Kia when you have a perfectly good tow tug in your D2a V8?

I wouldn't put anything bigger than a bike rack on a Kia.[bigrolf]

Oddlly enough i saw a Yaris with a tow bar on it a few days ago.[bighmmm]

[trout1105]

I wouldn't put anything bigger than a bike rack on a Kia.[bigrolf]

Oddlly enough i saw a Yaris with a tow bar on it a few days ago.[bighmmm]

I have got a tow ball on my ride on But that doesn't make it a tow tug[bigwhistle]

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I have got a tow ball on my ride on -----


and a fine job it does too! [wink11]

[Hoges]

Our little kia has a paltry 100kg tow ball weight our camper has 140kg tow hitch weight,whilst overall the camper is legal to tow the camper even when fully loaded the tow ball limit excludes towing it.I can shuffle a few things to the rear like the battery and tool box etc,but does anyone know if a weight distribution hitch will lower the weight on the towball even further and what would the inspectors actually weigh if inspected.cheers.

# For what it's worth:
The stable mate of the Kia....Hyundai santa fe has a 100kg towball weight as well. They share a common suspension setup. Hyundai sell uprated rear springs which raise the towball max to 150kg. DIY spring swap is a couple of hrs (including coffee time) on the driveway with a floor jack and jack stands... Probably less $ than a weight distribution setup...

[350RRC]

Can anyone find any real science behind the '10% ball weight rule'? I can't.

I've towed all sorts of things over the years, from 300kg to 3500kg, maybe more, and never had an issue using a ball weight that never exceeded maybe 120kg, except once.

That was towing a tandem bobcat trailer that weighed over a tonne alone, with a full load of 4m redgum posts on it. Couldn't realistically adjust the load to get the ball weight down below an estimated 300kg.

All I can say is that the steering was dangerously light.

Here's a plate on a stock LR towbar.................why doesn't it give a static ball weight capacity of 400kg? [bigwhistle] with a towing capacity of 4,000?

181260

DL

[Homestar]

We just bought 10 new trailers for work - to have 60 and 100kva gens put on. Custom made to suit the gens - manufacture states 4 to 7% recommended tow ball weight - no more than 8%.

The heaviest units tip the scales at 2950kg with a ball weight of 180kg and the lightest are 2290 with a ball weight of 150kg. They tow brilliantly. The owner has had and built trailers for gens for decades and he gave up trying to convince people the 10% ‘rule’ was a load of BS - even his old trailers come in around 5 to 6% and tow really well.

10% may be ok for a 6x4 but not much more than that IMO.