Ball weight or trailer weight?
When buying a WDH, should the bar capacity match the trailer weight (8,000# in my case) or ball weight (about 1,100# on mine)?
Forum Discussion
It should go by actual tongue wt. but if you're Reese, it's TT tongue wt. + TV cargo wt. Cargo load can be a LOT if you include passengers, pets, groceries and camping stuff in the bed as well as any upgrades to the TV (like say a cap/canopy).
The problem if you were buying a new TT is that you won't know the actual tongue wt. until you have it and go to a scale. Dry TW can go way up and in our case went from 540 lbs to around 950 actual. I pre-ordered a Reese DC WDH package and ended up having to buy heavier rated spring bars. If you know the actual TW on your TT, selecting bar size is easy.
Note that on some WDHs, heavier rated snap-up brackets (and maybe mounting method) may be needed for TW over 1,000 lbs. I upgraded the cam arm bracket mounting on our Reese DC setup because I found the bolts were loosening and also have their HD snap-up brackets.
The problem if you were buying a new TT is that you won't know the actual tongue wt. until you have it and go to a scale. Dry TW can go way up and in our case went from 540 lbs to around 950 actual. I pre-ordered a Reese DC WDH package and ended up having to buy heavier rated spring bars. If you know the actual TW on your TT, selecting bar size is easy.
Note that on some WDHs, heavier rated snap-up brackets (and maybe mounting method) may be needed for TW over 1,000 lbs. I upgraded the cam arm bracket mounting on our Reese DC setup because I found the bolts were loosening and also have their HD snap-up brackets.
