fugawi wrote:
Thank you for the replies.
Special thanks to JBarca for taking the time to help me understand this better. I was really hoping for such insight from those of you with more experience.
Also thanks to downtheroad and mbutts for the Expedition/similar trailer insight. It is disappointing and at this point I'm wishing I would have just purchased a 3/4 ton truck.
I forgot to mention that the Expedition has the autoleveling rear suspension, so it was riding level.
The stock tires are Hankook Dynapro AT-m, 275/55R20. 113T.
Those seem like odd wheels/tires for a factory towing setup, but whatever...
I towed a very similar trailer but had less than 780lbs tongue weight. I had a half-ton truck, 1000lb bars with sway control. The bars were probably too heavy, and the receiver (rated similar to yours) bent, and tore portions of the truck frame. Upgrading to a heavier-rated receiver resolved that problem.
I can't imagine why you would have tried towing such a large trailer without weight distribution. Well, actually I can: the hitch head, spring bars, extra pins, clips, tools etc. Combined, it's like hauling around the weight of an extra engine block. And who knows how many surfaces needing grease. And extra time to hitch and unhitch. And needing to find somewhere to store the hitch and parts. Ugh.
In theory, you'd want the same hitch on a 3/4ton truck, but you could probably get by without it better than you could with your vehicle.
