Terry
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Terry
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2020
- Threads
- 10
- Messages
- 709
- Reaction score
- 1,356
- Location
- Rialto, California
- Vehicle(s)
- 2020 Gladiator Rubicon
- Occupation
- Private Investigator
- Vehicle Showcase
- 2
It appears to me that what may well have caused the frame to bend was kinetic energy, not the weight of the trailer tongue, but the combined weight (mass) generated by the trailer.So they’re alleging that the shock mounts (axle and frame sides) are stronger than the frame itself? I’m not buying it...
Say the tongue weighs 200 pounds and at rest there would seemingly be insufficient gravitational downward pull (weight) on the frame to bend it; however, the trailer weighs (loaded) probably as much as 3,000 pounds. When traversing the Mojave Road, there are many undulations where the trailer is posed higher and in a downward position toward the rear of the jeep (that has already gone through the undulation). If the Jeep decelerates rapidly enough the forward motion of the trailer becomes kinetic energy that due to the angle, can push downward bringing the total combined mass of the trailer to bear at an angle superior to and above the Jeep, thus bending the frame downward. Keeping in mind it is mass not weight that converts into energy, there are computations that can explain this more readily; however, it would appear to me that kinetic energy bent the frame, not tongue weight.
To see this, take a piece of copy paper, and hold it so you are looking at it with the 11" edge facing you. Now slightly wave the paper with the right end higher than the left. Stop waving with the right hand and you will see the paper bend in this fashion.
I am not an engineer; however I am a forensic expert and have studied the results of where kinetic energy was present and factored into the end result as presented to me.
But then again, I could be wrong.....
Sponsored