Reese Dual Cam Size with a toy hauler???

This doesn't mean at ALL that I am disregarding your post, but I just need to get to the bottom of 2 conflicting statements, one says weight shift will change the detents and one says they won't. And unfortunately my researching isn't helping the matter..........

Call Reese and ask for customer service and discuss the weight shift transfer, if any. The detents ride in the cam that when the trailer trys to sway the cam comes out of the detents and trys to re-straighten the trailer vis a vis the tow vehicle.

As far as all the comments about getting the dual cam set up correctly; that is easy also. Pull straight for about 100 feet and then initiate the set up. Not rocket science.

When you look at comments from folks, look at what they are towing with. It is more about the truck you have than any WDH since you don't need one for WD with a one ton dually. Only thing you might want is a sway feature. And with the heavy diesel up front the last thing you would ever want is to add more weight to the front axle. Your truck will sit with a front/rear weight bias empty that is substantially heavier in the front. Adding weight to the back is actually good for a better balanced truck. WD tries to redistribute weight back to the trailer axles (around 20 percent of the redistributed tongue weight) and to the front axle. Don't add to the front axle any more than is taken off with the tongue and if you are a couple hundred pounds less, so much the better to balance the heavy diesel engine.

jnjloo wrote:

APT wrote:

Without WDG, my TT tows at 72mph behind my friend's dually. That's why I say the dual cam system is picky. But I love it when it's right!

what is WDG in this case?
I can't weight distribution ________? gear?

oh, and if it makes a difference, I'm going for a dually as well.

I'm sorry. Typo, WHD. My TT towes great behind my friend's 2012 Silverado dually without no WD bars, just tongue on ball. So the design and balance of the TT is great and anything that makes it worse was improper WDH adjustment. But my TT weighs about 6500 pounds with 750-800 pounds of TW.

A dually will be less picky about WDH adjustment as well and restoring 100% front axle weight.

first of all, let me say THANKS for all the helpful replies and assistance!! I Really appreciate it.

Then let me move on to this:
I am probably overthinking it, ( I definitely have that tendency), but when someone with experience says that it will shift and wouldn't recommend if for my application, I have to step back and take a serious look at it. I really don't want to make (another)600.00 mistake. I've had a few too many of those lately. :)

This doesn't mean at ALL that I am disregarding your post, but I just need to get to the bottom of 2 conflicting statements, one says weight shift will change the detents and one says they won't. And unfortunately my researching isn't helping the matter..........

jmtandem wrote:
You are over thinking this. Your tongue weight won't change the position of the spring bar detents. If, and this is a huge IF, you need to adjust anything it would be the tension and that is easily done. If you want the dual cam, get it. Other hitches like the Equalizer also have to have the tension on the bars adjusted if the tongue weight changes significantly.

With a dually you will have almost 5000 pounds of payload, a 9350 pound rear axle, and four skins across the back that are rated for at least 12,000 pounds. You could easily tow the hauler with no weight distribution hitch. Just get a sway feature. You have more than enough truck. You will need an aftermarket receiver.

Get the dual cam set up once correctly and it will work for you.

from previous:

APT wrote:
I would not recommend the dual cam for a Toy hauler. It is far too picky about adjustment of the detent in the bars centered over the lobes. Varying weight of toys/water between trips will require adjustment.

Get the EQ 4-pt. For and 11k TH, I bet you have 1500 pounds of TW. A tongue scale should be great, or spend $14 at a CAT scale to size the WDH.

when I took the TT out for the first maiden run it swayed BADLY. I'm pretty sure this was the TV's problem and not as much the trailer. The tow vehicle (now sold) had a 6" lift and huge after market tires and was wandering around the road, dragging the TT after.
I'm hoping a better TV will help keep it from swaying at all, but I'm a bit anxious, as it was Really swaying and everyone involved (the family) was pretty uncomfortable, to the extent of some yelling, lol.

SO I don't want to repeat that situation with the new TV, so am trying to get it right the first (second) time.

thanks again for the help

dan

I still like the look of the dual cam best, but don't like the idea of it going out of adjustment with differing loads, or having it act up cause my weight is different.

You are over thinking this. Your tongue weight won't change the position of the spring bar detents. If, and this is a huge IF, you need to adjust anything it would be the tension and that is easily done. If you want the dual cam, get it. Other hitches like the Equalizer also have to have the tension on the bars adjusted if the tongue weight changes significantly.

With a dually you will have almost 5000 pounds of payload, a 9350 pound rear axle, and four skins across the back that are rated for at least 12,000 pounds. You could easily tow the hauler with no weight distribution hitch. Just get a sway feature. You have more than enough truck. You will need an aftermarket receiver.

Get the dual cam set up once correctly and it will work for you.

APT wrote:

Without WDG, my TT tows at 72mph behind my friend's dually. That's why I say the dual cam system is picky. But I love it when it's right!

what is WDG in this case?
I can't weight distribution ________? gear?

oh, and if it makes a difference, I'm going for a dually as well.

I'm tired of changing TV's and will be using it 90% just for towing, so am going dually................

hmm, now I am looking at blue ox. They look pretty good too. but not many reviews or feedback.

I still like the look of the dual cam best, but don't like the idea of it going out of adjustment with differing loads, or having it act up cause my weight is different.

I've been doing a LOT of searching, but can't find much on how it reacts to toy haulers and differing loads.

I can't say why, but I just don't like the look of the equal-I-zer hitch for some reason. it just doesn't seem to me that it would have as much ability to cancel sway with the friction only.

I used to have a sway bar on my old toy hauler. It wasn't a dual cam, but had a cam that the bars sat in, that was attached to where the chains hooked. I don't remember the model or brand, but it worked VERY well. but then we never changed the load on that TH. It was the reason I was going with the dual cam.....

oh, and I would guess i'll be fully loaded (with rzr and water) about 90% of the time. for what it's worth

The gross weight rating of the trailer is 11,000
the 1200 of the dual cam would cover the gross weight, but not the tongue weight if it's higher, but that's ok?

Then use 11,000 as your gross weight target for sizing the hitch. You will be fine with the Reese at 1200/12000 behind a one ton truck. The 1500/15000 might be better if you are loaded all the time as 11,000 gross usually puts the tongue weight around 1400 pounds. Behind a one ton the need to distribute any weight is minimal or not at all so really you are looking at the sway function of the hitch. Be sure your stock receiver is rated for the weight of the tongue. You may need to go to an aftermarket receiver to get up to around 1500 pounds capacity or greater. All is doable. The Equalizer hitch mentioned by another is purely a friction based hitch and does not work the same way the Reese works. The Reese is better but does take a few minutes more to set up. Once set up you should be good to go.

Remember, if you are not carrying the toys the tongue weight percentage goes up but the overall trailer weight goes down so the tongue weight change empty to full issue might be offset and not be that big of a deal. If you are going from 11,000 with toys to 9300 pounds without toys and the hitch percentage stayed the same the reduction would be about 200 pounds. Your hitch percentage would need to increase from about the rule of thumb of 13 percent to 15 percent to be at the same 1400 pounds tongue weight. This change is very doable with the hitch you are selecting and a one ton truck will do just fine with 1400 pounds at the hitch. Weight distribution hitches redistribute about 20 percent back to the trailer axles so you are not adding the full 1400 pounds to the truck's axles.

jnjloo wrote:
1200 of the dual cam would cover the gross weight, but not the tongue weight if it's higher, but that's ok?

All the WDH bars are rated at 10% of the tow ratings. Few RVs have that little. Without measuring, I would go for at least 1400 pound bars, maybe 1700 pound. Bars are designed to work with a range of tongue weights. The EQ 1000 pound bars are designed for 400-1000 pounds. So 1000 pounds is the max, but far from the least.

My Reese WDH made towing scary unstable at 60mph when I changed tires by 1" diameter on my prior truck. Prior it was stable at 75mph. I adjusted and became stable once more. Likewise when I changed my TV, adjustment was very important. Without WDG, my TT tows at 72mph behind my friend's dually. That's why I say the dual cam system is picky. But I love it when it's right!

APT wrote:
I would not recommend the dual cam for a Toy hauler. It is far too picky about adjustment of the detent in the bars centered over the lobes. Varying weight of toys/water between trips will require adjustment.

Get the EQ 4-pt. For and 11k TH, I bet you have 1500 pounds of TW. A tongue scale should be great, or spend $14 at a CAT scale to size the WDH.

I did not have this issue with my Weekend Warrior, and tongue weight varied anywhere from 1800 to 3200 pounds. The only time I had to adjust the lobes was pulling it with my Dad's van which was sprung much softer and sat lower.

I actually think a huge friction hitch like the Equalizer can be counterproductive with a really heavy trailer tongue, because the same forces acting against sway also act against returning to center during regular driving, and in slippery weather could make it impossible to recover from over-steer.

Even my Dual-cam had "too much" holding power in some situations. If I ever tried to turn under heavy throttle in the rain, I would just plow straight ahead. I had to adjust my driving to go easy on the throttle until after I started the turn.

APT wrote:
I would not recommend the dual cam for a Toy hauler. It is far too picky about adjustment of the detent in the bars centered over the lobes. Varying weight of toys/water between trips will require adjustment.

Get the EQ 4-pt. For and 11k TH, I bet you have 1500 pounds of TW. A tongue scale should be great, or spend $14 at a CAT scale to size the WDH.

really?
wow, that's good information.

We will be regularly switching between carrying our 1700 pound rzr 4 and not. you think that will throw the detents off?
I never thought of that. Didn't know they were that sensitive?

I'm afraid you lost me with a few of the acronyms after that?
EQ 4pt? is that a different type of hitch? Is that the Equal-I-zer I keep reading about?
With my old TV, a 2001 ford excursion diesel, it was 8400 itself and 18400 with the the trailer, no water, on the cat type scale at the dump

thanks
dan