Quote:
Originally Posted by ScoobyDoo
Hello? I must be hard of understanding. Most pickup beds, the rear axle is near center of the bed. The hitch ball is mounted about the same distance behind the tailgate, no matter how long the bed. So the longer the bed, the more distance axle/hitch. The wheelbase should always be longer than axle/ball, so if you add the same distance to both, the axle/ball will be a smaller percentage of wheelbase. (Given same cab size, same front axle to back of cab) All TW goes on the truck at the ball, so the rule of teeter-totter means that the amount of weight pulled of front axle will be less with the short overhang (axle/ball).
From what I see the WDH would need to be tighter to transfer weight back to steer of the long bed truck.
|
On my own 3500HD for example, rear axles is roughly 2/3 of the way towards the back of the truck bed. Many 1500 series trucks are more or less station wagons with a bed, they cannot support much of a load.
If you look at wheel lift type towtrucks (most are 5500 series), the rear axle is close to the rear bumper. Much less leverage for the load that way but you seem like a smart fella, you probably know how this all comes into play.
The only infallible measuring would be scales. I haven't tried them but portable scales would be awesome and fast to measure axle weights and trailer weight independantly without a bunch of hooking/unhooking and manoeuvring.