Is a weight distribution hitch needed on dually?

Grit dog wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
What advantage is there in not using them?

Because an unloaded dually WANTS some weight in back. 0 need unless it’s killing the hitch receiver. But to that point, I’ll point out the vast numbers of duallies that fire up every morning with Waaaay more hooked up than that.....every day every where.

Remember like 95% of the wdh users are RV ers and 95% of the trucks are not towing travel trailers.

95% of pickups are towing utility trailers with low sides and less than 3-4,000lbs.

I see duallies running around empty all the time. They seem to survive just fine. If it really needs extra weight, throw some sand bags in the back, so it will be happy when there is no trailer hooked up.

The effort to use them is negligible, they already have them and they do improve the ride & safety. So far you haven't provided any logical reason not to use them other than you seem to think it's more macho not to.

While there is a need for wdh in some applications, much of their use can be viewed as training wheels for towing newbys IMO. The RV industry has a patent on their sales pitch.....

valhalla360 wrote:
What advantage is there in not using them?

Because an unloaded dually WANTS some weight in back. 0 need unless it’s killing the hitch receiver. But to that point, I’ll point out the vast numbers of duallies that fire up every morning with Waaaay more hooked up than that.....every day every where.

Remember like 95% of the wdh users are RV ers and 95% of the trucks are not towing travel trailers.

valhalla360 wrote:
What advantage is there in not using them?

Simpler hook up. It might take 60 seconds longer to use the WD. :E
Barney

It only takes a couple minutes to put them on, so why doesn't he want to use them??

What advantage is there in not using them?

I use a Reese w sway control. My father in law uses it on his truck too. We don't have to adjust the hitch between trucks bc they are the same. It would only take a few mins to set up the full wd and hitch on your friends truck so I say why not use it. Especially if he is taking your trailer and is not used to towing it.

There are questions if it's really needed, but there is no debate, the WD bars will not hurt anything to use them.

I have a one-ton diesel dually and use WD bars all the time. I never tow without them. Why guess? Just use them. No harm done.

I doubt Bryan has things mixed up. IIRC he has a LOT of custom made items on his Van. I would personally not be surprised if it does not have a 6K HW rating. I also doubt his van would handle 6000 lbs too. As he notes. once you remove X lbs off the FA< your steering, braking etc does not function as it should. Hence why he would need a WD to fix these issues, Assuming he did put a trailer with HW over IMHO about 1500-2000 lbs. This is an amount of HW, I have found on my 168-175" WB crew cab pickups where I notice the need for a WD vs not,as I described above.

There are also many of us, that pull loads over the typical hitch one can find aftermarket, or from the dealer/manufacture, that go to custom shops to have hitch's etc welded up to handle the loads we know we will put on them. I've done the same in the past with pickups, and cab and chassis rigs I have owned.

Marty

carringb wrote:
My hitch receiver is rated for 6,000 pounds of tongue weight without WD, however once trailer tongue gets really heavy, braking distances get much longer without weight-distribution because the front tires get offloaded.

I highly doubt that 6,000 lbs. tongue weight capacity. A class 5 hitch - the heaviest pull-behind hitch made, is rated for a maximum of 2,000 lbs. pin weight. The Ford towing guide for 2000 shows that some of the E350 wagons with the V-10 had a 6,500 lb. max trailer weight. I think you've gotten max trailer weight and tongue weight mixed up.

Rob