Nose weight conundrum

Gareth, you are not lifting an 85kg weight, you are tilting an 85kg weight. I have owned cast iron woodwork machinery that weighs in at nearly 400kg and I've been able to raise one end to get a trolley underneath, but I'm dammed sure I could not lift 400kg. It is to do with levers, fulcrums, moments of force and pivot points. 

Colin

Ps, you will only get a true reading from. Your nose weight gauge if the van is sitting on a level surface and the gauge is sitting on a flat solid surface. 

I think you are just underestimating your strength Gareth!

I agree you are lifting 85kg, but you are doing it with your legs (and back if lifting poorly), which is not a significant amount, have you tried to curl the caravan, I bet you cannot!

As someone else pointed out, this is only a medium side person, which I assume you could lift, even though you may not be able to wrestle 3 bags of cement.

Also remember that as you lift, the rotation about the fulcrum will change the centre of gravity, moving it backwards and act to lighten the load on the nose, though unless you are tipping it right up, this will only be minimal.

Totally agree with your statement

Let's assume that the hitch is at exactly the height it was when the downward force was 85kg. The initial force required to raise the hitch by a mm will obviously be 85kgs. Admittedly the nose weight will reduce as the hitch is raised: eventually the noseweight will reach zero and then become negative.

Conversel,y the lower the hitch is to the ground the heavier the hitch will become - I'm sure many of us on here have had the misfortune for the jockey wheel to slip with the hitch ending up on the ground, It then becoming a 2 man job to raise the hitch to its normal height.