WDH too much tension and how would you know?

I spent a few hours re setting the WDH. What I came up with

Trunk only at 5 psi in air bags

rear wheel well 38"
front wheel well 35"

Truck and Trailer no WDH hitch and 5 psi
rear 35 5/8"
front 35 1/2"

I am maxed out on how much more tension I can put on the 1000# bars.

Truck with WDH and 5 psi
rear 36"
front 35 3/4"

Truck with WDH and 35 psi (this is the psi where I normally run when towing)

rear 36 5/8"
front 35 1/2"

I am looking and in the market for 1500# bars

When you're talking about the mechanics of WD hitches and towing, the rear axle *IS* the fulcrum around which all the forces act.

The tongue weight pushes down behind the fulcrum, lifting the front.

The WD bars pry up behind the fulcrum, pushing the front back down.

Yes, the airbags lift the rear of the truck up, but that is a completely different lever than the one the tongue weight and WD bars are acting on. In the context of the tongue weight and WD bars, the airbags are pushing directly on the fulcrum point, and do almost nothing to affect the situation. Total effect is around 20lbs, maximum.

Now, if the airbags could raise the rear end of the truck up several FEET, rather than just a few inches, the effect would be much more pronounced. Since you can't tow with the tongue several feet in the air and the truck riding nose-down at a 45+ degree angle, the effects are really not relevant.

The height of the rear wheel well should never be higher than the unloaded height. I got mine adjusted so that the front is only 100 lbs. lighter than the unloaded weight. The trailer tongue weight lifted 360 lbs. from the front and the WDH returned 260 lbs. back. So 72% of the weight lifted from the front was returned.

My experience with air bags when I owned a Ram 1500 is that if I put too much air in the bags the rear suspension became too stiff and acted like a fulcrum and affected the weight transfer to the front axle. It resulted in the truck porposing like the front end was light. Try lowering the pressure and let the rear suspension do it's job.

The rear suspension is supposed to drop when loaded. Don't try to keep it at it's unloaded height.

1L243 wrote:
The airbags prevent the rear from dropping which you would think would prevent the front from raising but I really don't know.

I am going to get some 1500# bars.....

If you would watch the video I linked you'd see that the air bags do nothing to transfer weight or lower the front fender.
Air bags should only be used to carry the added weight from extra gear in the truck.
Load the truck then air the bags and bring the truck back to it's original height. THEN hitch up the TH and use the WD to reset the front wheel well back to as close to it's original height as you can.

The airbags prevent the rear from dropping which you would think would prevent the front from raising but I really don't know.

I am going to get some 1500# bars.....

Agreed...looks like you need to verify your bars load capacity...it would seem to me that you will need 1500 pound bars.

When I had my 2010 F150 and was towing our previous TT that had a TW of 900-950 lbs, I had to really lift the truck up. I was using an EQ with 1200 lb bars. If I didn't pay attention I once in awhile lifted the rear tires off the ground.
Kudos to Barker tongue jacks as it never broke. I had to lift the truck up 4-5" or more. I've also used an EAZ-Lift WD and when hitched up the spring bars had some bend in them. Seemed normal to me.
JMO but you should be setting up the front fender as close as you can back to it's original height. That would get you back to the original weight.
From you weights it looks like you need 1500 lb bars. If you empty RAWR is 3900 lb a when hitched it's 5450 lbs then thats an increase of 1550 lbs.
Bags won't do anything to transfer weight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBZu39pQ8Gg&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for those pointers. This is a Toy Hauler so I know that they tend to have alot of tongue weight. I have spent alot of time getting the WDH dialed in. I have weighed the truck by itself but loaded with cargo and the truck and trailer loaded together to get a tongue weight.

My truck is a 1999 F250 Super Duty with 35 psi in rear air bags.

I measured the distance from the top of the wheel wells to the ground with the WDH tension and without to get a idea on how much weight I am able to transfer forward.

And what I came up with is Fully Loaded with trailer and cargo dog and the wife I am 250lbs lighter in the front with the trailer and WDH.

So, not happy with this , in my driveway so I dont' have weights for this only measurements, I added one extra washer on the WDH to drop the bars a little so I could get more tension and still have level bars.

Doing this transferred more weight the front, front wheel well measurement dropped and the rear came up. But I had to really lift the truck and trailer with the Jack and it was a bear to get the springs set. So, I was wondering just how much force can I put on those WDH bars!

weights
Truck no trailer but with cargo
front axle 4150
rear axle 3900

Truck with trailer and cargo and WDH
front axle 3900
rear axle 5450

Trailer was 6300 when I weighed it coming home from the dealer

Trailer now 8200 with cargo

Don't be afraid to lift things up with the jack. A jack properly sized in good condition will be able to lift the truck and trailer plenty high enough. If it breaks it was about ready to let you down at the worst possible time.