Towing with Auto Leveling

The auto level needs to be disabled before you connect the WD hitch. Once you have it all setup then you turn it back on.

As mentioned before, the purpose of the weight distribution is to put weight back on the steer axle. The only way you can effectively do this is to use a scale. Just looking at whether or not the truck is level is not a good indication. After you've got the weight shifted to the steer axle, you'll probably only have a very slight "out of level" on the truck.

If you can, disable the auto air bags and use the WDH to level your vehicle. If your auto level lifts the rear of the truck after your hitch has been set up it will serve to unload your front tires and possibly defeat the anti-sway capabilities of your hitch. Both scenarios make your tow worse and possibly unsafe.

Yes you still need the weight distribution. Although it may sound like your goal is to get the vehicle to sit more level, that's really just an artifact of the real purpose, a measurable artifact of what it's really doing. This is how we measure if the weight distribution is setup correctly. The real purpose of weight distribution is to transfer weight from the rear axle to the front axle. Why is this important? Because if you don't have enough weight on your front axle then you can't steer. That's a very scary situation. Keep in mind that this will be exaggerated even more when dragging all that weight up hill. It also may tow fine on dry roads because it has just enough weight on the front axle but you'll find out in wet or icy conditions, the tiny bit of weight you have left will not be enough to steer the gross combination weight of the truck and trailer.

My 2015 Tahoe had auto leveling and it worked well for 5+ years and then needed repair. Yes, for a 6500 wet and loaded TT weight distribution is helpful getting weight back to the front tires to help in braking IMO.