Finally hit the scales

Ron Gratz wrote:
Are you saying that when you hitched up with the 1200# Drawtite and applied WD, the front of your truck ended up being 3/4" above the unitched height?

If so, your Drawtite bars must have been significantly under-tensioned.

With 1180# tongue weight and 1200# bars, you should be able to get the front end back to the unhitched height.
Did you measure the front-end rise when hitched with the Drawtite, but with no WD applied?

Ron

I didn't measure front end rise (hitched with no wd) on the drawtite. I don't think the bars were undertensioned. I used tongue jack to raise the tongue and rear of the truck, then the pipe to pull up the snap brackets. The were plenty tight. The front end rise was 1/4 inch higher than I had with the Andersen hitch. I do have to say, the drawtite is old and pretty well worn, so, it may not work as a new one would.

I got this from Andersen.

"We do realize that in some cases –depending on the truck/trailer set up– we are 'softer' on the weight distribution side. In the past we have seen vehicle manufacturers ask for 70, 80 and even 100% of the lost weight to be returned to the front of the vehicle, but as vehicles have advanced in suspension and design over the last several years we see many mfrs slowly changing that number to be closer to 50%. Our goal is to get the tow vehicle close to level, but there is no need for perfect leveling (or a specific percentage of reclaimed weight) when it is designed to carry a load just fine. I recently had a customer who said that his trailer tows perfectly now and is the smoothest ride ever, outshining his 'other-brand' WD hitch, but he noticed the numbers on the scale were different and it didn't move as much weight forward as his old hitch. I had to smile and say 'It doesn't matter if the numbers aren't the same –as long as it works well." Again, we want to make sure the tow vehicle is not drastically 'un-level', that is what is important, not the exact numbers. If everything feels good and it is towing well, perfect numbers aren't really important. After hundreds of installations we have found that it is just as effective to basically "sight level" the tow vehicle and get it as close to level as you can by tightening/loosening the Tension Nuts or making small adjustments to the height of the ball."

It pretty much describes my situation. It does tow pretty well and it meets Ford spec for leveling the vehicle, but, the FALR numbers don't look good to those who insist on 100%.

I went to another hitch place today. This guy told me the exact opposite as what I was told yesterday. This one looked at measurements and scale sheets, and said "that Andersen hitch is doing what is is supposed to be doing. You don't need 100% FALR as long as truck and trailer are close to level as you can get (same thing Andersen told me), and he looked at my drawtite hitch and said the wear is mostly caused by the grease collecting dirt, which grinds down the metal." Yesterday, the other hitch guy said it was wearing down because it didn't have enough grease.

Yesterday, I was told I need a new hitch. Today, I was told, you got it rite, keep using it, come and see us if and when it wears out or you don't like it.