Weight distribution hitch questions

crossent wrote:
My dually has upper stable loads and rancho 9000's. I think I will take the timbrens off my 95 and slide them under the dually. The dually handles my single axle boat just fine. The toy hauler is a tandem axle . Just thought WD to bump up my hitch capacity. Not trying to raise the back of the truck.

As long as you don't exceed the ratings of the extension, you will be just fine. If it says 600/6000 with WD, and the trailer is going to be at or under 600/6000, then put a 600lb WD hitch on it, adjust it normally, and hit the road.

Keep in mind that a 48" extension is amplifying all forces from the trailer hitch like a cheater pipe on a wrench. That's why the ratings for the extension are so low.

Everything is amplified in fact. If there's any slop in the extension at the receiver, the trailer will be clunking and clanking around behind you, annoying you to no end and wallowing out your receiver. If you don't already have them you may want to consider some stabilizer chains similar to what you see on the Torklift Supertruss and many custom installations.

ticki2 wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:

I did tow quite a bit in my life, including few thousands miles with 18,000lb equipment hauler and NEVER used WD bars.

Would you mind telling us what vehicle and trailer hitch you were conventional towing 18000 # without a WD hitch .

Not everyone is trying to tow a 9000lb trailer with a half ton truck or midsize SUV.

My Reese Titan receiver is rated to 18,000lbs conventional towing without a WD hitch.

Construction equipment on flatbed trailers are almost always towed without WD behind pickup trucks.

That's not to say just because they can/do means everyone else should too. If you're going across town to a job site at 35MPH, that's one thing. WD hitches have distinct advantages when you're traveling hundreds of miles at highway speeds.

Kayteg1 wrote:

I did tow quite a bit in my life, including few thousands miles with 18,000lb equipment hauler and NEVER used WD bars.

Would you mind telling us what vehicle and trailer hitch you were conventional towing 18000 # without a WD hitch .

My dually has upper stable loads and rancho 9000's. I think I will take the timbrens off my 95 and slide them under the dually. The dually handles my single axle boat just fine. The toy hauler is a tandem axle . Just thought WD to bump up my hitch capacity. Not trying to raise the back of the truck.

When I agree that any bar will have to have some affect, the truth is that WD bars behind the camper will have to lift the trailer tongue AND the rear of the camper to level the set.
Engineering-wise that is even more complicated as you should calculate axle to ball distance and ball to trailer axle.
I did tow quite a bit in my life, including few thousands miles with 18,000lb equipment hauler and NEVER used WD bars.
Sure never had truck with a stinger.
I think you need to do some try-by-error test.
First how many axles on the trailer? Dual axle are good in preventing sway, but single axle sucks.
I would load the trailer to have less than 300lb on tongue, put air helper bags on the truck to level the set and this way WD bars might not be needed at all.

On online hitch site also said the same thing as dealer(almost as if I talked to the same person twice). Just posting here as I'm sure some tow with extensions and could give insight on bar size they run. Was thinking I might benefit from some sway control also.

crossent wrote:
It's rated at 400-4000 or 600-6000 WD.

A WD hitch is going to move some of the weight off the rear axle and move it to the front axle . It will also transfer some of the rear axle weight to the trailer axles . It may not level the truck depending on the load but it should level the trailer if set up properly . I would find a new dealer . Clearly the hitch is rated higher with a WD hitch than without .

There isn't any reason to use a WDH unless you can't raise the rear any other way.

It's rated at 400-4000 or 600-6000 WD.

How could it possible have no effect? Any bar giving any sort of upward force will have some effect.
Have you looked to see if the Reese is rated for use with a WDH? I used to have one of those 48" bars but I can't remember if it was.
If it is then a 500 pound bar should help.
I would probably call Reese about it.