Question from Ron Gratz post in a sticky

The only way to really know what's going on is to weigh the rig. Theory is great and all, but it's not real world. The amount of weight distribution truly depends on each individual set up.

On my previous F150 I had to crank the bars down quite a bit to get proper WD...when I moved to the F350 Dually I used the same WD hitch and trailer and I really did was add some tension on the bars. Helped with some of the bouncyness and porpoising but I did not NEED it with the F350.

But yea, weigh everything and figure out how your set up settles.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

drsteve wrote:
Too much tongue weight can exceed the rating of the hitch receiver when not using WD. The numbers are on the receiver. On my truck, it's 500 lb tongue without WD, 1000 lb with. Max trailer is 5000 without, 10,000 with.

Again, these are receiver ratings, not the truck itself.

If you want to dead weight more than the current receiver gives you, and you are with in specs of the tow rig. Get a heavier duty hitch!

WHat I have personally found with a WDH system. IS when you take off a certain amount of weight from the front axel, usually about 300 lbs for the SW 35 series trucks I've had in the past, the steering etc gets bad/goofy, what ever term you want to call it. A WDH will put the wt taken off the front to the rear axel, and put it back to the front, putting truck steering/handling back to what I will call a normal feeling.

When towing my TT without, vs with, and vs with a sway control. I found in cross winds, the trailer rocked side to side less with a dual cam set up, than a basic WD, vs no bars what so ever. I never had fish tail sway with that trailer, so can not comment on this. BUT< having been hit by what I will swag was something over 50 mph based on known wind speeds going over the Columbia from Portland to Vancouver, with the dual cam, I did move half a lane to left with said gust. Everything went as one! As did many other rigs on the bridge I was on.

As noted, as the hitch head drops from slightly raised, to level, to lower than level, wt gets taken off the FA, and trailer axels, and placed on the rear axel. Some is ok, you will not notice this, too much makes for a bad handling rig. Hence why a WD can make or break a given rig.

I'm also of the, if the trailer does not tow well without bars, find and FIX the issue for said bad handling if it moves say side to side uncontrollably. If all you do is slap on an anti sway device, this is putting a band aid on a cut, that needs a tourniquet. You still have a trailer that wants to sway.

Marty

Too much tongue weight can exceed the rating of the hitch receiver when not using WD. The numbers are on the receiver. On my truck, it's 500 lb tongue without WD, 1000 lb with. Max trailer is 5000 without, 10,000 with.

Again, these are receiver ratings, not the truck itself.

Yes, if you kick 300lb of tongue weight back to the trailer axles you theoretically have gained back some available payload.
I'm in the camp of why do you need a wdh if you have suitable payload available without it, but I'm in the minority. There is a "magical" reason wdhs are used in almost all TT applications and almost never in other applications and IMO it stems partly from RV salesmen and inexperiencd customers and from back in the day when trailers were still heavy and the trucks weren't as capable. Also due in part to not all TTs are designed with reasonable tongue weight out of the box. You have toy haulers that are generally really tongue heavy without "toys" in back to balance the tongue weight.
Either way, you will have NO capacity issues with a brand new half ton with decent payload and towing capacity and a 6000lb trailer, contrary to what some would have you believe. Like the posters saying you're already maxed out and should have a bigger truck for a little ole 3 ton trailer.
Rest easy.

I don't have either the truck or the trailer yet. (Trailer should be here this week, dealer is delivering since I sold him my other truck, and Ford estimates a June 7 delivery of the truck.) These are mythical numbers I am using to try to understand the concepts. I like to have a thorough grounding in something before I jump in with both feet.

The 900 pound tongue weight is from 15 percent of the 6,000 pound GVWR of the trailer.

The 400 pounds of passengers is close to what DW and I weigh.

The 200 pounds is about 10 percent over what A.R.E. says their topper weighs.

The 1800 pounds is from another thread where someone has a similar setup that has a 1900 pound payload.

I've read posts more than a few times from the WDH experts around here that if you are having to play with the numbers like that, you are too tight and need a bigger truck or smaller TT. But then, some say it doesn't matter if you're over a little or a lot because the numbers are artificially low due to lawyers... To me, being too close on capacity can result in being slow uphill, slow to accelerate, more wear & tear, etc. BTDT with a previous TT and an F150 and it's not fun.

Where is the 1800 lb figure from? Are you the mythical 150 lb driver per the manufacturer's definition of payload and is it really included or not? The WDH will add another 100 lbs +/_. Will you be towing with one or more full holding tanks and what would that do to TW? Going on just short local trips or long road trips and flat roads or in mountains?

If it were me, I'd load your truck up with everything for a camping trip plus DW, pets, groceries, full tank of fuel, etc. and go through a scale and compare it to the GVWR and then you'll be able to make a more informed decision. (Esp. if you have added anything.) The payload figure on our door pillar sticker is way off what the actual is after going through a scale.

Are you planning to replace the Class C and go to a truck and TT and have no experience with a TT?

Let me see if I have this straight.

The WDH moving weight, say 300 pounds, to the TT axle does NOT let you put extra weight on the tongue of the trailer. However, it DOES let you add some more weight to the cab or bed of the truck.

Example: Truck with payload of 1800 pounds has 400 pounds of passengers, 900 pounds of pin weight, 200 pound cap, 150 pounds of "other stuff" leaves 150 pounds of payload. Moving 300 pounds to trailer axle ups that to 450 pounds of payload, as long as it is not tongue weight on the hitch.

Am I right?

Your right drsteve a WDH doesn't change the TW, but it does move some of that TW off of the truck and onto the trailer axles. The bottom line is what the tow vehicle axles weigh after hitching up the WDH.

The WD bars move load from the truck's rear axle to the truck's front axle and the trailer axle. What it does not do is change the tongue weight. All of the tongue weight is still there, and counts for hitch and receiver load purposes.

If any weight is shifted to the trailer axles, it HAS to lighten the load on the truck. The WD hitch neither adds nor subtracts weight from the rig. It just redistributes it. That's what Weight Distribution hitch means. Perhaps, they should have called it a Weight REdistribution hitch.