Trailer advice

grainger12002 · Mar 31, 2003

Wondering about weight distribution and sway control, do they really help? pulling a 24 ft 3500lb trailer w 1995 Ford f 150 4wd v8 a\t. Any opinions out there also, where do I order from if I decide to purchase? Thanks

Anonymous Poster · Mar 31, 2003

I like my weight distribution hitch, I don't use it for the short haul and slower speed. Any trailer/rv dealer should be able to fix you up with a good one and set it up for you. If you have long arms and deep pockets look on the web for Hensley hitch. Its on my list of thing to get, they sell direct. It does both wieght and sway control.

hensley hitch
reese hitch
there are many others but its a start

cheers
Tony

MRHURT · Mar 31, 2003

the weight distribution hitch will help if you hook up to the trailer and your truck squats a lot. it is much easier to drive a truck with it level than bend down in the middle. takes to much weight off the front tires. the sway control will help at speed going down the road. a 3500lbs 24ft trailer (i am guessing a camper) will have some sway to it, pulling it with something like a crewcab truck would not have as much as a shortbed truck. just my thoughts!

thcri · Mar 31, 2003

I guess I am wondering what you plan on putting on that trailer. I know that I pull a 18ft trailer that has two axles on it and if I put too much weight on the trailer your pretty much taxing a 1/2 ton pickup. Now I do have one of them F150 Crew Cabs and it is a light pickup.

murph

dmccarty · Mar 31, 2003

grainger12002,

Check out http://www.thedieselstop.com/. This
used to be FordDiesel.com. They have a towing section that
will give you more answers than you could ever want. With
a F150 you might easily overload the towing weight.

I saw a F150 a few month back with a large trailer, a skid
steer, and the truck bed was loaded as was the trailer with
landscape material. I can't believe there was much wieght
on the front tires. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif The truck and trailer looked
like a shallow V. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

I don't think you are going down that path I just threw out
what I saw. I think my F350 might have had problems with
what they where towing.

If a DMV or trooper had caught them it was going to be ugly.

Hope the web link helps,
Dan

Bird · Mar 31, 2003

( Any opinions out there )

Yep, no way I'd do without them if you're talking about an RV. In my years of RVing, I lost count of the number of people I ran into with brand new rigs and after talking to them awhile, found it was their second rig. They said they wrecked the first one because their dealer didn't tell them about sway controls; absolutely amazing! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif With my first travel trailer (which was called a 24RB model, but was actually 25' 3" and weighed in at about 4,000 pounds empty), I started towing it with my 3/4 ton Chevy without the weight distributing lift bars (but sure did have the sway control) because the Chevy had overload springs and it sat pretty level. However, within two months, I added the lift bars because even if you don't put enough tension on them to shift much weight, they prevent bouncing up and down on wavy roads.

Egon · Mar 31, 2003

The addition of air bags will also help. They are adjusted so the truck is level and the front wheel alignment is where it's supposed to be.

Egon

RanchMan · Apr 1, 2003

Sway control was the best $100 bucks I ever spent. Saw a fellow just the other day who had his trailer race him down hill - both his tow vehicle and his Airstream were on their sides. Awful lot of money down the drain when a $100 investment probably would have prevented the problem to begin with... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Since I don't have anything with too excessive a tongue weight, I use the airbag system - self install was pretty easy - just count on spending a Saturday afternoon to get it set up properly. Another good investment. One benefit I figured out was that when riding on some of the rougher roads on my place with extra passengers, the trailer hitch can drag a little on some of the dips. 'Course now all I do is hit the button to put in an additional 20-30 lbs in the rear end and the trailer hitch doesn't drag any more. A nice temporary fix...

Gary_in_Indiana · Apr 1, 2003

A nice temporary fix... 

I think the fix is permanent (the airbag installation). The 'temporary' part is when you fill them. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Those airbags sound like something I ought to consider. Even when I pull my trailer empty it squats the rear end of my Tahoe pretty good. The trailer is very tongue heavy as it's designed to have a majority of the load on the rear half with the tandems set further back than "normal" to compensate for that.

shado · Apr 1, 2003

Weight distribution (or balancing the weight on the trailer) is a very important factor when towing at normal highway speeds. Now if we're not refering to a 'gooseneck' trailer, one of my concerns is not overloading the 'tougne weight' of the hitch itself. The tow capacity may go well up to 10,000 pounds, but the weight on the tougne is a lot less, maybe at 1,000 lbs.. I was towing a car from way up north and right after I got it loaded, I knew I was going to have to re-position it. The trailer had a tendency to sway around now & then. After moving the car forward another foot & a half, made a big difference. And I did not need any air bags or sway controls to get this great improvement, drove all the way home 55 MPH without any problem. Most trailers capable of a least hauling a car have their axles closer to the rear of the trailer than they are towards the front. That way, their will be some weight applied to the tougne. But having to 'correct' the height of a vehicle's rear, I would wonder if the 'tougne weight' is being exceeded. If you don't want to worry about that criteria, then you'd have to go with a 'gooseneck' design, which is what I want to do next time I get the funds up to purchase a trailer. And just to let people know, I have had experience hauling a skid steer on a car trailer with the same GMC 1500 series 4X4 (& no trailer brakes), this is not the most pleasant feeling going downhill, but the episode can make one appreciate what inertia is all about.
J.W.