dpope - One good reason to have a weight distributing hitch on your 25' trailer: You can legally tow your trailer on Michigan freeways at the maximum posted speed, not the 55 mph truck speed.
I used a weight dist. hitch on my 25' Wilderness and I don't think I'd feel comfortable towing it without. Of coarse the Wilderness is a square box and not designed like an Airstream, so I'm sure the Airstream is easier to handle.
I do think that distributing the weight helps the handling characteristics of your vehicle while towing, reduced bounce would be one such characteristic. With the equalizers, you get more of a luxury car ride, rather than a rear end bouncing ride from the trailer seesawing when you hit high spots in the road.
You can still get that seesaw effect if you don't properly adjust your equalizers, and I've seen a lot of tow vehicle improperly set up.
Now that I have a larger and heavier TT, I have graduated to a higher level of hitches. I now use a Hensley hitch and the more I use it the better I like it. Yes, it is very expensive and I don't recommend you run out to get one, for the rig you've got, but for those who want to tow big heavy TTs, it's great.
Here is what I like about the Hensley:
I can turn the truck and 32' trailer around in almost the same turning radius as the truck itself. One bad example of this was on my trip to Calgary. Bill (my team mate) was leading, with his 5er, when we decided to stop for lunch. Bill pulled off of the highway, onto a side road, thinking that there was a picnic area there. Well. . there wasn't a picnic area and we were on a narrow two lane road with few places to turn around. Bill headed on down the road looking for a place to turn around. I played stupid and decided that after my good experiences of turning around with the Hensley, that I could do a u-turn in a driveway that teed into the road. To make a short story even shorter, I turned TOO sharp, because I didn't want my right front tire to go off the road and into the weed (who knows what might be in those weeds!). Needless to say. . I heard a bang. I completed my turn and got out to investigate. I found that my rear bumper had kissed the mount for the hitch, on the tongue of the trailer, and popped the sheer bolts that held the part in position. While the wives made sandwiches, Bill and I realigned the hitch parts, drilled out and replaced the broken bolts. Pretty lousy example of turning capabilities, don't you think? That experience has not dampened my pleasure of owning such a hitch though.
That same day, we were pounded by head and crosswinds. Mrs Bill commented on how a cattle truck that passed them was leaning in the wind. And I commented on how Bill's 5er was leaning in the wind. I don't know how hard the wind was blowing, but it was hard enough to make trailers lean
Anyway. . Bill was talking about the wind, while I was cruising along one handed, thinking that the Hensley sure was fun to have at times.
I like backing my trailer, with the Hensley. My street is barely wide enough for two cars to pass, and I have to back my trailer into a driveway that is one car width wide at the street. And I have to avoid hitting three mailboxes on the opposite side of the street. With the old trailer, I had to make three passes to get it parked in my driveway, but with the new trailer (7 feet longer) and the Hensley hitch, I can do it in one smooth action, right into the trailer's berth.
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What I don't like about the Hensley (I need to show both sides of the story here, you know!?):
It's sinfully expensive, but once you get past that, you can forget about
It didn't improve my mpg
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Anyway. . Do what makes you feel comfortable. You're the one driving the rig. If you will be letting your wife or someone else drive, consider their comfort level too. If you try doing it without and you get nervous sometimes, then maybe you should look into going the next step.
One note about the wife towing. . Mrs Doc drives the new rig, with the Hensley. She never wanted to drive the old rig. Maybe she saw me puckering my cheeks at times, with the old trailer, and knew she didn't want to try it
Doc
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