Is a Weight Distribution Hitch Necessary for 2500HD Towing a 2600RB?

[lineman1234]

And, again..

I simply put into a couple search thingys...........

( is there any state that requires a weight distribution hitch ) and the answer comes up no.

 

[Hoopy Frood]

NOPE....................... There is more to it than that pick and paste.

Im not far from Iawa, all people dont run WD hitches. Boats, campers, horse trailers, and double towing. They cant ( all ) be getting away with braking the law.

Uni body vehicles can tow over 3,000, but most cant use a WD hitch, as well as, how many double towing 5vers have you seen with a WD hitch on the back of the 5ver.

There is aluminum camper frames over 3,000 that cant use WD.

A semi with WD, i run semi's, and have never seen such a thing.

How does one hook up a WD hitch when moving a trailer house/modular home?

For 32 years working for the electric company, we only used pintle hitches, same as the electric companys in Iawa. How does one use a WD hitch on a pintle hitch?

Hey, I just posted what I found. Take your issues up with the state of Iowa.

 

[ChuckLeon]

This is from Iowa Motor Vehicles and Laws of the Road section 321.430:

"Every trailer, semitrailer, or travel trailer with a gross weight of three thousand pounds or more shall be equipped with a separate, auxiliary means of applying the brakes on the trailer, semitrailer, or travel trailer from the cab of the towing vehicle, or with self-actuating brakes, and shall also be equipped
with a weight equalizing hitch with a sway control."

Just FWIW. The quote is from the Iowa.gov website.

Check with the State you reside in or intend to pass thru. Some, Iowa for example, requires all trailers over 2000lbs have a WDH.

I couldn’t resist. I checked with the Iowa vehicle code and found that after it says all trailers must have sway control, it then says except trucks and truck tractors need not comply. What is the definition of a truck in Iowa? I could not find it in their vehicle code. If it’s not defined, seems like “truck” would be a two axle motor truck designed to carry property. So, it seems like you would not have to use WDH in Iowa. I’m guessing that Iowa uses my definition of truck and therefore you don’t need one.

 

[lineman1234]

I didnt want to get a headache, but read some farther down in Iawa's confusing article, and it seems to go into a bit more in depth. But, but, still kinda wacky.

I grew up on a tractors and trucks farm.
Still in this area a pickup is something some people call a truck.
Hear, a truck is a truck, a pickup is not a truck.

 

[ChuckLeon]

Where I’m from, motor truck, pickup, commercial vehicle, truck tractor all have definitions. But missing other definitions that Iowa has. For instance, my state does not define travel trailer. It does however mention travel trailer in laws regarding licensing. So it can be confusing to what the laws are. Generic reference to truck most likely means any 2 or 3 axle vehicle designed to carry property. Commercial motor vehicle is usually a truck with a certain weight or requiring a certain license.

 

[ChuckLeon]

I’m pretty sure we are not all breaking the law by traveling through Iowa without anti sway.

 

[eeshelman]

Thanks to all for the replies. I’m going to try it without first, then see what it feels like.

I used to use WDH with my ‘22 Chevy 2500….until it bent my A frame on the trailer. My 7500lb trailer has 1200-1300 tongue weight so zero sway and I’m well under my 3,599lb payload.

Without the WDH, my truck suspension can work as intended to absorb bumps. Have now towed 25,000 miles without one.

 

[johnmyster]

I can say that with the diesel pickup and that size TT, you probably have enough weight on the front axle for safe operation.

But your experience will be better with a WD hitch, especially at speed, long drives, windy days. Coming home from storage, perhaps not necessary. RV ownership should be about relaxation and WD is a step in that direction for the driver. Just don't try for 100% weight return to front axle. IIRC, GM says 25-50% in the manual.

 

[txloser]

I can say that with the diesel pickup and that size TT, you probably have enough weight on the front axle for safe operation.

But your experience will be better with a WD hitch, especially at speed, long drives, windy days. Coming home from storage, perhaps not necessary. RV ownership should be about relaxation and WD is a step in that direction for the driver. Just don't try for 100% weight return to front axle. IIRC, GM says 25-50% in the manual.

25% FALR is what GM states in the HD manual.

 

[johnmyster]

We switched from 5w to TT last fall and over the course of the last year have incrementally increased from about 25% FALR to what I guess is presently ~65%. i am not motivated to go higher. (The truck has never struggled with the load, aside from that one trip where I had a pair of new but defective rear shocks.) The ride/handling has gotten better with WD increase, although WD has not been the only adjustment. Springs, shocks, and swaybar have all been tinkered with. I won't claim this applies to every use case but WD increase has been an improvement. Our tongue weight is pretty high at ~1700 pounds.

On the other hand, in our case with a 1-ton SRW diesel, the truck should be fine with lots of rear axle weight gain. The front axle does not suffer from being too light. I would be within all parameters with no WD and the front axle would be pretty close to a stock unloaded truck and certainly higher than a gas or regular cab configuration.

Some argue that the FALR targets given in the HD truck manuals are conservatively/irresponsibly low because the manufacturers must guarantee that the truck maintains understeer character even at max tow rating, as governed by SAE J2807 tests. The OEM is backed into a corner by that single parameter. (They specify the minimum WD they can to achieve RAW<RAWR if that is the limiting factor, to preserve as much understeer as possible.) Those people are not wrong, but I disagree when they use this to assert that 100% weight return is the only answer for all vehicle configurations and that anything else is a public safety concern.

Their logic is, would you rather guarantee an understeer situation or have better handling that keeps you out of one?

IMO, excessive FALR on an HD truck unnecessarily stresses the hitch hardware with no additional benefit, especially with heavy TTs. Even more problematic for those that level (lift the front suspension) a truck to have zero rake, and then expect WD to keep it "looking right" when towing heavy. WD is not an ego tool.

To be honest I can't remember what the Ram manual says. It probably says WD for anything over 5k. I don't think the vehicle manufacturer can realistically set one FALR number that optimizes for all truck/trailer configurations. Like many things in the RV world, "proper" is a range and YMMV.

To someone in the OPs shoes, you'd be fine bringing the camper home or making trips on a regular ball, but if you can eventually find a deal on a used WD setup, it'll make your towing life better. A 1000 pound rated equalizer or blue ox swaypro would be my goal.

 

[txloser]

I’d agree with all of this. I too could tow on the ball per the specs. With 1500lbs of payload remaining and 1500lbs rear axle remaining it should work right? However, a WDH makes it much better. Just the tension of sending 300lbs back to the front end helps keep the chains on my WDH tight offering just enough sway damping without over stressing my trailer frame. On a really windy day. Say, 30mph crosswinds, I’d crank it up one more chain link for added stability.

 

[GaryMGg]

I’m thinking about getting a WDH with sway control.
When I bought the trailer, a22MLE, the salesman said I didn’t need one with my setup.
And, when towing 4 hours each way last trip, I didn’t feel and sway.
However, I kinda felt like the front end of the truck was a tad light.
These were my CAT #s:
With TT
Steer Axle—3860 lb
Drive Axle—4400 lb
Trailer Axle—5060 lb
Gross Weight—13320 lb

Truck by itself
Steer Axle—4180
Drive Axle—3320
Gross Weight—7500

760# on the ball; 13.1%

Anyone use a Reese 49913 Integrated Sway Control weight distribution kit, 11,500 lbs. capacity, shank included?

Comments or concerns?

 

[johnmyster]

I’m thinking about getting a WDH with sway control.
When I bought the trailer, a22MLE, the salesman said I didn’t need one with my setup.
And, when towing 4 hours each way last trip, I didn’t feel and sway.
However, I kinda felt like the front end of the truck was a tad light.
These were my CAT #s:
With TT
Steer Axle—3860 lb
Drive Axle—4400 lb
Trailer Axle—5060 lb
Gross Weight—13320 lb

Truck by itself
Steer Axle—4180
Drive Axle—3320
Gross Weight—7500

760# on the ball; 13.1%

Anyone use a Reese 49913 Integrated Sway Control weight distribution kit, 11,500 lbs. capacity, shank included?

Comments or concerns?

Crazy that a salesman would turn down a sales opportunity.

The Reese looks like a well made unit. Equalizer is the de-facto standard and the BlueOx SwayPro is another good candiate. I'd look for either of those second hand before anything else. This time of year, deals to be had.

A little WD would help you but nothing too aggressive. I wouldn't feel the need to "size up" given that you're only loosing 250#. 800# or 1000# bars are plenty. Better to have bars be more compliant at a given preload.

 

[Ragingun]

As mentioned in other posts, it's not necessarily about the weight distribution in this case but the anti sway functionality of the WD hitch. A heavy duty truck only weighs a couple thousand pounds more than a 1500. Any decent sized TT will whip a heavy duty truck around just as easily as a 1500 truck in high winds.

My experience is limited to 1500 towing. I've owned 3 TT's from 26' all the way to my current 312bhts at almost 38'. The two hitches that worked the best for me are the Curt TruTrack with active sway control and the ProPride I now use (given my truck is a 1500 and I'm a bit over capacity I wanted the best out there).

Even on my small 26' TT the anti sway made all the difference. In fact, that trailer had just as bad sway issues as my larger trailers. The only reason I can think of is it was much lighter and the wind was much more able to push it around in comparison to my other TT's.

 

[GaryMGg]

If I get a WDH and use it to shift weight from the TV drive axle to the steering axle, how does this affect the tongue weight?
I ask because my tongue weight is correct.

 

[Ragingun]

If I get a WDH and use it to shift weight from the TV drive axle to the steering axle, how does this affect the tongue weight?
I ask because my tongue weight is correct.

What do you mean by the tongue weight is "correct"? The only correct tongue weight is in reference to the trailer weight, not the truck.

To take a stab at what I think you're asking, the trailer tongue weight does not change no matter what type of hitch you use. The only way the tongue weight changes is if you add or remove weight in the trailer itself. The WD hitch simply "moves" weight from the rear axle and redistributes it over the front axle. Not all the weight is redistributed, just a percentage of the weight pending on how your WD hitch is setup.

 

[GaryMGg]

You answered the question I was asking.
My tongue weight is what it needs to be as you can see above in post #32.

 

[Rabbit]

I agree, the bottom line IMO is to use a WDH for Sway Control, if for no other reason. Heavy cross winds, errors in loading the trailer affecting tongue weight can wreak havoc with even the heavy trucks. A WDH with integral sway control, not just a friction pad, is cheap safety.

 

[Ragingun]

You answered the question I was asking.
My tongue weight is what it needs to be as you can see above in post #32.

Ok, that clarifies for sure. The WDH hitch will take the rear axle weight of 4400# and lesson it to your desired weight simultaneously adding weight to the front axle increasing it from the 3860#.

It is always good to know what the axle weights are. From my experience setting up a WDH multiple times it is best to start by measuring fender height. It's ok that the rear axle settles or drops. What you want to pay attention to is how much the front axle lifts. In a perfect world I try to get the front axle to stay at the same measurement. So in my case my front fender height unloaded is 37.5". After installing my WDH hitch and trailer I will measure my front axle height again. Currently with my 312BHTS is sits at 37.75" which is only 1/4" raise. Given that I'm overloaded with my current truck and trailer setup that's a really good number. In the past with smaller campers I've been able to attain the same front fender measurements loaded as unloaded.

 

[GaryMGg]

Thanks. This info WRT measuring the front fender height is new to me.