hello all, i have a 28 foot 2004 blaze'n toy hauler and seems to have a incredible tongue weight. we do not haul toys in it yet but plan to in the next year after its paid off more.i have a 10000 lb harbor freight weight distriution hitch for it but the rig(1997 ford f250 3/4 ton 7.3 diesel) still squats 2 inches at the rear wheel wells with nothing in it. i thought these hitches were designed to lift the rear tires of the tow vehicle of sinched up tight of enough??i also have air bags that i use but i thought i would not need them with a weight distribution hitch?

If you used a Reese Dual Cam, Equalizer, or other non-Chinese WDH you SHOULD be able to make it squat as little as you want pretty near. I adjust my 10k Equalizer so my Ford squats equally front and rear when hooked up. Did that with our last TV also.Note recommenmded tongue weight is 13% to 15% of the FULLY LOADED TT weight. Have you weighed everything fully loaded? Is your tongue weight within that range? If it is too heavy in front, where is your fresh water tank? On our two toyhaulers we adjusted the tongue weight to compensate for toys by the amount of fresh water we carried. Just an idea.

If that hitch fails, you could cause an accident - or worse. I buy single-use tools at Harbor Freight, but not trailer hitches LOL

What is your tongue weight? Are your bars large enough for it? Is your ball slanted back enough to gain maximum lift from the bars?Toy haulers usually have heavy tongue weights when the "toy" section in the rear is not filled. The tongue weight lessens with each pound of rear weight applied.

Question for you.Why be concerned that the truck springs are doing their job, and the back of the truck squats under load. It is designed to sink a little bit while under load. If the springs never bent under load, then the springs would be solid bars, with no suspension at all, and no give when you go over a pot hole. So how much squat is to much? Measure the distance the tire has before it starts to rub against the fenders. If you have more than 6" you have a normal truck and can load it to the point it squats about 6" from normal unloaded height. When I had my 75 F-350 camper, it would sink about 4" while the camper was on board, and go back to normal later. So I had two hitch receivers. The 6" drop was used if I was going to be towing without the camper on the truck, while the 2" drop was used while I was taking the camper along. 4" of drop with a 3,000 pound load on the truck is pretty much normal. That would be 1" of drop for each 400 pounds (on each spring) so each spring will carry about 1,600 pounds, and drop about 4". Going over a pot hole, the spring can also compress or expand about 1" if there is an extra 400 pounds applied to the spring while going over the road damage. Even a 2" tall speed bump can be crossed at a good speed, such as 30 MPH, if the springs are designed right, and are absorbing the bump.Yet if you add air bags and stiffen up the springs again, and make it so the truck does not compress while you have a load in it, then the spring rates really change. The factory truck springs are still going to compress 1" per 400 pounds of load on them (more or less) while the air bags will not compress nearly as much because they are taking on more of the load during a event, such as crossing a speed bump. Because the thicker springs are designed to not compress easiely, you will feel the speed bump inside the truck much better.Fred.

mudrat025 wrote:.i have a 10000 lb harbor freight weight distriution hitch I would not trust a Harbor Freight (Chinese Freight) hitch to tow a wheelbarrow. Get a name brand from Reese, Drawtite, etc. A quality weight distribution hitch properly set up will distribute tongue weight to the trucks front wheels and the trailer wheels.

10000 harbor freight hitch up to par??? | Good Sam Community

mudrat025
Explorer
Jun 23, 2013
Ok that was truch weight withtrailer.so rear axle with WDH is 5300 and without 5450.
mudrat025
Explorer
Jun 22, 2013
I got out and made sure only rear axle was on scale???these are the #'s 3750 front 9400 rear with WDH trailer 7500 hooked to the truck.I have 3 more scales on the way home I will check again
mkirsch
Nomad II
Jun 21, 2013
That can't be right...

9400lbs would put you at 3300lbs overweight on the rear axle of an F250. The tires would be squashed no matter how hard you pumped them up, and they'd be VERY hot after driving a short distance.

9400 has to be either the entire truck weight or the entire trailer axle weight.

You need to weigh twice, once with the WD and once without. Get these values:

1. Truck front axle
2. Truck rear axle
3. Trailer axles combined
mudrat025
Explorer
Jun 21, 2013
finally got it weighed.weighed 9400 at the trucks rear wheels with WDH hooked up....
ReferDog
Explorer
Jun 18, 2013
Quit throwing darts at this thing and go get it weighed, if you live in OR there are lots of SCALES at roadsides to weigh on, especially if you are going to the Dunns.
Bedlam
Moderator
Jun 17, 2013
1. Get your actual tongue weight to find out if the WDH has the capacity for your setup.

2. With the air bags deflated and trailer unhitched measure the height of the front wheel well. Hitch the trailer up without WDH and measure the front height again. You then want to attach the WDH and adjust for half the difference of your two measurements. This can be done by adjusting hitch head angle (space washers) or the number of chain link on the load bars to the hangers.

3. Once your WDH is properly adjusted, adjust the pressure in your air bags to almost level out your ride (slightly lower tail is OK).

After seven years towing a heavy toy hauler (about 40K miles of which 5K was off road) and another year of towing my enclosed trailer, my original Reese hitch head started to egg out at the load bar sockets. I just replaced the hitch head with the Harbor Freight model and kept the rest of the original setup after measuring for wear on the bars and finding no difference in diameter to the new bars. Unlike the Reese, the Harbor Freight model has Zerk grease fittings for the load bars and should make PM's easier when on the road. I leave shortly on a 5K mile trip and should have some feed back on the new (about 100 miles use so far) hitch head by the time I return.
mudrat025
Explorer
Jun 17, 2013
my truck already has airbags installed when i bought it.i did not get to scales tonight gonna do it later this week due to family issues.the problem is i do not have any toys at the moment just plan to in the future. 7600 dry?? i must of done something wrong... i will repost later this week. thanks for all the info guys.
jmtandem
Explorer II
Jun 17, 2013
Yes that's trailer weight.I am going to the scales tonight to get exact tongue weight.can I just buy heavier load bars?
Passin_Thru
Explorer
Jun 17, 2013
Airbags do not complicate the function or results. Load the vehicle to your intended gross, adjust the hitch so front and rear are even and inflate airbags until they begin to raise the bumper. I've run them for 30 years. There is always someone with some kind of "bad news about something" Buy a Reese Dual Cam and you never have to look back.
mudrat025
Explorer
Jun 16, 2013
Yes that's trailer weight.I am going to the scales tonight to get exact tongue weight.can I just buy heavier load bars?