Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[WinterDeere]

Yes, $300 is a bunch. But it is a very high quality hitch. I've had a 10" drop version of it since I got my 2017 Ram 2500. It was right about $300 back then. It works great and it is just simple. Sure, your scale/jack stand idea works, but that's an awful lot of futzing around vs simply looking at the hitch to see where it is sitting. No disconnecting the trailer, no nothing. If you are trying to set up a trailer for a single type of load you'll repeat continually then maybe your idea makes sense to "mess with it once and you're set", but if you transport multiple combinations of equipment and cargo that's a pretty painful way to save $150 (versus another brand/model of quality aluminum adjustable drop hitch).

As for 1 7/8"... I haven't had a trailer with that size ball hitch for about 20 years now. I guess your situation makes you an outlier from most folks towing situations. If I had that I'd just have another cheap hitch with that ball.

That said, to each their own. You must have a system that works for you. Weigh Safe works for me.

I have a system that works great for my boat trailers, since they’re both lighter, and also relatively un-changing loads. But I am still looking for better solutions for my landscape trailer, which is used for hauling logs, yard debris, and occasionally my tractor with implements. This Weigh Hitch, if available in WDH configuration, might be good for that.

I did something stupid with my landscape trailer, when I mounted the winch to it, which I use for skidding logs onto my trailer. I bought a 12V winch and mounted two big (group 38?) RV/Marine batteries, all on the tongue of the trailer. It’s a 7000 lb. trailer, so ideally 700 - 1k lb. tongue weight when loaded evenly with logs (axles positioned accordingly), but now I’ve added probably 300 pounds of extra weight straight onto the tongue. It’s too much.

I had been planning to move the batteries aft of the axles, probably one either side of the rear fenders, to balancing things out a bit, but haven’t gotten around to all the planning, welding, wiring involved. Now I’m thinking I might do better to just get the batteries off the trailer altogether, either placing them at the front of the truck bed, or even ditching the 12V winch for a 240V winch and a portable generator in the bed of the truck.

The batteries would be much lighter in the truck bed, than my portable generator. But generators don’t require replacement every few years, and they never die in the middle of a loading job, or suck down your truck battery while charging.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I don't think it was stupid to put the batteries there. Just look at them as (permanent) cargo and shift the loads back a bit on the trailer accordingly.

Unless you're running out of load capacity, I'd leave them where they are.

 

[Renze]

It’s a 7000 lb. trailer, so ideally 700 - 1k lb. tongue weight when loaded evenly with logs (axles positioned accordingly), but now I’ve added probably 300 pounds of extra weight straight onto the tongue. It’s too much.

Well, you can just load the logs 4 inches further to the back to get your c.o.g. right... i often release a ratchet and tighten another to balance a vehicle on the trailer when i dont like how the suspension rides the bumpstop, or how the trailer reacts to steering.

 

[WinterDeere]

Thanks, guys. Logs are generally cut to 15' lengths, and the trailer box is 16' long, so I don't have much leeway in how they're loaded. I'm usually pulling them as close to the front wall of the trailer as possible, just to ensure nothing interferes with closing the gate at the end of the session.

My thinking was that, if I'm adding 150 lb. of winch + stand to the tongue, I should have added the 150 lb. of combined battery to the back, to keep an already-well-engineered trailer balanced.

 

[RayIN]

I took my DWs SUV for ADDED window tinting due to her complaints of LED trucks and other bright LEDs vehicles are running behind her. It has helped her a great deal.

The window tinting companies are now making money hand-over-fist and requires a scheduled appointment 1-month in advance due to LED headlamps in this era.

Most of the tinting companies offer the tint in an anti polarized film now to cut over 60% of the LED glare while still seeing out the windows. Only at certain angles can you see the yellow anti-glare in the film.

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I know where to adjust my inside rearview mirror, so a car following me gets their bright headlamps reflected back at them. Grandkids are always messing with knobs & things in my truck___, if i'm ever questioned.

 

[RayIN]

I'll give them a quick flash to let them know they're on their brights.
If they don't adjust I'll just hit and hold my brights.
The worst though is the super high output bulbs some cars have. They shine that clear blue and I have to think they are brighter than is legal.
A number of times I've flashed them and then received their brights.
Put your hands up in front of your eyes and you'll get a X-ray view of your bones.
How that's legal I don't know.
Almost forgot the idiots that run with their fog lights on all the time.
In this jurisdiction that is a ticketable offence if the conditions don't call for it.
However it seems every a-s with a Jeep and jacked up pickup has to prove they have them.

Perhaps 30 years ago, a gang was shooting at folks that flashed their bright lites at them.

 

[Renze]

My thinking was that, if I'm adding 150 lb. of winch + stand to the tongue, I should have added the 150 lb. of combined battery to the back, to keep an already-well-engineered trailer balanced.

I think youre overthinking it. If 150 pounds is going to do it, your tow vehicle is probably too light. Or theres too much junk in your truck bed.

 

[WinterDeere]

I think youre overthinking it. If 150 pounds is going to do it, your tow vehicle is probably too light. Or theres too much junk in your truck bed.

The issue is that it puts me across the threshold for requiring a WDH. At 700 lb., the truck runs fine without, which is nice considering the terrain and tight spaces I'm often turning. At 1000 lb., I most definitely need a WDH. I'm always floating right around this territory, with that trailer.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yes, $300 is a bunch. But it is a very high quality hitch. I've had a 10" drop version of it since I got my 2017 Ram 2500. It was right about $300 back then. It works great and it is just simple. Sure, your scale/jack stand idea works, but that's an awful lot of futzing around vs simply looking at the hitch to see where it is sitting. No disconnecting the trailer, no nothing. If you are trying to set up a trailer for a single type of load you'll repeat continually then maybe your idea makes sense to "mess with it once and you're set", but if you transport multiple combinations of equipment and cargo that's a pretty painful way to save $150 (versus another brand/model of quality aluminum adjustable drop hitch).

As for 1 7/8"... I haven't had a trailer with that size ball hitch for about 20 years now. I guess your situation makes you an outlier from most folks towing situations. If I had that I'd just have another cheap hitch with that ball.

That said, to each their own. You must have a system that works for you. Weigh Safe works for me.

Currently my trailers range is 1”, 1 3/4, 1 7/8, 2 and 2 5/16 for trailer ball size.

The 1” actually takes 2 ea of the 1” balls as the camp trailer has a single center pivot tire circa 1950’s

 

[Jstpssng]

I know where to adjust my inside rearview mirror, so a car following me gets their bright headlamps reflected back at them. Grandkids are always messing with knobs & things in my truck___, if i'm ever questioned.

I have heard of people doing this. I don't know how it could cause problems for you anyways as it's their lights shining back at them.

Unless they are Mongo's cousins with a bad attitude.

 

[goeduck]

I'll admit that's pretty cool. But my God... $300 - $500 for a hitch that can't even take WDH?!? That's awful high.

I'll have to dig into this, since if they had a WDH variant at similar pricing, that'd actually be something I might use. But as it stands there, I can do the same with a $15 bathroom scale, a piece of timber, and a jack stand... all of which most of us already have. That Weigh Safe hitch definitely saves time, so it has a place, I'm just not sure I'd want to spend $500 to save 10 minutes on those rare occasions my hitch weight is actually high enough that it warrants weighing.

There's also jack-stands topped with trailer balls and integrated scales on Amazon, which if I recall mostly ran $50 - $100. Set them at desired truck ball height, drop trailer onto them, voila! Not as convenient as the Weigh Hitch, but definitely much cheaper.

I just checked 2" x 8" size, and it's only $364, but there's no 1-7/8" ball option. Some of my trailers are 1-7/8", as that was a very common size in the 1970's and 1980's, and I tow a lot of vintage boats/trailers. I think the hitch I use now for those boats cost like $20 - $30, and the ball was probably another $20... so $40-$50.

I didn't have a bathroom scale that would read the 15% of my 10,000 lb. load (1500 lbs.) which is what I consider proper loading. What are you towing that a bathroom scale would weigh a proper tongue weight? I got my hitch on a promotional deal that included a 2" drawbar in addition to the 2-1/2". So, I can use it on either of my pickups. I can't recall what I paid, but I think it was in the upper $2 hundreds. Well worth it to me. One accident or broken something and that is a cheap price.

 

[ning]

I didn't have a bathroom scale that would read the 15% of my 10,000 lb. load (1500 lbs.) which is what I consider proper loading. What are you towing that a bathroom scale would weigh a proper tongue weight? I got my hitch on a promotional deal that included a 2" drawbar in addition to the 2-1/2". So, I can use it on either of my pickups. I can't recall what I paid, but I think it was in the upper $2 hundreds. Well worth it to me. One accident or broken something and that is a cheap price.
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You don't drop the load right on the scale - you place it partway over on a beam such that the distance from the hitch to the scale (call that D¹) is a multiple of the distance from the hitch to a static block on the ground (call that D²); then you multiply the reading on the scale by D¹/D² to get the actual weight.

Obviously if your scale tops out at 300# and you're expecting a tongue weight of 1500#, you need a D¹/D² that's at least 6 in case your estimate is off.

 

[ning]

Re: Weigh Safe hitches - has anyone seen a third-party test, by a third party that has no relationship to the manufacturer, that measures the accuracy of the hitch?

A quick search shows many posts and a number of "shoot-outs" that mention 1.25% accuracy, with is quite impressive, if true. But that's obviously coming from the seller.

Anyone here have one *and* have an accurate scale who's compared them?

 

[WinterDeere]

I didn't have a bathroom scale that would read the 15% of my 10,000 lb. load (1500 lbs.) which is what I consider proper loading. What are you towing that a bathroom scale would weigh a proper tongue weight? I got my hitch on a promotional deal that included a 2" drawbar in addition to the 2-1/2". So, I can use it on either of my pickups. I can't recall what I paid, but I think it was in the upper $2 hundreds. Well worth it to me. One accident or broken something and that is a cheap price.
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Ning already described the procedure, which is why I mentioned "a piece of timber" in my original post. My trailer's tongue weight usually runs under 1000 lb., so a simple 4:1 on the beam puts weight on the scale at a manageable 250 lb. or less.

It's not complicated, but it is slow enough that it's not something you'd want to do everyday. @BigBlue1's hitch definitely wins, for anyone having to frequently check tongue weight.

 

[goeduck]

You don't drop the load right on the scale - you place it partway over on a beam such that the distance from the hitch to the scale (call that D¹) is a multiple of the distance from the hitch to a static block on the ground (call that D²); then you multiply the reading on the scale by D¹/D² to get the actual weight.

Obviously if your scale tops out at 300# and you're expecting a tongue weight of 1500#, you need a D¹/D² that's at least 6 in case your estimate is off.

I understand the math and thought that might be where WinterDeere was going, but the setup was not described in any detail. So fair game. Didn't really matter anyway. Who is going to set up the arrangement you describe on a bathroom scale while someone is loading their trailer with a fairly large loader which, mind you, is going to shift the trailer around and knock the silly arrangement "off the scale"? I'd like to see a video of you or WinterDeere at a commercial loading yard with your bathroom scale contraption. In the video, please include how you are going to get the trailer back on your hitch after it hits the ground with 1500 lbs. on it. Maybe, just maybe spend a few bucks instead of critiquing those that want to do it right? I make sure I am efficient in loading yards so that I don't slow up the line.

 

[WinterDeere]

I'd like to see a video of you or WinterDeere at a commercial loading yard with your bathroom scale contraption.

lol... no, you're not going to see that! It's a good method for checking something at home, but it probably takes a good 10 minutes to set it up, do the measurement, and then tear it down. I have used this to check a trailer when setting it up with new equipment, or to see how a new truck sags under a given tongue weight, but that is about it.

When I take the trailer with me to retrieve material or equipment, I use my experienced eye to gauge whether the tongue weight is where I want it. But that experienced eye was developed in part by previously checking how the truck sits under a given tongue weight in my own driveway... with a timber and a bathroom scale!

 

[Topzide]

Maybe this would help, www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Tongue_Weight_Scale.aspx

 

[goeduck]

Maybe this would help, www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Tongue_Weight_Scale.aspx

That would work, but there is $200 bucks right there and then you have to un-hitch and re-hitch.

 

[bcp]

My jack scale - Shoptalkforums.com

Bruce

 

[RjCorazza]

I never thought of modifying a bottle jack with a gauge... Interesting!
I split the difference between a bathroom scale and the integrated scale / hitch by using a small hydraulic scale made by Sherline.