Weight Distribution Hitch Question

[Redbug]

I also use a WD hitch when carrying a heavy load. I also replaced the factory hitch on my truck with a heavier duty one like HighBeam did.

Here's a thread about WD hitches I posted several years ago, (my...has time flown by), about setting one up.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...7-about-weight-distribution-hitches-pics.html

 

[radioman]

All good points here, the thing is many people don't use WD simply because they dont see "A" fatal result of not using one after trying to tow what they think the vehicle is designed for according to manual. All they see is that they got from point a to point b without a problem.

My whole take on this is that the designs of vehicles has changed over the years to cut costs and engineers knows this but this exact changes and what to think about hasn't trickled down to us general public and the manual writers.

Simply put- WD definitely helps in regards to safety and allows vehicle to be less stressed in certain points on the frame for longevity over the years. its all about physics and since I am not that great at physics to figure out how the engineers designed my towing vehicle- I am simply putting my faith in the equipment we have available to use so why not us it?

 

[Gary Fowler]

Yes, they slide in from the side.

Aaron Z

Depends on the length of the trailer. My 20 foot with dovetail slides in from the rear.

 

[RandyT]

Something you all need to take under advisement is no matter what changes you make to your towing rigs. IE, upgraded hitch, air bags, load/leveling springs, it does not change the manufacturer specs for the vehicle, and it you are involved in an accident the police, insurance company, and everybody else is going to go by manufacturer specs, and you will get nailed hard.

If you vehicle manufacturer rated the truck at 500/5000 without WD, and 1000/10400 with WDH, that is what the specs are and you cannot change them.

I was reading about a guy out east someplace that had a new gmc 3500hd ( 600/6000 rating with out WD) pulling a 10000# trailer with a skid steer on it without WD and was involved in an accident and between the police, lawsuits it ended up costing him over a million dollars and bankrupted his company.

 

[aczlan]

Something you all need to take under advisement is no matter what changes you make to your towing rigs. IE, upgraded hitch, air bags, load/leveling springs, it does not change the manufacturer specs for the vehicle, and it you are involved in an accident the police, insurance company, and everybody else is going to go by manufacturer specs, and you will get nailed hard.
If you vehicle manufacturer rated the truck at 500/5000 without WD, and 1000/10400 with WDH, that is what the specs are and you cannot change them.

True. Another reason to go with a Ford , they don't list a with/without WD towing capacity for the truck, just max axle/vehicle weights and a rating for the stock receiver.

Aaron Z

 

[downslope]

Well, that's more or less my point: that the rear axle's weight rating is probably not the limiting factor in the vehicle's towing capacity. But just hypothetically, my vehicle's GVWR is 9000 lbs. It's curb weight is 6813 lbs. That leaves 2187 lbs of capacity before GVWR is exceeded. If we assume 100% of that is tongue weight from a trailer, that's an 8748-14,580 lb gooseneck trailer (25%-15% trailer weight on the tongue) or a 21,870-14,580 lb bumper pull trailer (15%-10% trailer weight on the tongue). So we can see that GVWR is not the sole limitation on trailer size. GCWR kicks in before GVWR is exceeded in some cases. But GAWR is never even approached.

Joshua,
I think your calculations are fine for the gooseneck example but you could be off by quite a bit for the receiver type hitch. Since the ball on the receiver is some distance behind the rear axle there will be a lever effect, and if you have 1,400 lbs on the ball it will exert a lot more than 1,400 lbs on the axle and tires. Also, the 1,400 lbs on the ball will cause the front end of the truck to be lightened and the weight that's taken off the front end will also be transfered to the rear axle and the tires.

At least 1400#. It depends on the distance between the axle and the hitch.

Too many variables to say. How much weight is in the bed? How many people are in the cab? Which spring package?
It could be ok, or it could be a problem.

Aaron Z

Aaron Z,
My question wasn't trying to nit-pick this down to the last pound of weight that you could put on a receiver ball. It's often said that with a gooseneck at 15%-25% it's pretty easy to exceed GVW or axle or tire capacities, especially with a SRW truck.

I was just wondering if the same thing can happen as easily on a 3/4 or 1-ton SRW with receiver hitch when you don't use WD. I realize that a crew-cab would probably be worse that a standard cab, not all wheelbases and overhang are exactly the same and obviously if you have bags of cement in the bed and put your kids and in-laws in the cab you may not be able to tow anything at all.

 

[newbury]

True. Another reason to go with a Ford , they don't list a with/without WD towing capacity for the truck, just max axle/vehicle weights and a rating for the stock receiver.

Aaron Z

On my 2002 Ford with a factory installed hitch receiver it is printed on the label 12,500 lbs with weight distribution, 5,000 lbs without.

 

[aczlan]

On my 2002 Ford with a factory installed hitch receiver it is printed on the label 12,500 lbs with weight distribution, 5,000 lbs without.

But you can get another (heavier) receiver to make your only restrictions the axle weights and the GVW/GCWR rating (cant do that on a Chevrolet/GMC from what has been shared on this thread).
For example (assuming that you have a 2002 F250 or F350):
Here is one that will allow 1800# of tongue weight and 18,000# of trailer weight without WD: CURT Manufacturing | CURT Manufacturing - CURT Trailer Hitch #15601
Here is another which will allow 2000# of tongue weight without WD (2500# with WD) and 18,000# of trailer weight: Reese Titan Class V, 2-1/2 inch Receiver Hitch 45297

Aaron Z

 

[newbury]

But you can get another (heavier) receiver to make your only restrictions the axle weights and the GVW/GCWR rating (cant do that on a Chevrolet/GMC from what has been shared on this thread).
For example (assuming that you have a 2002 F250 or F350):
Here is one that will allow 1800# of tongue weight and 18,000# of trailer weight without WD: CURT Manufacturing | CURT Manufacturing - CURT Trailer Hitch #15601
Here is another which will allow 2000# of tongue weight without WD (2500# with WD) and 18,000# of trailer weight: Reese Titan Class V, 2-1/2 inch Receiver Hitch 45297

Aaron Z

But my listed GCWR is only 20,000lbs

 

[aczlan]

But my listed GCWR is only 20,000lbs

They also have other hitches which have lower ratings which would allow you to hit your GCWR without requiring a WD setup.

Aaron Z

 

[meburdick]

But you can get another (heavier) receiver to make your only restrictions the axle weights and the GVW/GCWR rating (cant do that on a Chevrolet/GMC from what has been shared on this thread).
For example (assuming that you have a 2002 F250 or F350):
Here is one that will allow 1800# of tongue weight and 18,000# of trailer weight without WD: CURT Manufacturing | CURT Manufacturing - CURT Trailer Hitch #15601
Here is another which will allow 2000# of tongue weight without WD (2500# with WD) and 18,000# of trailer weight: Reese Titan Class V, 2-1/2 inch Receiver Hitch 45297

Aaron Z

Not necessarily true.

Although you can upgrade the hitch to one that will carry more weight directly, that may not translate directly for the vehicle. The extra weight can / will still have additional impact on things like the reduced weight on the front axle. If there's too much weight on the back causing too little on the front, it won't matter if you have a drop-forged hitch capable of handling 100,000 pounds of tongue weight.

The other thing is that changing the hitch doesn't change the rating from the manufacturer. In an accident, you could be on the hook to prove that either your tongue didn't exceed the manufacturer's rating, or that the weight didn't exceed a "safe value." If you've changed the hitch, you may need documentation from the manufacturer stating that your rating has been changed to "X" as a result.

 

[bcp]

Sometimes a strong hitch just moves the failure point to another location.

Why u shouldn't overload your trailer... - TTORA Forum

View attachment 276763

Bruce

 

[slowzuki]

The short of it, you can put what ever hitch you want on your pickup, but if you don't put a WD hitch on, you will eventually have little weight on your front tires leading to dangerous handling. We don't have weight blocks to hang off the front bumper like tractors.

The F450/550 cab/chassis get their really high straight bumper pull ratings by using a frame plate hitch directly behind the rear spring perches, the hitch is only a couple of feet behind the axle vs 4 ft on a pickup so you don't unload the front axle.

I'm guilty of hauling heavy with no WD but I keep the speeds down and won't let others drive. If you don't like WD hitch you'd better have a good brake controller and all axles braked.

 

[slowzuki]

I usually just get pallets of block set in the back of the truck. A full pallet of 8" works out well in my F350 SRW.

Sometimes a strong hitch just moves the failure point to another location.

Why u shouldn't overload your trailer... - TTORA Forum

View attachment 276763

Bruce

 

[Marveltone]

The short of it, you can put what ever hitch you want on your pickup, but if you don't put a WD hitch on, you will eventually have little weight on your front tires leading to dangerous handling. We don't have weight blocks to hang off the front bumper like tractors.

Oh, I wouldn't say that. I have a 340lb weight on the front of my truck for just such an occasion. :laughing::stirthepot:

All joking aside, I'm a firm believer in WD hitches. I've towed enough campers across the country as well as car haulers to really notice the difference they make on handling in controlled as well as emergency situations.

Besides, they only really add one or two min. to the hook-up time. A small price to pay for safety.

Joe

 

[sawtooth]

I know this sounds crazy but i just welded up my new adjustable hitch. I finally determined that the adjustable hitch had some up and down play causing heavy loads to beat the truck somewhat. Its no longer adjustable but man does it pull smoother. Anybody else ever noticed this?

 

[jejeosborne]

My inlaws broke ground today building a house adjacent to mine. One contractor shows up towing a nice 12000 pound tilt trailer with a tracked skid steer on it. I was drooling over his trailer and noticed it wasn't using a WD hitch. During a break, I asked him if he knew the capacity of his stock hitch on his 2500 dodge ram, with cummins diesel. He said he didn't. I told him it probably wasn't rated to tow what he was towing and sure enough, the sticker on the hitch said 500/5000 without a WD and 1000/10000 with. He didn't even know what a weight distribution hitch was. He was probably 4000 over his limit and had no idea. Scares me to think of what people are towing without towing knowledge. Not that I want the government to get more involved, but maybe an additional stamp on someone's license wouldn't be a bad thing. I have to be endorsed to ride a motorcycle but not to tow these weights? Also, that hitch was attached with six bolts approximately 7/16" in size.

 

[slowzuki]

You'll find that common. A friend of mine tows with his chev 2500 HD with the big gas motor, he tows mini-exs and tracked skid steer etc. Never a WD hitch. He had to get forged ball mounts as he kept bending the welded solids shank type. I kept after him to get a WD hitch, says he's used them and hates hooking them on.

 

[joshuabardwell]

You'll find that common. A friend of mine tows with his chev 2500 HD with the big gas motor, he tows mini-exs and tracked skid steer etc. Never a WD hitch. He had to get forged ball mounts as he kept bending the welded solids shank type. I kept after him to get a WD hitch, says he's used them and hates hooking them on.

It's stories like this one and the one above I keep in mind when people talk about how they've "never known anyone to do" whatever we're talking about. It's my impression that the majority of people pulling a trailer have really no clue whether they're doing so safely. They mostly just think that you hitch the trailer to the vehicle, you put the cargo on the trailer, and away you go. When it comes to boats and RVs, my impression is that people tend to be better educated. But when it comes to utility trailers or car haulers, it seems like anything goes.

 

[meburdick]

He was probably 4000 over his limit and had no idea.

Sort of, but not really.

He was not overweight in terms of the max towing capacity. He was overweight only with respect to how much tongue weight he should have been carrying with a 10k load and no WDH.

This has been said before, but it's worth pointing out again... a WDH does NOT increase the towing capacity for a vehicle. Max towing is max towing is max towing. PERIOD.

This particular truck has a max tongue weight rating of 500 lbs. If the tongue is targeted to carry 10% of the total trailer weight, that translates to 5000 lbs for the trailer. The vehicle is rated to pull 10,000 - always. The 5000 "limit" is artificial in that it is derived from the max tongue weight that the truck is rated for.

I am not trying to say that the manufacturer labels are wrong... I am only trying to help everyone understand how those numbers are arrived at for this vehicle so that everyone can understand what these numbers really mean.

Safe towing is something that's actually reasonably easy to understand how to do. But, trailer dealers, vehicle dealers, and even hitch manufacturers / dealers don't take the time to explain to people what the ratings mean and why they need to heed the numbers. I'd love to see trailer manufacturers "sponsor" education through the dealers so that people will know how to tow safely.