hopefully last newbie question. WD hitch

[TheLinebergers]

The trailer has been finalized. wildwood 26tbss Dry weight of 5768 plus max cargo of 1960. my 2013 Silverado is equipped with the enhanced tranny cooling and towing package so the max is 9300 lbs. The stated tongue weight on my hitch is 600 for ball mount and 1020 with WD hitch. New trailer needs 825. I have seen them from 180 bucks online to over 500. What do I Need!!!!! I never knew buying a camper would require so much research!

[thebrakeman]

It's OK! It's the research that will make you confident driving down the road. Those who don't do their research end up making poor decisions. As far as brand, I can recommend the Equal-I-zer brand sway control WDH kit. My camper is around 750 lbs TW, and I use the 1000 lb kit (fantastic ride).

You have 1960lbs of CCC, but you'll never use it (unless this were a toy hauler). A good conservative estimate for options and cargo weight, is 1000 lbs over dry weight. That puts you at about 6800 lbs estimated loaded weight. Comfortably within your 9300 lbs max towing weight.

TW should be 10-15% of loaded trailer weight. 15% would be is 1020 lbs, right at the limit of a 1000 lbs WDH. Feedback has shown that having a TW too close to the max rating of a WDH can result in bouncy "porpoising", where the spring bars act too much like springs, and not enough like rigid bars. So, I like to add 100 lbs to my estimate (1120), then round up to the next rating. This puts you using a 1200 lbs WDH kit. I just checked a calculator on Equal-I-zer's site. 6800 lbs with 1020 TW calls for the 1200lbs kit, and is good for 0-300 lbs of payload in the bed of your truck (behind the rear axle).

If your trailer came in at the more typical 12.5% (850 lbs), it looks like the 1000 lb kit would work as long as you don't put very much in the bed of the truck. I would hate to go small, and regret it. If it doubt, standard recommendation is to err on the high side.

I recommend you contact Equalizer Tech Service. Tell them you aren't sure where the TW will come in, but should be between 850-1120 lbs. I'm sure they will easily recommend the 1200 lbs kit.

[thebrakeman]

Oh, by the way. $180 is likely a basic WDH kit with no sway control. This is not for you! You've invested thousands in your truck and trailer. Now is the time to invest hundreds for a good WDH with integrated sway control. $500-600 is the norm.

There are other hitches out there that are state of the art, and cost over $2000. Those who use them swear by them. But most who have the $500-600 options (Equal-I-zer, Reese Dual Cam, Blue Ox, etc), also swear by them, and save a bundle.

[m2kamp]

Originally Posted by TheLinebergers

The trailer has been finalized. wildwood 26tbss Dry weight of 5768 plus max cargo of 1960. my 2013 Silverado is equipped with the enhanced tranny cooling and towing package so the max is 9300 lbs. The stated tongue weight on my hitch is 600 for ball mount and 1020 with WD hitch. New trailer needs 825. I have seen them from 180 bucks online to over 500. What do I Need!!!!! I never knew buying a camper would require so much research!

Congrats! We bought the same trailer three months ago and love it.

I have to say the tongue weight is unnecessarily high mostly due to the trailer wheels being set further back on this model. I use the bottom bunk for storage and when we load the trailer we bias cargo to the rear. My actual dry weight from the factory (listed by your vin on the tongue if a 2016) is 5919.

Loaded for camping, full 20lb bottles etc. I'm at 6300 with 870 on the tongue, verified at the CAT scale.

I am using a Fastway e2 1000 lb round bar hitch 2 point sway control (cheaper version of the Equalizer 4 point). I picked it up off of Craigslist for $200 from a guy that decided he wanted to upgrade to a fifth wheel. I bought it the same day I picked up the trailer and I certainly wasn't going to pay $500+ for a crappy hitch from the dealer I could have gotten elsewhere for a fraction of the price.

My truck sits like its nearly unloaded with the hitch engaged. It pulls great and I have no issues with sway. I've been up to 72 mph in short bursts. Posting my experience I am doing ok with the 1k hitch for this trailer, but I load biased to the rear. I think if I upgrade to the 1200, I would worry less about the loading. It definitely aint gonna sway due to light tongue weight, haha.

[The_Rhino]

We have about the same (empty) weight TT... The dealer was going to include a "free" Equalizer 4 1000 but for our family of 5 I convinced them to include the 1200. I am glad we did... With all of the gear we stow in the pass-through storage & under the front master bed we have a hitch weight of 1100+ ready-to-camp although our empty hitch weight was only 640...

IMO the Equalizer 4 offers the best bang for the buck & lots of folks know how to set them up correctly...

You can find an Equalizer 4 1200 on CL or the Classifieds of this forum for 50% less than new & install it yourself if you are handy. However, it might not be too late to ask the dealer to install it at-cost for you. Just nick-pick about everything wrong with the TT during the PDI (inspection) and see if they will throw-in the WDH to keep you happy & move you off the lot...