Weight Distribution Hitch

[josheaton]

Hello From Louisiana

The wife and I picked up our camper this past weekend. It's a Cherokee Wolfpup 18TO. We really love the floor plan and the extra room in such a small footprint. We have a German Shepherd and the extra space really helps. I wanted to share a picture of the camper hooked up to the truck to see if it's adjusted properly with the hitch. I think it looks okay to me, but I wanted to get some expert advice. As we were driving I noticed many campers that clearly were not set up properly. All the weight was pinned forward on the truck and the camper was riding forward on the bumper of the truck.

Thoughts?

[Durb]

Can't comment on your hitch set up but the fact that you are invested in it being right is a good sign. I used to commute between Portland and Seattle and when passing towed rigs I would always check out their hitch setup. I think it is a disease, I can't help myself. I hope you are not inflicted with the same.

Last week towing in western Nevada there was travel trailer ahead doing 40 mph holding up a long line of traffic. This highway had soft shoulders with no turnouts. The trailer was swaying all over their lane as there was a mild side wind. As we passed him I glanced over and it was just a hitch on a ball, no sway mitigation. The hitching setups I've seen on Interstate 5 have been just plain scary and many of drivers look like seasoned travelers.

I think you are going to be good.

[mkirsch]

Tongue jacks often have a removable foot, held by a cross pin. You should not be traveling with that foot in place.

[josheaton]

Yeah, I thought about that. I may just remove it altogether while in tow.

Lynnmor wrote:
Will that tongue jack crank up higher? You don't want it digging in.

Like the smile!

[mkirsch]

On a trailer that small, being pulled by an F150, you don't need a whole lot of weight distribution so you have a pretty wide range where it can be set and still be "okay" even though it may not be perfect by the book.

Pretty much anything between "nothing" and "bent tongue" is acceptable, and will look fine.

[Lynnmor]

Will that tongue jack crank up higher? You don't want it digging in.

Like the smile!

[josheaton]

Thanks for everyones feedback. We really appreciate it

[Captain_Happy]

The WDH don't have the chains, it's only bars that hock into brackets mounted on the frame. Setup looks great. If it handles OK, leave it alone.

[dodge_guy]

It look good from the pic. If it drives good and tows well then leave it and Enjoy

And congrats on the new trailer!

[atwowheelguy]

Eyeballing it from 50 feet is not the most precise method. Measure from the trailer frame to the ground to achieve level or slightly nose down attitude of the trailer. Weight distribution bars should be parallel with the trailer tongue. Measuring the height of the tow vehicle front wheel well before trailer attachment, after trailer attachment and after tensioning the weight distribution bars will get the weight distribution adjustment close. Ford says lower the fender at least half of the initial rise. However, the only way to know for sure is to make the three passes across the scales. I ended up with 72% of the weight returned to the front so it's only 100 lbs. lighter than without the trailer attached.

[BarneyS]

It looks good the way it sits now so you probably have the WD set about right. The best way to make sure would be to stop by a scale while on the way to or from a camp.

I did notice one thing however. It looks like you have a round bar hitch. The ends of the bar where the chains attach seem to be pointing upwards. The bars should be parallel to the trailer tongue. I can't count how many link of chain you have under tension but you should have a minimum of 5. I have a feeling you have less than that.

The reason for that is so that during turns, as the WD bars move back and forth, you need a minimum of 5 chain lengths between the bars and the snap-up brackets to allow for chain movement during the turn. If not enough, the chains can drag the snap-ups along the trailer A frame despite the bolt in the back. In addition, there is the chance the inside bar will move enough to crash into the A frame or the chains will crash into the brackets. Using a minimum of 5 lengths goes a long way in eliminating this possibility.

The fix is to tilt the hitch head rearward a bit more by whatever method is used on your hitch. Some hitches use a serrated washer on the large bolts holding the hitch head on. Others use a 6 sided large washer on the side of the head with the large bolt passing through it. Almost all of them use washers stacked on a pin between the head and the shank to ensure the tilt stays where it is supposed to. Some also have a small square headed bolt under the hitch head that needs to be frequently tightened down to aid in retaining the hitch head tilt.

All of these things need to be checked and fixed if necessary. There is a very good thread stuck at the top of this forum that explains much of what I posted here. You might want to take a look at it.

Congratulations on your new camper! I hope you get many years of enjoyment out of it. 🙂
Barney

[DutchmenSport]

Everything looks level, that's one of the primary goals. Second, if it steers well, just like it does when not in tow, then you are good. If the steering feels light, then maybe need to tighten up those bars another notch. If if steers like a log wagon, need to expand them a little. If it drives good, you are good.

Congrats on the new camper! Looks real pretty! ... oh ... yea ... the camper and truck does too! :B (I can say that because I'm over 60 now! :E )