Hitch choices ??

A short update .Thanks everyone for your input. I went to the rv show and made a deal on the Husky centerline from the dealer I am buying the trailer from . They offered a price I couldn't beat anywhere.I discussed my concern with the salesman and the service manager and said I may have to start looking for another truck . To which they replied "dont rush into that yet". So I'll wait till spring and see how things go although I think a sherline tongue weight scale is on my shopping list .Below is the husky youtube video if anyone is interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpAsxhvQU6k

I have a dual cam. I can say it is a great setup but getting it set and adjusted properly is a S.O.B. It took me a few tries to get it in the sweet spot but now I love it. I am certain from reviews that the others work just as well and are much easier to install.

camping fools wrote:
Downtheroad

The hauler is considered a light weight 6800 lbs dry. Choose the hauler primarily for wheelchair use for my wife. As a bonus I should be able to take my 350lb Honda cbr250 along. Also planning to put on a set of air lifts. Guess time will tell if I will be wanting more truck

You'll be wanting more truck, very soon.

Check the sticker on your drivers door post. Look for GVWR and payload (cargo capacity) numbers. You will probably see a payload of somewhere around 1400 lbs. That is, as long as nothing has been added to the truck. Any bed liners, bed cover, step bars, etc, take away from that payload number, ppound for pound. What you have available, could be as low as 11 - 1200 lbs.

That toy hauler has an empty tongue weight of 950 lbs. It has a gross weight of 9858 lbs. It could easily reach 1300 lbs tongue weight. Add the weight of a WD hitch, and you're over GVWR on the truck, before you add a passenger or any cargo in the truck.

I started with a Hensley, then moved to Reese dual cam after breaking the Hensley towing my Weekend Warrior. Towed just as good with the Dual Cam. I never once missed the Hensley. For all the other trailers I tow, including car haulers up to 12,000 pounds, I don't use any sway control.

My thoughts on friction-based systems, including the Equalizer: The force that resists sway will also resist other motions. For example, say you got on the throttle too hard in slippery weather and you back end kicks out towards the ditch. With a non-friction hitch, you just let off the throttle and everything straightens out. With a friction hitch, you may have a harder time straightening things out.

I’ve been looking for a good place to bring this up without starting a new thread, and I guess this is as good a place as any. I know this topic of hitches (and tongue weight) has been talked to death, in fact over the past couple weeks I waded through all 53 paged of the sticky on Hensley Hitches plus everything else I could find on the ProPride 3P and the Reese straight line dual cam hitch. I’ve towed with an Equalizer 4 point hitch for a while now so I’m fairly familiar with how it performs.

Some of this is repetitive from other threads so I apologize in advance.

This past November I bought a 2013 Silverado 2500 HD, 2 WD, CC, standard bed, HD towing package, with the Duramax/Allison—3069 lbs payload, 17,400 lb. max trailer weight, 24,500 lb. GCVWR, and a 1,500 lb. TW (13,000 lb. max trailer weight) class V hitch (2.5” opening).

The hitch itself looks pretty substantial for an OEM—it looks to be about a 3” boxed construction (too cold to measure it right now) click, not the thin walled tubular hitch click

We bought this truck with the idea of upgrading to a bigger TT this summer, probably 3-4 months from now. We’ve decided on a 35’ Jay Flight 33RLDS (because we love the floor plan). We looked real hard at the Jayco Eagle 338RLTS, but shied away because it 5” longer, around 1,000 lbs heavier, and about $10-$15,000 more expensive.

The Factory lists the 33RLDS at 7,885 lbs. with a dry tongue weight of 1,060, but from looking at yellow stickers on several of them with different options, 8,500 lbs. dry and somewhere around 1,140 lb. TW (dry) is probably more realistic. Besides being 35’ long, this thing has 2 HUGE opposing slideouts in the back so I’m guessing there’s a pretty good potential for sway.

All that being said, the next step is to decide on a hitch. With all due respect to the Equalizer (it’s a really good hitch), I just don’t think it’s the best choice for something this big. So I’ve narrowed it down to two hitches; the 1,500/15,000 Reese Straight line dual cam, and the Propride 3P 1,400. The reason I’m not considering the Hensley is because they don’t make a 2.5” shank to fit my class V receiver (plus the ProPride is cheaper…Hey, I’m retired on a pension. Every nickel counts).

I have a basic (non-engineer) understanding of how these two hitches work, but whichever one you happen to prefer…give me your best argument for why I should go with that hitch and not the other one.

the_happiestcamper wrote:
Got me a blue ox for Christmas, first tow coming this weekend.

And what an awesome tow it was.

Hensley anti-sway WDH

2012 Ram 2500 CTD towing a 33.5 ft. Outdoors RV Blackstone. Started with the Equal-i-zer four point friction hitch that was set up correctly and after a white knuckle experience, researched and purchased a ProPride 3P and after towing with it for two seasons there is no way I would go back to a sway control WD hitch vs the sway elimination design of the ProPride or Hensley. The precious cargo on board is worth every extra $ IMHO!

And, I agree with the others regarding towing a trailer that big with a half ton, but if that is what you are going to do, be careful and give some serious thought to a ProPride 3P or a Hensley Arrow. BTW, the PP 3P is the next generation HA.

Of the 3 you mentioned, I would choose the Equal-i-zer based on what I know about these. The reese StraightLine (Dual-Cam) gets the best reviews here on the forum. If you want the absolute best set up, look at either the ProPride 3P or the Hensley Arrow.

To JBarca's point, a trip to the scales is probably a good idea when you get it all set up and packed. Bear in mind a toy hauler is unique in that the loaded tongue weight is LIGHTER than the dry tongue weight, primarily because toys get loaded behind the rear axle. Some toy haulers are so tongue-heavy when dry that they're almost not towable without something in the garage.

What happens to the loaded tongue weight also depends on where the fresh water tank is, whether you fill it, and most toy haulers have gasoline tanks built in as weel, so more variable weight. You don't want the tongue too heavy for that 150, but you don't want it too light either or it'll sway all over the road.

Got me a blue ox for Christmas, first tow coming this weekend.