What is best hitch and electric brake for 8,000# trailer?

What Ram? 1500,2500, or 3500?
Best can be subjective.
Brake controller? Most consider the Prodigy to be one of the best.
Hitch? Hensley Arrow or similar tend to be one of the best for towing. But you may not need a Hensley if your towing with a 2500 or 3500 series truck

John S wrote:
Have to setup a Dodge Ram truck to pull a 10,000 # Airstream trailer.

What is the best/recommended hitch and electric brake for doing this safely?

Hi,

What ton rating is the suspension of your Ram? 1/2 ton, 3/4 or 1 ton? The 1st part of saftey starts with the truck when you are talking a 10,000# loaded camper.

Do you know what the empty tongue weight of the camper is and what others with that floor plan have for a loaded tongue weight? A 10,000# camper can be in the 1,300# to 1,500# loaded tongue weight and it helps to know this as it may eliminate some brands of hitch.

The best WD hitch IMHO is the Pull Rite hitch. That said they only have 2 size WD bars, 1,000# and 2,000#. Before getting the 2,000# WD bars need to make sure from air stream the A frame can handle them.

The next best are the Hensley and the Pro-Pride. They come in up to 1,400# WD bars.

The next in line is the Reese DC and the Equal-I-zer. The Equal-I-izer tops out at 1,400# WD bars while the Reese has more options, 600, 800, 1,200, 1,500 and 1,700# WD bars and you can change WD bars and not the entire hitch.

If you have a 3/4 ton or 1 ton truck, any of the ones mentioned will do a good job if the rig is setup correct. The longer the wheel base the better.

Hope this helps

John

I'd think about an e2 hitch as well. Sway & built in weight distributing. Plus you can backup without removing any bars, etc.

And a Prodigy 3 brake controller. Easy to set and use!

WoodGlue

I had the E-Qual-i-zer which is a good sway control WD hitch, the sway control is controlled through steel to steel friction. After a white knuckle experience I researched, purchased and installed the ProPride 3P hitch which is the next generation Hensley as in Hensley Arrow and actually eliminates sway rather than just control it. It is like night and day difference, the trailer tracks like it is on rails and I no longer feel the big rigs passing or me passing them like I did with the E-Qual-i-zer. Some will say you don't need to spend the amount for the ProPride or Hensley, but to me, just one white knuckle experience avoided which could lead to a deadly situation, is worth every penny for the added safety of my precious cargo!

Cheers,

-Gaz

Thanks Gazzer and welcome to the Forum.... John S.

Have to setup a 2006 Dodge Ram 3500 Cummins Diesel 5.9L truck to pull a 8,000# Airstream trailer.

What is the best/recommended hitch

Hensley, ProPride or PullRite hitches are the best. If you can get a disk brake conversion you will have the best trailer brakes.

Love my Hensley... I'll forever pull with one.. Regardless of truck... Even a 3/4-1ton... Great hitch.

Hensley and Prodigy, any day and everyday.

A good WDH setup correctly will do you well, as Airstreams are known to be really easy to tow. Well balanced, and do not have the same sway problems of other TTs. They tend to follow along with no protests, Which is one of the reasons they are so costly.

I went with a ProPride since it was a newer design than the Hensley and significantly less money. First long trip was 5,000 miles this past summer to Yellowstone. Night and day difference on stability, crosswinds, and the dreaded semi passing on the left than my old Reese weight dist. Yeah, it was $2,000 but I got zero gray hairs from this trip.

Loved my Prodigy brake controller (current truck has built-in brake controller).