Bigger hitch capacity or weight distributing hitch?

[CCOUGHRAN1]

You do not go to 8 lug until you jump up to 7.0K axles.

With all due respect, that info is incorrect.

I am currently running a 6k 8 lug Dexter axle setup.

While I will agree that most 8 lug axles are 7k, the last two 8 lug axle trailers I have owned used 8 lug 6k axles.

Here is a link that will show the 8 lug 6k axles.... It also shows the 6 lug 6k axles that I was unaware of.

 

[Diamondpilot]

With all due respect, that info is incorrect.

I am currently running a 6k 8 lug Dexter axle setup.

While I will agree that most 8 lug axles are 7k, the last two 8 lug axle trailers I have owned used 8 lug 6k axles.

Here is a link that will show the 8 lug 6k axles.... It also shows the 6 lug 6k axles that I was unaware of.

Like I said that was 99.9% of the time. I know there are other combos out there. Funny thing is I take care of about 75 trailers and I would guess that 50 of them have 5,200 and 6,000# axles and each and every one of them is 6 lug. Most of them are on boats and car hauler type trailers and I also maintain 3 campers of which 2 are 5th wheel and these are all 6 lug with 6,000# axles.

I do not know why they have to have so many combo's. I have 2 trailers with 3,500# axles and one uses 5x4.5" spacing on the lugs and the other is 5x5" spacing. They also use different inner bearings and races along with different seals while the outer bearing and race is the same. Pain in the AZZ.

Chris

 

[Highbeam]

More to an F350 than just the 4" lift blocks. I just recently switched the lift blocks on my F350 to the lower F250 blocks. I hated the butt high F350, it made for a non-standard (high) hitch height, and much much more difficulty using the bed for hauling things and for working on items on the tailgate. I sourced the used F250 blocks for 20 bucks and had new U-bolts made. The swap was very easy and could be done in reverse. The other differences are related. The F350 uses longer shocks and has a lower carrier bearing.

Due to the longer F350 shocks, I now bottom the shocks out before the axle snubbers hit the axle. So I am looking at timbrens since it doesn't take much weight for an F250 height truck to look squatted. I always liked timbrens anyway.

 

[Highbeam]

Oh and one more thing, the sway bar end links are longer on the F350 since the frame is further from the ground.

 

[dstig1]

More to an F350 than just the 4" lift blocks. I just recently switched the lift blocks on my F350 to the lower F250 blocks. I hated the butt high F350, it made for a non-standard (high) hitch height, and much much more difficulty using the bed for hauling things and for working on items on the tailgate. I sourced the used F250 blocks for 20 bucks and had new U-bolts made. The swap was very easy and could be done in reverse. The other differences are related. The F350 uses longer shocks and has a lower carrier bearing.

Due to the longer F350 shocks, I now bottom the shocks out before the axle snubbers hit the axle. So I am looking at timbrens since it doesn't take much weight for an F250 height truck to look squatted. I always liked timbrens anyway.

Your logic doesn't add up. If you go from the 2" blocks to the 4" blocks, you would be extending the shocks further - not compressing them. If anything you would lose rebound stroke, but add jounce stroke, so you would not bottom out the shocks before hitting the bump stops, but rather be even more likely to hit the bump stops first.

Sway bars can rotate within their bushings freely. That is how they transfer loads from one side to the other to minimze roll. They should not require longer end links.

Both trucks list the same exact parts for shocks and sway bar links at parts stores. Based on everything I know and have read you neither require new shocks nor sway bar links due to this change.

Not sure where you are coming from here...

 

[slowzuki]

You can go into Ford and order the up or down rated spring packs as you want. They widely overlap in the 250's with all the heavier options vs the 350 with the softest options.

I just put a Class 5 16,000 lb wd rated hitch on my F-350 as the original was tossed when the hydraulic lift gate went on.

The trailer rating on the hitch comes from the tongue weight limits on the hitch being 10% of the trailer weight on a weight carrying hitch. The WD setup is rated for a heavier trailer as it takes tongue weight off.

They won't tell you this but a very short ball mount can slightly exceed the stamped tongue weight without hurting the hitch as there is some safety factor built in for long ball mounts which put a bigger lever on the tongue weight.

 

[Highbeam]

Your logic doesn't add up. If you go from the 2" blocks to the 4" blocks, you would be extending the shocks further - not compressing them. If anything you would lose rebound stroke, but add jounce stroke, so you would not bottom out the shocks before hitting the bump stops, but rather be even more likely to hit the bump stops first.

Sway bars can rotate within their bushings freely. That is how they transfer loads from one side to the other to minimze roll. They should not require longer end links.

Both trucks list the same exact parts for shocks and sway bar links at parts stores. Based on everything I know and have read you neither require new shocks nor sway bar links due to this change.

Not sure where you are coming from here...

Wrong. First of all, I went from 4" to 2" blocks. I lowered the truck which compresses the shocks. That means the shocks will bottom out as they did last night with a load of dirt and rocks. Shocks are different from F350 to F250.

You also aren't considering the angle of the sway bar links when you lower a truck. When you lift of lower a truck the sway bar links must be longer or shorter so that they remain mostly vertical for ideal function. Imagine the extreme, really long sway bar links so that the body would have to roll quite a lot before the sway bar is twisted enough to do anything. As the sway bar end links vary from vertical, the effective torsional strength goes down. It's all geometery and you need to look harder, the F250 has different links than the F350. I can live with the longer links, but they are different. That first hand experience thing I guess.

You need to check the Ford TSB for lowering the F350s. They did it for awhile free of charge because the rear ends were so high that 5th wheel RV towers were lacking clearance to their RVs. In the TSB they detailed all of the changes required such as shocks, sway bar links, etc.

I chose to leave on the F350 shocks and links. So far only the long shocks have caused me trouble. The carrier bearing may or may not be causing troubles.

Not sure where you are coming from here. I've actually done this and have witnessed these facts.

 

[dstig1]

Update:

I thought it might be nice to close the loop on this, if only to say thanks for those who helped and to leave some advice for any future searchers.

I got the WD hitch. It took a while for all the parts to show up, but I got it all settled and working about a week ago or so. I haven't had time to use my tractor lately, so it took a while to get everything ready but I haven't needed it until the past week, and I've been towing it a bunch the past week or so.

Here is my opinion on this: I should have just got a higher rated receiver for the truck. It would have been simpler in many ways.

I never had any sway instabilities with this setup before (when I was running over the hitch rating w/o WD). I still don't = no change. Steering in the truck is unchanged. Basically everything I could feel is unchanged. The one problem I was hoping this would help was the way the truck/trailer combo would "pogo" on the freeway due to the ripples from the way they screed the concrete. I do not have this problem when traveling w/o the trailer. This, sadly is also unchanged. So while I am now safely within the limits of my hitch, I have the added hassle of dealing with the WD hitch whereas if I got a bigger receiver, I could just hitch and go like before. Installing a receiver would have been a simple unbolt old,/bolt in new, so that isn't anything difficult, and the initial setup of a WD hitch takes a bunch of time also as you try to get all the settings correct. I think that would have been a wash either way.

Since I will have this truck a long time, I would have been far better off getting a heavier receiver. Not that the WD hitch use will be too difficult, but I could have avoided all that extra effort forever forward.

Other folks with different situations may have different answers to this. This is mine. I'll live with the WD.

Thanks again for all who helped, and I hope this helps someone in the future.

-Dave

 

[hawkeye08]

Update:

I thought it might be nice to close the loop on this, if only to say thanks for those who helped and to leave some advice for any future searchers.

I got the WD hitch. It took a while for all the parts to show up, but I got it all settled and working about a week ago or so. I haven't had time to use my tractor lately, so it took a while to get everything ready but I haven't needed it until the past week, and I've been towing it a bunch the past week or so.

Here is my opinion on this: I should have just got a higher rated receiver for the truck. It would have been simpler in many ways.

I never had any sway instabilities with this setup before (when I was running over the hitch rating w/o WD). I still don't = no change. Steering in the truck is unchanged. Basically everything I could feel is unchanged. The one problem I was hoping this would help was the way the truck/trailer combo would "pogo" on the freeway due to the ripples from the way they screed the concrete. I do not have this problem when traveling w/o the trailer. This, sadly is also unchanged. So while I am now safely within the limits of my hitch, I have the added hassle of dealing with the WD hitch whereas if I got a bigger receiver, I could just hitch and go like before. Installing a receiver would have been a simple unbolt old,/bolt in new, so that isn't anything difficult, and the initial setup of a WD hitch takes a bunch of time also as you try to get all the settings correct. I think that would have been a wash either way.

Since I will have this truck a long time, I would have been far better off getting a heavier receiver. Not that the WD hitch use will be too difficult, but I could have avoided all that extra effort forever forward.

Other folks with different situations may have different answers to this. This is mine. I'll live with the WD.

Thanks again for all who helped, and I hope this helps someone in the future.

-Dave

I get a bit of bounce that makes me uncomfortable and I've looked at these several times (still on my wish list, but will upgrade truck first).

Air Safe - Air Hitch Technology

 

[Gem99ultra]

Thanks Dave, for the wrap up.

I guess I'm now okay with my rig. I THOUGHT I had a Class V hitch on my 3/4 ton Chevy, but learned on here that the V5 marking is not the rating. What I have is a Class IV 10K hitch. And that's okay. My trailer is a 20' 10K trailer, and I'm pulling a 7K max load.

Like many on here, I was thinking that the WD hitch was the cure of all cures. But I guess not. So, what I have, although perhaps not the top of the line overkill, is good enough to get the job done.

Jim