Fidelity Research FR-54 Tonearm. ANTI-SKATE???

"I have a hard time believing 2.5g weight is giving only 1.5g outside force, especially as it attaches 1/2" forward of the pivot."
Please consult the Wikipedia page on levers.  The 2.5g weight is going to provide much less than 2.5g of side force precisely BECAUSE it attaches to the arm wand so close to the pivot. We are concerned with the force generated at the other end of the arm wand (the lever), at the stylus tip.  Work is Force (F) acting over a distance (s).  W = F*s. According to laws of conservation of Work, the Work done by the dropping 2.5g weight must equal the Work done on the stylus tip (with minor losses due to friction).  So, notice that the length of the arc traversed by the arm wand at its attachment to the string, as the string and weight drop, is much, much shorter than the length of the arc traversed by the stylus tip as it goes across the LP surface.  Call the two distances s for the AS device and S' for the stylus tip.  Because Work or Energy is conserved, F*s = F'(the AS force on the stylus tip)*S'. Because s<<S', then F'<<F.  The force at the stylus tip must be much lower than 2.5g.

I believe you, but, ... my test will give me a clue.

Don’t believe me. Believe Archimedes and Isaac Newton.  Oh, and you could choose to believe the guys who discussed the FR54 on one of those other forums, when they concluded the AS mechanism delivers an AS force about right in magnitude for a 1.5g VTF.
And how do you plan to "test" (the amount of AS force, presumably)?

Elliot has already proven that the anti skate is too heavy for a VTF of 1.5 gm. He put the stylus down in the run out area and it immediately drifted out.
Elliot, just for fun disable the anti skate by lifting the bob up with your finger and place the stylus down in the run out area again and watch it drift right towards the spindle.
Now just make that lighter bob with your fishing line and tell us how it works. Nothing like the power of observation. 

Mijo, Way up the thread, Elliot wrote, "Well, it sounds darn good 1.5g down/2.5g out, but I don't have any experience with playing Mono LP with Mono Cartridges*; This Cartridge; This Arm."  This was at the point where Elliot assumed the 2.5g weight was creating 2.5g of AS force, but that doesn't matter.  Where did he say that with 2.5g weight at that VTF (1.5g), the stylus drifted outward in the run-out groove?  If that's the case, it's odd that apparently excess AS sounds so good. Are you really denying the physics of the thing? (I mean to say that the 2.5g weight must deliver much less than 2.5g of AS. I can make no claims regarding how his particular set-up might react.  I can imagine that for his particular stylus shape, whatever that is, he may need even less AS than he has now.)