Hitch height

I'm not sure I'm understanding your post.

1st, make sure you are completely level before you do anything related to truck, hitch or trailer. I go to a flat parking lot at a nearby school.

2nd, you want your trailer to be slightly nose down when its hooked up to the truck. That provides you with a higher tongue weight.

3rd, you want the front of your truck to drop at least slightly (not sure exactly how much Anderson wants) when you engage your WDH hitch.

Sounds to me like you need to lower your hall mount a little more so that you load more weight on to your tongue.

Thanks, I think you understand. I reached out to Anderson, and wii wait for a response. The trailer nose is all ready 3 1/2” lower than level when connected to the truck. I don’t think lower it any more would be a good idea given that the Andersen directions state the trailer coupler should be 1 1/2” above the truck ball when trailer is ready to be connected.

If you are already 3.5" lower in the front, that's about as far as I'd lower it. I think its odd that they would say 1.5" above the ball prior to loading, as different vehicles have different spring packs and settle differently than others. Maybe they just recommend that as a starting point.

Just curious, what truck and what trailer? If you have big enough truck combined with small enough trailer you may not even "need" WDH. Assuming you have a front compartment, you might want to load up some heavier items there to increase tongue weight. I've got my tools, a hydraulic jack, chairs, beach umbrella, wood blocks for the stab jacks, small air compressor, etc up in the front compartment. That extra weight there helps with towing stability.

spoon059 wrote:
If you are already 3.5" lower in the front, that's about as far as I'd lower it. I think its odd that they would say 1.5" above the ball prior to loading, as different vehicles have different spring packs and settle differently than others. Maybe they just recommend that as a starting point.

Just curious, what truck and what trailer? If you have big enough truck combined with small enough trailer you may not even "need" WDH. Assuming you have a front compartment, you might want to load up some heavier items there to increase tongue weight. I've got my tools, a hydraulic jack, chairs, beach umbrella, wood blocks for the stab jacks, small air compressor, etc up in the front compartment. That extra weight there helps with towing stability.

I think they are saying have the coupler above the ball when you back under.
OP, first, raising the tongue will always decrease the TW. If the TV does not squat, the front come up when tongue is loaded on ball, what makes you think you need WDH?

I set up the Andersen according to my truck owner’s manual and the Andersen manual. Wrote down all the truck measurements unhitched and hitched w/o WD. Hooked up the chains and started adjusting to get the front back down.
I would guess that the ball is about 1 to 2 inches below the tongue when the trailer is level. The trailer sits slightly nose down when all hitched up.

I don't trust dealers for WDH setup but I do trust a tape measure and scales.
I really can't offer valid advice for your setup because it may well very different than my hitch setup.

When I setup my Reese DC the top of hitch ball was 1" higher than top of trailer coupler, level.
Dropped trailer on hitch whiched dropped rear 2" and raised front 1".
Adjusted trunnion bars where rear of truck came up 1" and front of truck went back down 1/2" and trailer is only 1" nose down when all was said and done.

So 2 things jump out with what you describe in post.
(1) Hitch ball 3 1/2" below trailer coupler while both sit level unhook, hmmmmm.
(2) 3 1/2" of nose down is more than I would want.
Hope Anderson responds with the answers your looking for.

Please eliminate some of guessing game. What were your scale weights and what is the tow vehicle and its ratings. Ford, GM, and I assume Ram, all have different "requirements" when it comes to weight distributing hitches.

I think the dealer's goal was to set it up so you get far enough away that you don't come back....

Forget the measurements, this is just gibberish if you don't understand it, I dont think you do.

The trailer should ride level, the truck should ride close to level, though if the rear sags an inch or two this is normal. Trucks are usually rear-high in anticipation of some turckload to weigh it down and bring it into level.

Absolutely the WD hitch when engaged should raise everything back up, this is the whole point of "distributing" the "weight".

I think on the Anderson you use the tongue jack to unweight the hitch, make your adjustments, and then lower the jack. On other brands the WD can be engaged with levers and you physically can see the tongue lift up when the WD springs are engaged. With Anderson you can just measure the difference from un-engaged to engaged. If it does not do anything, then adjust it to have more tension. It should lift the rear of the truck back to where it was before the trailer was dropped on it (or really just under that point, an inch lower is fine).

The hitch height adjustment is so you can move the ball un or down so the trailer will ride level after you get everything set up. As opposed to a bumper mount ball where you have no adjustment and it rides where it rides, the adj hitch lets you set it up, there is no pre-set height, you have to figure that out, some trial-n-error needed too.