Can a WD hitch be hitched at a vertical angle?

[fred42]

I am switching to a travel trailer and trying to decide if I need a WD hitch and which one. It is a 6Kdry, 10k gross travel trailer toy hauler and will be towed with the TV in my signature. I plan to never have it above 8k gross.

I am learning a lot from here and other internet sources, but I cannot find much on a certain aspect of it. This may be a little exaggerated, but my favorite site which is about the only place I go looks like this:



Obviously, if I did not have a WD hitch, I would have no problem. It is a little challenging with the 5th wheel hitch. My question is are there brands or types of WD hitches that facilitate this or brands that make it impossible?

thanks very much,
fred

[rbpru]

I would pull to more level ground but you can hook at about any reasonable angle.

There is even a noticeable difference between bar forces if you pull in at an angle.

[93Cobra2771]

As mentioned earlier, the valleys are the issues for unhooking. Unhooking like the pic you suggested is actually easier, as you may not even have to jack the front of trailer up to unhook. If you do, it likely will be very little.

I had just such a setup before I put a carport in. I could back up to the camper and actually engage the bars and the snap up brackets without even using the helper bar. This was with my old dual cam setup.

[Golden_HVAC]

Many people will drop the bars from the WD hitch while in a campground that has tight turns, and such, and might cause them to bind up. Just release some of the pressure, not actually take them off.

If you have something like the ProPride hitch, it can be adjusted with a drill and socket to loosen the WD bars when you are on extreme off level site. Hitching up is easy, even with the truck hitch bar pointing skyward when backing in, by adjusting the lift springs upward to cause the hitch receiver on the trailer side to a equal upward angle.

By raising the front of the trailer, you will be able to attach the spring bars really easily, however, use care not to overtighten them, as when the truck and trailer are on level ground, it will put a LOT more stress on the trailer frame than when the truck is pointed nose down on a hill and the bars have say 50 pounds of pressure on them. AS it levels out, it will add a lot more weight to the bar chains. . .


Good luck,

Fred.

[msgtord]

I remove the bars to back up in to my driveway and don't put them back on until I am on a good level surface.

[fred42]

Thanks all,

So now my concern has shifted to my long dirt road entrance to my MILs farm in GA. There I have more extreme versions of this angle and the opposite angle. As you all have indicated it is the valley, not the hill to worry about.

I would not want this device to try and raise the dually rear end at the expense of the aluminum trailer frame when I encountered a valley. Perhaps when I got to this part of the journey, I would get out and release all tension on the bars as it is low speed travel anyway.

I think I will pull without a WD first to see if I need to replace weight to the front axle or not. Maybe I would just need a sway control device, not a WD device? For example, if you had a semi truck tractor and put an 8k travel trailer on it, the tow vehicle is going to be just fine, the front end is not going to come up. Does the WD hitch still play a role here by helping the trailer physics somehow?

[ktmrfs]

nevadanick wrote:
Take the bars off before backing it in and put em back on when level again.

x2.

One caution. NEVER (IMHO) try to attach or remove WD bars if the TV and TT are in a "V" configuration. (opposite of your picture). In that case the bars can be under VERY high tension, enough to make it dangerous to remove. The cheater bar can get away from you and be bad new.

[ChooChooMan74]

At that angle, you will have very little torsion on the bars. It is just like jacking it up to assist in putting the bars on and off. The opposite angle is where it would be challenging. I had to back into a site in peastone last year at the opposite angle and it took enough weight off the rear tires, that I had to put the Jeep in 4WD to back in.

[Ron_Gratz]

fred42 wrote:
Thanks,

Do the bars impede the normal vertical angle travel of the trailer on the ball?

I only ask this because I also have to drive to my MILs farm which has tight hills worst than what I have drawn for the site above. This is in transit, so the bars would be set for travel. Also, the trailer frame is aluminum. I would not want a hitch that provided vertical resistance/stress in these situations, but I fear that is what a WD hitch is.

It is fairly common to have the ball mount of a WDH tilted rearward at 12-15°.
This would make your ball mount closer to perpendicular to the TT tongue when in the depicted slope angle, so hitching and unhitching should not be a problem.

With the front of the TV lower than the rear as you have shown, the load on the WD bars is reduced, so overloading of the tongue should not be a problem.

Ron

[TrickyRicky]

fred42 wrote:
Thanks,

Do the bars impede the normal vertical angle travel of the trailer on the ball?

I only ask this because I also have to drive to my MILs farm which has tight hills worst than what I have drawn for the site above. This is in transit, so the bars would be set for travel. Also, the trailer frame is aluminum. I would not want a hitch that provided vertical resistance/stress in these situations, but I fear that is what a WD hitch is.

When the front of tow vehicle is higher than the hitch point then a lot of extra weight of the truck could be placed on the trailer frame.
Just as a note and not as a recommendation or suggestion of any kind but we deliver 40' park models to some very unusual places without WD hitch with a F350 DW .

[TrickyRicky]

Are you towing with the truck in your signature F350 ? If you do use a WD you might want to drop the bars while on level ground before backing into that spot. You might also want to wait till after you pull out of that spot and get to a level area before putting the bars on. With that truck and that size trailer you should be able to park it with out any WD bars attached. If you try backing into a spot like shown with the bars on then the chains will mostly go slack and the end of the bars may become jamed into the frame of the trailer.

[fred42]

Thanks,

Do the bars impede the normal vertical angle travel of the trailer on the ball?

I only ask this because I also have to drive to my MILs farm which has tight hills worst than what I have drawn for the site above. This is in transit, so the bars would be set for travel. Also, the trailer frame is aluminum. I would not want a hitch that provided vertical resistance/stress in these situations, but I fear that is what a WD hitch is.

[fallsrider]

I would think it will be easy because you will not have much, if any, tension on the bars until you pull off the site due to the angle.

[nevadanick]

Take the bars off before backing it in and put em back on when level again.