Bigger hitch capacity or weight distributing hitch?

[Lt CHEG]

I've pondered this somewhat myself. I don't like messing around with the weight bars as an extra step in hooking up the trailer. Furthermore when I had tried the w/d hitch on the first equipment trailer that I was going to buy, it made very little difference in how much the truck sagged. I'm leaning towards eventually replacing my hitch with a stronger hitch and also adding air bags to help level out the back of the truck. For that matter after looking at a few of the newer heavy duty diesel trucks I'm also thinking about just adding a mild performance exhaust to my truck to see about getting a little better fuel economy and a few extra horses for towing. I may also think about a programmer and just setting it to the economy mode. I'm thinking that I could add a new hitch, air bags, a Banks exhaust and possibly a programmer for $1500. I think it would give me a much better overall package for my needs than upgrading to a 3/4 ton truck.

 

[Reg]

So after reading the recent thread on hitch capacity, I decided to look into mine more closely. I have the stock OEM receiver on my 2005 F250, and the sticker says 5000 lbs/500 tongue load carrying or 10,000lbs/1000 tongue weight distributing. Right now I am running a plain old ball in the reciver, so that is weight carrying, as I understand it. The 2 5/16" ball is rated for 10k and the stinger is rated for 7500 lbs.

So the dilemma.... I start adding up weights of my trailer and tractor, and I am surely over 5k....
Tractor Kubota 3130 HST: 3005 lbs
Loader LA723: 1058 lbs
Light material bucket: 300 lbs
Farmi Skidding winch on 3pt: ~350 lbs
Rimguard in 14.9/24 rear tires: 500 lbs, ea, if I read it correctly

Add that all up and we have 5713 lbs in the tractor. Call it 5800 with fluids. Obviously this is already over 5k, and we haven't talked about the trailer.

So the trailer is a bit of a question mark. I bought it used and haven't had much luck getting a response from the builder as the nameplate/sticker is totally faded. It's in the attached pic and is 16'L x 7'w, dual axle with brakes on both axles:

Wheels are 15" tires and 6 bolt pattern. Not sure the bolt circle size right now. I'm guessing it has an 8-10k GVWR and probably weighs 2000-2200 alone. so 5800+2200 = 8k. Ayep, I'm over the hitch rating, and really didn't realize it.

So I have 2 options it seems: 1- buy a higher rated receiver, 2- add a weight distributing hitch to the trailer.

#1 is "easier" in that I would be able to just keep doing everything else "as is" and just using a normal ball.

#2 is the one I have more questions about. Since the cost is pretty close to the same either way, are the advantages to the WD hitch significant? I could keep my existing receiver and pretty much everything else. Are these things particularly difficult to connect up to the receiver? I've never dealt with one so I'm not sure how they work. If I have to line up and slide in the tongue on the trailer into the receiver, that sounds like a major exercise in frustration. So how are these things to connect up to the truck? And if I use the trailer for something substantially lighter (which I have already done) does that mess the system up and require adjustments or something?

Thanks for any help and advice you all have. This really is a great bunch of people here that are always helpful. :thumbsup:

-Dave

Right,
That is all about the tractor and it's trailer.

SOME of the rest of the required arithmetic is about the tow vehicle as well as the hitch itself.
e.g. figure the load on the ball (say 12% for sample arithmetic).
Then try it and see how much the back of the tow vehicle "squats".
This has two effects; a) The front end of the tow vehicle can get very "light", so steering becomes vague. b) The trailer carries a disproportionate load on it's front axle, making it sway prone.
These are the two GENERALLY good reasons to consider a load re-distributing hitch ("weight distributing" being a misnomer), i.e. to get the ball height back to where it needs to be for stability of both the tow vehicle and the trailer.

Not saying it is ALL about ball height, but it DOES MATTER.

 

[Dmace]

WD hitches are just a band-aid for something not being correct.

Wrong, there are plenty of situations where a WD hitch is the best solution. No matter how much rear suspension you have, the weight is still all way behind the rear axle and that is just not as safe or controllable as a WD hitch putting the weight more equally over both the trucks axles. Until you've towed the same load with and without the WD hitch, you won't understand. Especially on a bumpy road.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Wrong, there are plenty of situations where a WD hitch is the best solution. No matter how much rear suspension you have, the weight is still all way behind the rear axle and that is just not as safe or controllable as a WD hitch putting the weight more equally over both the trucks axles. Until you've towed the same load with and without the WD hitch, you won't understand. Especially on a bumpy road.

I have stayed out of this because in all the towing I have done, about 10,000 miles each year for the last 20 years, I have only once used a WD setup. They just do not work on boats and for heavy stuff I had a GN 25,000# trailer. Now I just have a 18' 7,000# car hauler and no need for WD behind any of my 3 trucks.

I have to agree with Dmace though on this one. I know they work. Now airbags are a bandaid in my eyes.

Chris

 

[Egon]

Oh Dear; I have air bags plus a weight distributing hitch. Do I have to go for major surgery??

 

[Reg]

Air bags (aka "supplemental air springs") do very little to get the front end of the tow vehicle down, however they;
a) Get the ball height right.
b) Get some more of the load onto the the trailer's rear axle - as a result of [a] above.
c) As a consequence of [a] and reduce trailer sway tendency
d) REALLY soften the ride with about 5 psi in them when not hauling.

Yeah, I like 'em and for Gooseneck trailers with a "live load" (pun) they smooth things out for the horses too.

 

[dstig1]

Well I got confirmation that the axles are 5200 lbs each and the trailer is rated at 9990 lbs total (mostly to keep it under 10k). So the trailer is up to the task, if not the ideal length....

 

[Diamondpilot]

Well I got confirmation that the axles are 5200 lbs each and the trailer is rated at 9990 lbs total (mostly to keep it under 10k). So the trailer is up to the task, if not the ideal length....

That is what I figured. Too bad its not a few feet longer.

Chris

 

[FlaDon]

Landfills and scrap dealers also have scales. I think it would be easier to unhook the trailer on the scale while it it empty vs. loaded.

Your trailer looks to me like a 7000 lb car hauler fitted with heavier axles. Your axles are further forward than most equipment trailers so the way you backed onto the trailer might be necessary for good weight distribution. With the hidden ramps you must have to block the rear of the trailer to drive on.

10,000lb trailers typically have a heavier jack and ramps with built-in supports to prevent lifting the vehicle while driving on. My 7000lb, 16' equipment trailer has the heavier ramps and fenders, 5" c-channel frame, and weighs 1470lb according to the mfg. (When I asked what it weighed he said he priced them at $1.00 per lb.)
I don't have a great picture of it but here it is:

That $1/lb seems to be a common figure. Our 6X16 landscape weighs nearly 2K and cost nearly $2K. Frame is the same as D2E used on their 10K equipment trailer 2 years ago.

 

[Highbeam]

I'm a dedicated WD hitch user with my travel trailer and my 10k rated 18' car hauler style trailer hauling a very similar load to the OP. Total towed weight is just over 7000lbs with the tractor. Same very common OEM class 3 hitch with a 500/5000 lb nonWDH rating. Trailer has e rated tires, 6 hole rims, and 6" channel steel construction, weighs 2500lbs.

I have never had to rejack the trailer to set the spring bars unless, a big unless, the angle of the truck was such that the nose was high. When your truck nose is relatively high then the "wheelbarrow" arms are relatively low and the chains effectively shorten which makes hookup a bit tough. It comes down to having enough muscle to set the spring tension, it would be effortless to set that tension if you choose to jack up the tongue while hooked to the truck. The idea with that is to make the trailer tongue high and the truck hitch high which will effectively loosen the chains, slack chains are easy to hook up. I've seen it done with RVs and maybe if I had an electric jack and felt weak I would do it too.

You just don't know what you're talking about until you've towed with a properly setup W/D hitch. They work great to smooth out the porpoising, to firmly plant the front end, and to keep your headlights down on the road. They are not a band aid for anything. The most properly set up trailer load will benefit from a WD hitch.

You want to talk about a band aid? Let's talk about that stupid friction sway bar device that is meant to slow a trailer that is swaying, now that is a band aid. The trailer won't sway unless there's a problem.

I never take the spring bars out of the hitch head which eliminates the grease issue. I pop off the chains, raise the trailer off the ball, then move the truck forward a foot, slide the whole hitch head (with spring arms attached) out, and set it on the trailer deck.

No problem towing an empty equipment trailer with the spring bars tensioned. If it feels weird then lessen the tension. Why tow an empty trailer around?