weight distribution/sway or not

Check out Blue Ox.........Time well spent.

anaro wrote:
Yes I would get one, although with a 23 ft trailer you could do a basic wdh and get a sway bar. The disadvantage of a sway bar is you can't back up with it onThe disadvantage of a sway bar is you can't back up with it on, you must remove it first. You can back up with a wdh that has integrated sway control. For these, the Reese dual cam and equal-i-zer are always popular choices. The Anderson is gaining support but it is a newer hitch. I can tell you I have the Reese dual cam and love it. I have friends with the equal-i-zer and they love it.

Why not? I have done that, by convention when arriving at the campsite I do remove it there are times I have not and backed up….tell me if I am doing something wrong. :h

and then how do I calculate what rating I need???

Yes I would get one, although with a 23 ft trailer you could do a basic wdh and get a sway bar. The disadvantage of a sway bar is you can't back up with it on, you must remove it first. You can back up with a wdh that has integrated sway control. For these, the Reese dual cam and equal-i-zer are always popular choices. The Anderson is gaining support but it is a newer hitch. I can tell you I have the Reese dual cam and love it. I have friends with the equal-i-zer and they love it.

ssemalone wrote:
Soooo that leads to the next question.. Which one is best????

You'll get too many inputs here. Everybody will say, the best one is the one they have.

The most expensive would be the Hensley. That would be over kill for your set up.

You are pretty much borderline as to wether you need oone, or not.

I too, would recommend you get one. The one I think would suit you the best, is this one.

It's clean (no need to carry grease or lubricant of any kind), quiet (no moaning and groaning of WD bars), lite weight (60 lbs total weight), and has been reported to work very well with liter tongue weights.

As a reminder of basic physics I submit the following :
Heavy tongue weight mitigates sway .
The trailer weight between the TT axles and the hitch is controlled ( good ) weight .
The weight behind the TT axles is uncontrolled ( bad ) weight and is working like a lever .
A longer trailer is a longer lever and can more easily move a lightweight TV .
An equalizing hitch allows one to increase the tongue weight , especially a TV with a smaller rear axle payload .
Some brands/models of trailers have less distance between the TT axles and the hitch .
This allows them to promote those trailers as half-ton friendly .
The higher the percentage of the distance from TT axle to tow hitch the better that the combination will handle .
This is why boat trailers handle so well .
DIESEL pickups carry about 500 more pounds on the steering axle than gas pickups .
DIESEL pickups are better handling than gas pickups when towing for this reason .
This allows one to use less equalizing hitch assistance when using a Diesel pickup .
All of these are factors in getting good handling and the combination of them can lead to very good handling .

Our old TT was 20' and 5K lbs loaded. Towed it with an F150 along with WDH without sway control. The handling and sway was awful even with it all set up right and HD Bilsteins on the truck. Worst was windy/gusty stretches of road and it was very uncomfortable to drive. Would never tow again without sway control. New WDH is Reese DC strait-line (with F250 & 29' TT).

Even if you could forgo a WDH based on numbers, I would rather restore most or all of the weight back onto the steer axle for safety and handling reasons. JMHO...

I towed a similar travel trailer with a 1500 suburban. I towed both with and
without the equalizer hitch. It made all the difference in the world for smoothness in the ride.

Brian

Soooo that leads to the next question.. Which one is best????