On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 12:28:12 -0800, "Rod McInnis"
wrote:


"Steven Shelikoff" wrote in message
...

I will tell you something about the bonus question that may burn your
britches a little: It's sort of a trick question because I didn't
specify that the parts that move when you move the axle are balanced
fore and aft. I *really* didn't think anyone would pick up on that
though.

I thought of that, actually. Should have stated it as an assumption. Seems
like a reasonable simplification to make. If it is a leaf spring suspension
system (not necessarialy a safe assumption) then the axel should be mounted
roughly in the middle of the spring. One end of the spring has a slightly
different mount, but the difference in weight would be small and it would
only have a foot or so of moment arm. The error would probably be lost in
the round off to a single decimal place.

Yup. In the real world, the error would definitely be lost in the
roundoff and in how accurately you can measure the hitch weight and
place the axle. But in our theoretical world, I can make it pretty far
out of balance.

Steve