Re: [A/S] Suburban/"Lockup"

["James Clark" <jec1938@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Dick..

I know we are talkiing about words more than anything else, but the
link geometry is in my mind more than a "passive" link... because of
the shorter spacing on the truck end, when the truck tries to turn,
the links fold with one turning in and one turning out.. When the
trailer tries to turn/sway, the links fight each other with the links
in compression (in my mind,"locked up") and the torque is applied to
the receiver, trying to rip it off the truck rather than just pushing
the ball to one side as a Reese hitch would... The effective "pull"
point moves around with the actual pull point for the combination in a
turn about a foot behind the truck giving us that :"further away from
the curb" than a PullRight setup would...Hensley turns better than
other hitches as long as you don't restrict the head with the
chains... Once the link geometry can't fold up in a turn, the forces
build up until something breaks... either bracket bolts shear, the
inside stabalizer rod bends,(the outside rod just comes apart) or the
receiver twists to releive the torque.. or several things fail all at
the same time...To me the link geometry is the secret to
everything....And as long as we hook up like Hensley says, problems
should be minimal... but I don't think they spend enough time pointing
out the problem caused by short or uncrossed chains... The correct
amount of slack looks a little sloppy, but is a lot easier on the hitch...

I think I kept copies of Patti's pics and I will look for them... 

Jim Clark