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Ken,
I agree that the distance from the hitch to the axle has a bearing on what the hitch weight will be. But there are also other things to consider such as the weight distribution of the unit.
My comment with respect to overloading one part of the TV/trailer combination is as follows. I have heard numerous stories about tire blowouts - both on the TV and the trailer - many of which caused damage as well as injury! I have personally not heard of frame and/or axle failures. My major concern would be that the tires are not overloaded - as sooner or later such tires will fail.
There seems to be only a relatively small margin of safety on the Montana tires - 6084# per axle pair - with the unit GVWR rating assuming 12,000 is riding on two axles + the hitch weight at 1770# = 13,770#. Thus overloading the trailer - which is relatively easy to do since it has a relatively low carrying capacity - amounts to overloading the tires.
On the other hand, the rear axle of my 2500HD weighs 2900#, with a maximum additional weight rating of 3000#, or 5900#. Interestinly, the rear tires are rated at 3042# or 6084# total. I can thus add 3000# in weight of the hitch and trailer to the rear wheels before I overload the tires.
My conclusion is that although I may exceed the GVWR of the TV by - say adding 2800# in hitch weight - I will not overload the rear tires until I put more than 3000# additional load. It is therefore "less riskly" to overload the TV than to overload the trailer. Overloading the TV is a GVWR issue (frame issue) but not a tire issue. Overloading the trailer amounts to exceeding the GVWR, the axle ratings, and the tire ratings! Sooner or later, if the left one don't get ya, the right one will!
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