wd bars

[globehopper]

fairly new to this towing experience so i have a coupe of questions:
at the dealer during the orientation they said to hook up the wd bars at 3 links. a few trips later, when we got our friction sway bar ianstalled, the service guy said only one or two links. the unit hooks up level with one and two, but no tension pulling up the bars. so is there really a big difference? what exactly do these bars do? we tow fine, but maybe i'm expecting too much. 2013 f150 towing 24 ft. tt.

[Ron3rd]

The purpose of the WD bars is to add weight back to the front axle that you removed with trailer's tongue weight. There is no set formula such as 2 links or 3 links, etc as every setup is different. Read the link posted above and get a good understanding of how the WD system works and you'll be fine. Also, read the instructions for your WD hitch and if you don't have them, download them. Head tilt and other factors must be considered too.

[BarneyS]

Take a look at this thread for good instructions on setting up your hitch. It is not set up correctly now if you have no tension on the bars when the chains are hooked up.

You may also want to look at this one which explains how a WD hitch works. I suggest reading at least the first post that contains the diagram and then reading the set up thread I linked above.

Between these two, you should be able to do it yourself and therefor get it right, and learn about your hitch at the same time! 🙂
Barney

[goducks10]

If you need more tension add a washer, that will cause the ends of the spring bars to tilt further down making it harder to chain up. Also since you have an F150 you need to measure the front wheel well before and after hitching up. According to Ford you want somewhere between 100% and 50% of the measurement returned. Example. Front wheel well measurement before hookup is 38", after hitching w/o WD 39", after hooking up the WD you want 38" to 38-1/2".