Tongue weight, revisted

1L243 wrote:
That is the most TW I have ever heard on a Bumper Pull Toy Hauler. I think I would have went with the lower TW and then figured out why the trailer was not handling well. Anti sway, stiffer tires truck tires suspension??? 1700lbs TW on a 13000lb trailer with triple axles should be plenty...
Got a 17,000lb WD Sway control hitch, it works very well @ 15%TW>
LT235/85 16 Michelin RIBS are full steel carcass and steel belt LT tires that are very stiff and seem to me to be one of the best TH tires you can buy.
Just greased all the suspension bolts and checked it out in detail. All the grease hole bolts were changed out by RV Dr. Any suggestions on what to look for on the suspension..? Tires wear perfectly even, if at all.

What did they do to the frame of your trailer to make it stronger? Looking at the example of ependy pics I would think they would have to reinforce the entire frame structure.

IIRR, S Cali RV Dr. added 8 steel cross frame 2.5"boxed tube between the frame rails. Added spring perch gussets and 2" steel boxed tube frame reinforcements to the frame where the springs mount. Also added at least a couple dozen new outriggers and beefed up/reinforced the existing outriggers also. Those were the main additions out of many more things they did to beef it up, iirr.It wasn't a cheap job, took 3 days of work, I watched a lot of it.


They make super heavy rated trailer hitches but if your hitch is stock on your Ford I would guess it's more like 1250TW and 12,500 Gross..Good luck...
On my F350 2014 Ford hitch it says 1850lb. The 2018 Fords say 2450lbs with WD. Assume the 2018 Ram 3500 I just towed with says similar but didn't check..? And no, I do not like being over this rating. In the market for a new 2018-2019 F350 now.

Ya, it is a heavy beast.
WW states 1090 TW
and 13,000 gvw.
Not even close to reality.

From my experience after owning it for about 8 years now, no way possible to ever get 1090TW/13,000gvw, ever. GVW empty is 11,800, just add water and your over gvw.

From what a old WW plant manager once told me, all large TT WW TH were stickered with 13,000gvw 1090tw ratings, no mater what they actually were.
For some California code compliance reason I don't understand.

Seems to tow very very nicely at 15-20% TW. At 10%tw its a handful.At 12% TW its better but still not comfortable. At 15%tw its about the perfect compromise to me and tows great. More TW up to 20% just makes it more solid and steady towing and actually makes towing a pleasure forgetting its even back there sometimes.

Well, not sure I understand you, "figured out why" ,,, please help me figure out how to get TW lower and still tow great..?

To answer your questions, somewhere on our forum are pics and a detailed posts of what RV DR does to beef the WW frames of this era...