I am new to the ol camping and travel trailer thing, as my in-laws got me into it about a year and half ago, but I love every minute of it. Just tough figuring everything out about towing our travel trailer, as my father in law has a class A so he doesn't know much about TTs. My question is about weight distribution bars. My set-up is 2007 GMC Sierra 2500HD, 2wd, 4 door, 8 ft. bed. 6.0 motor w. 4.10s. I tow a 26TBSS (about 27' long) travel trailer weighing in at 6,700#s loaded. When I left campground today I didn't have much but some leftover firewood in the bed of my truck, and I looked at my weight dis. bars and they didn't look like the had much pressure hanging on them. I had them at the 4th link down as usual, so I figured I would just move them up to the next link, where the chains would be nice and tight on them. I will mention whenever I hook my tt up to my truck it doesn't look like it even squats the truck at all. So when towing home on the highway today, it wasn't the most pleasant experience. The ride pretty much gave me a stomach ache and made me feel queezy. We felt every bump and I guessed it tossed our cookies a little bit. Also noticed the front end of the truck move around a little bit to. It wasn't sway because I am not getting that at all. Just felt the front end just moved around along with the bumps and sickness and all that.So, do I have these weight distribution bars on correct? Do I even need them?, and what do they even do when your truck isn't squatting?The bars came with the TT when I bought it, and I assumed I needed to put them on. Any advice? Thanks a lot!

Was it working better before you moved it up a link? The WDH is to move weight from the hitch to the camper (evenly distribute the weight). You have an 2500HD but you still should use a WDH set up. If it did not work before you moved it up then maybe you can stop by a local dealership and have them reivew the set up and make changes if necessary.Your WDH should not make you lose your cookies as it is designed so that you keep your cookies.

Jbres,Probably the best thing you can do is to weigh your rig ready to camp. There will be a slight difference when returning, but from what I understand, unless your bed is loaded with 3 weeks of firewood, there usually isn't much of a difference weight wise to make the w.d. bar adjustment off.Weigh 3 times:Truck only- loaded with all family members and normal cargoTruck & trailer- w.d. bars "unhooked"Truck & trailer- w.d. bars under tension ("hooked up")This will tell you how much weight you are transferring back to the front axle (fa) with the w.d. bars under tension. Not sure if you have the '07 "classic" or if it's the '07-'14 body. In your owners manual it should state how much weight should be returned to the fa when the w.d. bars are hooked up compared to truck only fa weight. Generally it is anywhere from restoring 50% of the weight lost up to 100% of the weight. I think our '13 manual stated to return 50% of the weight back to the fa if I remember correctly. I didn't have time to get to the scales yet, probably will wait now until next season since we are done for the year! Example: Truck only fa weight 3500lbs. Trailer hooked up no w.d. bars- fa weighs 3200lbs. You will want to adjust the w.d. bar tension to return between 150-300lbs back to the fa depending on what the manual states.Do a search for cat scales and looks for one near you. Take a broom handle or use your bar for your snap up brackets to reach the call button!Hope this helps! Chris

Love2rv camp-I just got this newer truck to tow with and haven't had it out to many times yet to tinker with the wd and get it right. Thanks for your reply.Ok I will try and get my set up weighed in next few weeks so I can get an exact weight of my axles. So they will be able to get me a different "hitch weight" while the wd bars are hooked up and when there not?Does it seem like what I am describing I am not pushing enough weight back up to the front axles of truck or not enough?Maybe a dumb question but why do I need to evenly distribute the weight off the "hitch" if I am not even squatting or overloaded back there?Thanks again. Also its the "classic 07' style truck.

Moving to towing per request of OP.Marty

jbres wrote:Love2rv camp-I just got this newer truck to tow with and haven't had it out to many times yet to tinker with the wd and get it right. Thanks for your reply.Ok I will try and get my set up weighed in next few weeks so I can get an exact weight of my axles. So they will be able to get me a different "hitch weight" while the wd bars are hooked up and when there not?Does it seem like what I am describing I am not pushing enough weight back up to the front axles of truck or not enough?Maybe a dumb question but why do I need to evenly distribute the weight off the "hitch" if I am not even squatting or overloaded back there?Thanks again. Also its the "classic 07' style truck.When you weigh the rig with the wd bars hooked up & unhooked, you will have different weights on the fa, ra, and ta's. With bars unhooked, there will be some of the fa weight on the rear axle, and that is the weight you want to restore to the fa with the wd bars. You really aren't "evenly distributing" the weight off the hitch, just distributing it as needed. Though it may end up being even, just unlikely (from what I know).Even though the truck isn't really squatting, there is still some weight transfer. Our new '13 doesn't squat much with 900lbs tw, think it was about 1.5" or so without the wd bars hooked up, and the front only raised up maybe 1/2" (if I remember right- figures are out in the truck). How much does your truck squat without the wd bars hooked up? This can help adjust the hitch to get you close, while cat scale weights will dial you in the rest of the way. Measure the wheel wells at all 4 corners of the truck, then hook truck up without w bars hooked up. See how much the front raised up, then adjust hitch to get the front close to the original (trailer not hooked up) height. But make sure the rear never is higher with the wd bars hooked up than it is without a trailer hooked up!!!Also, make sure you have at least 5 chain links between the bars & snap up brackets, more if you can. Just adjust the hitch head angle to adjust the wd bar pressure as needed for at least 5 links/ As for the ride quality, hard to say as I am not sure. Was tire pressure correct, crapppy road, etc? Shocks ok? Just throwing some ideas out!!!Good luck & YW!!!Chris

Need Advice on my towing set-up w/ weight dis bars

15 Replies

Need-A-Vacation
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
jbres wrote:
Love2rv camp-I just got this newer truck to tow with and haven't had it out to many times yet to tinker with the wd and get it right. Thanks for your reply.
Ok I will try and get my set up weighed in next few weeks so I can get an exact weight of my axles. So they will be able to get me a different "hitch weight" while the wd bars are hooked up and when there not?
Does it seem like what I am describing I am not pushing enough weight back up to the front axles of truck or not enough?
Maybe a dumb question but why do I need to evenly distribute the weight off the "hitch" if I am not even squatting or overloaded back there?
Thanks again. Also its the "classic 07' style truck.

When you weigh the rig with the wd bars hooked up & unhooked, you will have different weights on the fa, ra, and ta's. With bars unhooked, there will be some of the fa weight on the rear axle, and that is the weight you want to restore to the fa with the wd bars. You really aren't "evenly distributing" the weight off the hitch, just distributing it as needed. Though it may end up being even, just unlikely (from what I know).

Even though the truck isn't really squatting, there is still some weight transfer. Our new '13 doesn't squat much with 900lbs tw, think it was about 1.5" or so without the wd bars hooked up, and the front only raised up maybe 1/2" (if I remember right- figures are out in the truck). How much does your truck squat without the wd bars hooked up? This can help adjust the hitch to get you close, while cat scale weights will dial you in the rest of the way. Measure the wheel wells at all 4 corners of the truck, then hook truck up without w bars hooked up. See how much the front raised up, then adjust hitch to get the front close to the original (trailer not hooked up) height. But make sure the rear never is higher with the wd bars hooked up than it is without a trailer hooked up!!!

Also, make sure you have at least 5 chain links between the bars & snap up brackets, more if you can. Just adjust the hitch head angle to adjust the wd bar pressure as needed for at least 5 links/

As for the ride quality, hard to say as I am not sure. Was tire pressure correct, crapppy road, etc? Shocks ok? Just throwing some ideas out!!!

Good luck & YW!!!
Chris
blt2ski
Moderator
Oct 06, 2013
Moving to towing per request of OP.

Marty
jbres
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
Love2rv camp-I just got this newer truck to tow with and haven't had it out to many times yet to tinker with the wd and get it right. Thanks for your reply.
Ok I will try and get my set up weighed in next few weeks so I can get an exact weight of my axles. So they will be able to get me a different "hitch weight" while the wd bars are hooked up and when there not?
Does it seem like what I am describing I am not pushing enough weight back up to the front axles of truck or not enough?
Maybe a dumb question but why do I need to evenly distribute the weight off the "hitch" if I am not even squatting or overloaded back there?
Thanks again. Also its the "classic 07' style truck.
Need-A-Vacation
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
Jbres,

Probably the best thing you can do is to weigh your rig ready to camp. There will be a slight difference when returning, but from what I understand, unless your bed is loaded with 3 weeks of firewood, there usually isn't much of a difference weight wise to make the w.d. bar adjustment off.

Weigh 3 times:

Truck only- loaded with all family members and normal cargo
Truck & trailer- w.d. bars "unhooked"
Truck & trailer- w.d. bars under tension ("hooked up")

This will tell you how much weight you are transferring back to the front axle (fa) with the w.d. bars under tension. Not sure if you have the '07 "classic" or if it's the '07-'14 body. In your owners manual it should state how much weight should be returned to the fa when the w.d. bars are hooked up compared to truck only fa weight. Generally it is anywhere from restoring 50% of the weight lost up to 100% of the weight. I think our '13 manual stated to return 50% of the weight back to the fa if I remember correctly. I didn't have time to get to the scales yet, probably will wait now until next season since we are done for the year!

Example: Truck only fa weight 3500lbs. Trailer hooked up no w.d. bars- fa weighs 3200lbs. You will want to adjust the w.d. bar tension to return between 150-300lbs back to the fa depending on what the manual states.

Do a search for cat scales and looks for one near you. Take a broom handle or use your bar for your snap up brackets to reach the call button!

Hope this helps!
Chris
love2rvcamp
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
Was it working better before you moved it up a link? The WDH is to move weight from the hitch to the camper (evenly distribute the weight).

You have an 2500HD but you still should use a WDH set up.

If it did not work before you moved it up then maybe you can stop by a local dealership and have them reivew the set up and make changes if necessary.

Your WDH should not make you lose your cookies as it is designed so that you keep your cookies.

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Need Advice on my towing set-up w/ weight dis bars

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