Is W/D hitch needed for a long bed/quad cab ?

[betterthanstock]

Is a weight distributing hitch really needed for a Cummins/long bed/quad cab ?



My truck, 4x4 long bed/quad (NV5600 360lb transmission) is rated at 6000 lb rear axle max, 5200 front.

Stock weight, 4500 front, 2700 rear.

With 12,000 lb bumper pull trailer, 1200 lb tongue weight, font axle carries an additional

(I am calculating ratio between ball to rear axle, and distance between axles)

FRONT axle: 60/160 x 1200lb= 450 lb LIFTED OFF the front axle without weight distribution, so front axle will see 4500-450=4050 lb.

REAR axle: 2700+1200+450=4350lb.



With 700 lb of passengers, the weight will be 70/160x 700 = 306 lb extra on front, and 394 on rear.



So the final weights are 4050+ 306= 4356 lb FRONT (844 lb reserve), 4350+394= 4744 REAR (1256 lb reserve)



Even going to the maximum 1500 lb tongue weight (15% of 10,000 lb trailer weight, per owners manual for class IV) ,

The FRONT is 4244 (956 lb reserve), REAR is 5156 lb (844 lb reserve).



Now, with a HEMI being 500 lb lighter on front axle, and a short wheelbase, standard cab, 4x2, yes you need weight distribution for stability.



I have to get to work, but if someone will do the above numbers for a short bed. It will benefit more from a W/D hitch.

 

[RustyJC]

Even going to the maximum 1500 lb tongue weight... .

Are you running the factory receiver? If, indeed, it is rated for 1500 lb hitch weight, I believe you'll find that rating is only valid when a weight distributing hitch is used.



My factory receiver is rated 500/5000 lbs dead load and 1000/10000 weight distributing.



Rusty

 

[betterthanstock]

Putting a weight distributing hitch stresses the hitch A LOT more (it places thousands of lb of twist/ moment to your hitch). Ratings are made for typical Explorer/F150 dimensions and weights. Read the whole post, and examine the numbers. I know the law is the law, but they are behind the times when keeping up with the facts of heavy engines, long wheelbases, etc.

 

[RustyJC]

Fine. I'm not going to debate this with you. If you want to pull 1500 lbs dead hitch weight on the factory receiver, great.



Rusty

 

[nps]

Is a weight distributing hitch really needed for a Cummins/long bed/quad cab ?

If you don't want it looking like a tail-dragging desert racer wannabe while towing, then yes.

Ratings are made for typical Explorer/F150 dimensions and weights.

Ratings are made for the class of hitch, not the dimensions of the vehicle it is being installed on. Are you saying that you can't put a Class V hitch on a F150?

I know the law is the law, but they are behind the times when keeping up with the facts of heavy engines, long wheelbases, etc.

Long wheel bases and heavy motors have little to do with it. Both have been around a long time before the hitch ratings were published.

 

[betterthanstock]

The purpose of the W/D hitch is to re-distribute weight from the rear axle to the front. For those that use the device, how much weight are you redistributing? 200, 300, 500 lb? Have you weighted it before/after?

 

[Kirwin]

First things first

Your stock receiver is only rated at 350 lbs tongue weight without a W/D hitch. Reference page 290 of the 2005 owners manual. I know its hard to believe but the bumper is rated higher at 500 lbs tongue weight. Its rated at 1,200 lbs tongue weight 12,000 lbs trailer weight for W/D trailers. You are correct that the W/D portion places additional stress on the receiver hitch, but it also balances the additional tongue weight over the suspension for more stable towing. The additional stress that occurs when you go over a oscillating type of bump is completely felt on the rear suspension unless you use a W/D set up. IMHO Ken Irwin

 

[Kirwin]

Redistributed weight

It takes 250 lbs off the rear and reapplies it to the front on my set up as weighed by the RV Safety Foundation (RVSEF) Ken Irwin

 

[nps]

The purpose of the W/D hitch is to re-distribute weight from the rear axle to the front. For those that use the device, how much weight are you redistributing? 200, 300, 500 lb? Have you weighted it before/after?

It also redistributes weight to the trailer axles in addition to the vehicle front axle. How much? Don't know. Depends on the size of the bars you use and how much tension you put on them.



I can tell you that with a 10K# travel trailer I could effortlessly level out my truck. If I wanted to, I could make it butt high by pulling up more on the bars - effectively redistributing all of the the rear axle weight to the front and trailer axles. Without the bars hooked up it dragged it's butt around like a whipped dog - 4 inches or more of squat from 1K# (I only dragged it around the block to respot in front of my house).



Compare that to my 5er with 2k pin weight over the axle (versus 5' behind the axle with the TT), and my truck squats 2 inches.



Anybody want to buy a WD setup? :-laf

 

[opjohnny]

Heck I have a pop top with 540lbs of tongue weight. I sure would feel silly putting a wd hitch on it. You do have a lot of leverage because of the distance from the axel to the ball. I don't see much squat.

 

[nps]

Heck I have a pop top with 540lbs of tongue weight. I sure would feel silly putting a wd hitch on it.

Hummm... . I'd feel silly pulling a pop top with my CTD.

 

[klenger]

Putting a weight distributing hitch stresses the hitch A LOT more (it places thousands of lb of twist/ moment to your hitch).

Actually, I think a WD hitch does just the opposite. I'm pretty sure the WD hitch reduces the dead weight on the hitch, therefore making it less likely to be damaged from the load. Hopefully, someone smarted than me can decribe it better than I can.

 

[nps]

Actually, I think a WD hitch does just the opposite. I'm pretty sure the WD hitch reduces the dead weight on the hitch, therefore making it less likely to be damaged from the load. Hopefully, someone smarted than me can decribe it better than I can.

Not smarter, but you are correct. The WD hitch eliminates the down force on the receiver and instead applies up force. The spring bars act like a torsion suspension between the tow vehicle and the trailer attempting to keep it in alignment while allowing the two sections to move against each other.



betterthanstock is correct in one case - where you exert a great amount of force when hitting a hill with a high approach angle and causing the two pieces to deflect too much. Bent a spring bar saddle one time doing that. :{

 

[brods]

I have to get to work, but if someone will do the above numbers for a short bed. It will benefit more from a W/D hitch.

I doubt it. Imho the most important factor is the distance from the rear axle centerline to the ball. This determines how much weight is levered off the front end and onto the rear. This distance also determines how much a leverage there is trying to slide the rear end out while cornering. With our heavy CTDs it is not as much of an issue as with the lighter gas engines. Crunching the numbers for my short bed a while ago produced numbers similar to yours. Still the real world is a dynamic situation and the numbers change constantly while driving and hitting bumps (and where the WD setup may be of most help).



klenger, I agree with you on that too. A drawbar with all the weight pushing straight down on the ball trys to twist the drawbar down and peal the hitch off the frame from the rear of the truck toward the front. The WD setup trys to twist the drawbar up at the ball and if anything trys to peal the hitch off the truck front to back, but at reduced force levels. It would appear that extra stress is put on the drawbar assembly and on the trailer tongue, but is reduced on the hitch itself.

 

[DPeltonen]

I can't tell you about the physics of the load on the hitch, but I can tell you about my experience a week ago pulling a 32' Haulmark cargo trailer 3250 miles. My first 500 miles were empty (4900 lbs) with a straight bumper hitch... not bad relatively stable although I did not exceed 55 mph (new truck,06 QC LB 4X4 6spd Jake). the next 2000 miles were loaded to 10,000lbs w/a 1500lb tongue weight. That thing was all over the road! The 18 wheelers were complaining about me. In that configuration I limited my max speed to 60 mph. Every body was passing me and it was worse when a cross wind was present. In flagstaf I mounted an equalizer load distributing hitch. It took about 2 hours to set up (again my first time with a load distributing hitch). I will NEVER tow this trailer again without this hitch. I have done plenty of stupid things in my life, but I would have to say towing a big trailer without this ld hitch was just about the top of the list.



As far as the truck dragging it's bumper with a straight 1500lb hitch load, not really, it just dropped the rear enough so it rode even front and rear.



One last thing - Don't forget the sway control. My equalizer hitch has sway control built in, but you will most likely need a sway control cylinder added with another type of load distributing hitch.

 

[KKohagen]

What brand of hitch do you use. I am looking at buying a TT and I am looking at getting a WD hitch with built-in sway control. Just looking for info. Thanks in advance.

 

[CKruse]

I skimmed through this, so I hope I'm not repeating someone. I think a huge factor being overlooked is what occurs during an emergency braking situation with this size of trailer without the W/D hitch. Not a pretty sight, and I've seen it before. Back when we were pulling a 26' TT I had to put it into an emergency stop once. It "sat down" nicely as one unit with the truck and the fact I didn't have to fight it saved our *****es! We pull a 34 footer now in the 10K weight range, and I wouldn't be without. I don't think a responsible RV dealer would let you tow one away like that either. I'm currently using the 15K Sway Pro by Blue Ox. If you've got the bucks, the Hensley Arrow is the best. JMHO CKruse

 

[betterthanstock]

Thanks for the replies. It looks like the w/d hitch mostly stabilizes the bucking of the trailer, and I know that sway control is just as important.

One more thing, when the rear wheels go into a dip, it's more likely to start spinning your (rear) tires with a w/d hitch than without, especially in turns.

I once bought a used boat that had the axle adjusted too far forward (almost no tongue load), and with a smaller pickup truck, I started spinning the tires on dry pavement up a freeway ramp at the stoplight. It was scary, I was accelerating like it was on ice. I calculated and moved the axle back about 2 ft until I got about 12% tongue load.

 

[KHelfrich]

if you going to be towing heave cut that peice of crap factory hitch off and buy a putnam class V hitch that what i have on my 96 and what my dad has on his 04 the factory hitch on the 04 looks week as hell and i have heard of the stock hitches on 2nd gens breaking all the time



ken

 

[DPeltonen]

What brand of hitch do you use. I am looking at buying a TT and I am looking at getting a WD hitch with built-in sway control. Just looking for info. Thanks in advance.

I use the equalizer hitch. http://www.equalizerhitch.com/. The design has inherent anti sway properties. I would have mounted it when I picked up the trailer, but the brackets that attach to the trailer frame only fit a 6" frame and my trailer had an 8" frame. I ended up ordering additional brackets from the factory, and set up a pickup a few days down the road. If you do choose an equalizer, read all the materiel carefully ahead of time. I missed the part that stated the standard brackets were for a 6" frame. Also choose the adjustable drop carefully, the one I got (based on the formula listed on the web site) had too much drop. I would recommend purchasing from a knowledgable dealer. The instructions are very detailed and hard to understand without doing an install first. A great hitch once you have it set up correctly.