Need help with towing setup for 27HFS Hyperlite XLR

[northstar1960]

Originally Posted by youroo

Besides you having a (2500HD) you failed to also tell him you installed Air Bags on your truck,and you say your Tow Specs are Very close! Youroo!!

are tow spec are very close only 300 lbs diff . the air bags do not increase load and were not needed to level TV and THso it's really a mute point . simply a bit better ride . He may also decide to install air bags still will not increase load rating . but may help him get to level .

[northstar1960]

Originally Posted by in6seczone

Thanks for all the replies. Well no doubt I'm getting the LT 10 ply tires.

But I really need some help with the hitch. Seems like I have read the Anderson WDH does work ok with all the trucks bigger then the 1/2 and on lighter trailers. But not so much on the 1/2 ton trucks pulling 8000 pounds.

So what would everyone recommend for pulling my 27' HFS weighing 7800-8000 pounds, with my Tundra. I will need the hitch raised about 8" to keep the truck and trailer close to being level. I really want and need a WDH that I can back up my trailer without unhooking it. When we go to these BBQ competition we are sometimes in tight areas and I don't want to have to unhook to back up.

I will put air bags on later if needed.


Thanks in advance
Mike

The andersen will work fine with your set up but don't take my word for it i just use one myself and am not the weight police or the wdh cops ...

[goduc]

Only WD that I know of that you can't back up with is those flat plate type that attaches to the little balls. All others are backup able. With an 8000lb Tt the TW should be about 950lbs. IMO that's too much to ask of the Anderson with a 1/2 ton truck. There's been a lot of reports from users trying to transfer TW of 800lbs or more with the Anderson and a 1/2 ton truck. Almost all of them never got to the desired weight transfer. I used an Anderson on a TT with a 900+lb TW and a Ram 2500 Cummins. I didn't need to transfer much weight because the Cummins is so heavy that not much weight was lifted off the front axle.
A good WD hitch like the Equalizer with built in 4pt sway, Blue Ox Or Reese would also be a better choice. I used an EQ with my previous truck an 2010 F150 and a TT with 900+lb TW. It returned all the needed weight back to the front.
As far as air bags goes, that's really not that big of a deal. Nothing wrong with wanting more stability. But you shouldn't allow the bags to control the lift off the WD. WD's with built in sway rely on the TW for friction. If you hitch up and then air up your bags you've then reduced the weight on the spring bars, which reduces the friction that they need to control unwanted sway.


The proper way to use airbags and WD is to 1st load the truck with all the gear you will haul. Then air up the bags to bring the rear of the truck back to it's original height. THEN hitch up the TT and setup the WD. That way the WD is only needing to lift the weight of the TT tongue as opposed to all the gear in the truck.
I used airbags on a previous truck and TT. The TT had a low TW of 450lbs. I had a canopy on the truck and it was loaded with everything we took. I needed 1000lb bars to be able to get enough weight transferred back to the front of the truck. It made for a really rough jerky ride. So I added bags. I loaded the truck up, aired the bags, then couple the TT to the truck. Now I only needed 600lb bars to get the truck properly setup. It now rode like a Caddy. Real smooth.
I also changed out my P rated tires to LT tires on both F150's I owned. It gave the truck a more solid feel. You don't need E rated tires as they're overkill. D rated are plenty good. I put E's on my 2010 F150 only because Michelin and Discount tire had a great sale going on. They were only a little more than some Cooper D rated tires. Anyway according to Discount tire I only needed 45psi in the E's to achieve the needed load rating for my F150.

[The Big Toe]

[in6seczone]

Thanks a bunch for all the explanations on this. Starting to all make since now. Looks like with the right WDH I want need the air bags. So it looks like the 2 popular hitches are the Equalizer with built in 4pt sway,or the Blue Ox Sway Pro. From what I'm reading you can back up with the Blue Ox without unhooking it. But I have not yet found out if this is the case with the Equalizer hitch. Does this Equalizer hitch have to be unhooked before backing up?

Thanks again for the info!
Mike

[Ken K.]

Equalizer is probably a very safe bet. I have one on my little truck that I have now and it does very well. Between the adjustments on the hitch and the L brackets on the trailer frame 8 inches should be no problem. The hitches run about 550 bucks+/- your dealers mark up. It might also do you better to make sure you have a proportional break controller. So the harder you press your break the more juice it puts to the trailer breaks. These run about 100 bucks, worth every damn penny in my mind...

[CaptnJohn]

Originally Posted by in6seczone

Thanks a bunch for all the explanations on this. Starting to all make since now. Looks like with the right WDH I want need the air bags. So it looks like the 2 popular hitches are the Equalizer with built in 4pt sway,or the Blue Ox Sway Pro. From what I'm reading you can back up with the Blue Ox without unhooking it. But I have not yet found out if this is the case with the Equalizer hitch. Does this Equalizer hitch have to be unhooked before backing up?

Thanks again for the info!
Mike

Just back up with the Equalizer ~~ no need to unhook.

[Ken K.]

Originally Posted by CaptnJohn

Just back up with the Equalizer ~~ no need to unhook.

2x that no issue backing with these hitches.

[emm-dee]

I never pulled my TT without the airbags added to my truck so don't know how it would be without the system. But, when I did put the airbags inside the coil springs I noticed a significant increase on stability...without the trailer. An added benefit was eliminating the "wheel hop" problem when accelerating rapidly on wet pavement and having the rear tires momentarily lose traction when crossing the paint strips on the road. I run them at 10psi.

That being said, I think airbags are a nice addition even if you're not pulling a trailer.

[asquared]

A 4 point equal-I-zer hitch will serve you well. You can back up.with them attached. I used the reese dual cam on my old tt and it worked well but was a bit of a bear to get set properly. You can back up with the wdh that have the integrated sway control (equal-i-zer, reese dual cam, etc). You can't back up with a friction sway bar. I wouldn't recommend a friction sway bar for your rig anyways due to the size of it.

[Ken K.]

Originally Posted by emm-dee

I never pulled my TT without the airbags added to my truck so don't know how it would be without the system. But, when I did put the airbags inside the coil springs I noticed a significant increase on stability...without the trailer. An added benefit was eliminating the "wheel hop" problem when accelerating rapidly on wet pavement and having the rear tires momentarily lose traction when crossing the paint strips on the road. I run them at 10psi.

That being said, I think airbags are a nice addition even if you're not pulling a trailer.

MY stock rear shocks were soft and mushy so when I started towing my TT the rear of the truck felt even more mushy, even with a big beefy WDH. Once I added the air bags, everything about the ride got a lot better, and I had a customized ride when I wasn't towing. I could leave 5 to 10 psi iin the bags and it feels like I'm riding on a cloud. Such an awesome addition. It was money well spent.

[Scotty]

Originally Posted by in6seczone

Thanks for all the replies. Well no doubt I'm getting the LT 10 ply tires.

But I really need some help with the hitch. Seems like I have read the Anderson WDH does work ok with all the trucks bigger then the 1/2 and on lighter trailers. But not so much on the 1/2 ton trucks pulling 8000 pounds.

So what would everyone recommend for pulling my 27' HFS weighing 7800-8000 pounds, with my Tundra. I will need the hitch raised about 8" to keep the truck and trailer close to being level. I really want and need a WDH that I can back up my trailer without unhooking it. When we go to these BBQ competition we are sometimes in tight areas and I don't want to have to unhook to back up.

I will put air bags on later if needed.

Thanks in advance
Mike

While I love my Andersen, I also have to agree with most posters, Andersen with 1/2 ton, heavy TT not a good combination. I tow with a 3/4 Air Bags and Andersen AND it will not set the front end back down. It is fantastic for sway control, but not so much for weight transfer. I am about 3/4" high in front, but no problem for me. If I had A 1/2 ton with heavy TT I would go for another WDH as has been recommended by several posters. Blue OX, etc. Just my take.

[GL1800Rider]

In6seczone, I have an EQ 4 point 12000/1200 that we used twice towing to the mountains in NC and now longer needed since we now have a class C. Not sure where you are located but if you are close you may be interested in it. Too heavy to ship $$$$$. I put it in the classified a few months ago but got little response $350 for everything.

Here is the link to the ad: http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...wdh-90401.html

[MtnGuy]

Originally Posted by in6seczone

MTNGUY you posted this:
Consider another WDH with integrated sway control such as anEqual-i-zer 4 pt., Reese Straight Line Dual Cam, or Blue Ox Sway Pro.
Which of these hitches would you recommend?
Please consider I need a hitch that I don't have to unhook to back up. Trailer will weight about 7800-8000 pounds. Guessing TW will be about 800-1000 pounds. Hopefully the one you recommend does not have to have a lot of grease on it to keep it quite.

Thanks
Mike

I use the Reese Straight Line Dual Cam, which has worked well for me. It takes a bit to setup, and you have to drill 2 holes into each side of your trailer frame for the dual cam plate, but that is no biggie. It takes a bit of doing to get the notches in the spring bars exactly centered on the cams, but once that is done and you get the ideal weight distributed, the trailer pulls sweet with my 1/2 ton pickup.....even with P rated tires.

But a change in manufacturing location for all Reese products will make me shy away from any Reese products in the future.

If I were to buy an WDH today, it would be the Equal-i-zer 4 pt. I have never used the Equal-i-zer, but my daughter and SIL do, and they like it. To me, it is easier to setup, and the units are advertised as American make.

I am not familiar with the Blue Ox Sway Pro, but understand they work well also, but I am not privy to where they are manufactured.

The Reese Straight Line does just that....it tends to keep you in a straight line. When the truck and trailer turn or sway, the WDH will try to get the combo back straight. The Equal-i-zer tends to maintain whatever angle your combo is at the time. If you are in a curve, then the Equal-i-zer will tend to keep you combo at that angle.....it does not try to get you back straight. I am not sure there is any advantage with 1 system over another.

The 1 thing that I do not like about the Equalizer are the "spring" bars don't seem to actually be spring bars. There doesn't seem to be any give to them when hooked up. With my Reese system, you can see the bend in the bars when in place. When hitting a bump, true spring bars will absorb some shock before transferring the remainder of the energy to the truck and trailer springs. I would think that should give a somewhat better ride, as well as not being as hard on the hitch and trailer tongue.

I think Sway-Pro also has true spring bars.

I think you can back up without unhooking without removing the spring bars on any of the listed hitches. I do with my Reese, but avoid extreme angles because of a rub problem between my spring bars and a bolt on the dual cam plate.....which I understand has been corrected on newer Reese units (my setup is 7 years old).

Hope this helps.

[The_Rhino]

So I'm figuring about 8000 pounds loaded. Not sure yet of the TW, although it says it is about 800 lbs, so lets say it is 1000...

Our TT is listed as 6,500 empty w/TW of 650... However, ready-to-camp we're at 8,200 w/TW of 1,200. I've also found that our TT w/affordable Equalizer 4 WDH rides best with 15% on the hitch, so (in your case) backing-off that 1,200 TW by packing gear/firewood for the smoker in the rear vs. front will likely take-away from overall stability...

IMO the Tundra is capable of towing your setup w/just 2 adults packing lightly, but a larger family will likely put you over payload. (Our family of 5 & 1 dog adds 700, so we're at 1,900 before adding firewood, tools, etc. in the PU bed...) To make your Tundra setup road worthy, IMO you will need truck tires rated D or E, an affordable Equalizer 4 WDH, and air bags. If you choose to run over payload in our litigious society, that's totally up to you...

We have only owned Toyotas & Hondas for the last 25 years but when I bought an 8,000 TT I paired it to a (used) 3/4 ton Ram for peace-of-mind. (My 2 year-old Ram 2500 was $14K compared to 2 year-old Tundras that cost $20+K...) This summer I added a fiberglass cap to keep everything dry & we now routinely use 2,500 of our 3,000 payload...

[Platokidd]

Originally Posted by GL1800Rider

In6seczone, I have an EQ 4 point 12000/1200 that we used twice towing to the mountains in NC and now longer needed since we now have a class C. Not sure where you are located but if you are close you may be interested in it. Too heavy to ship $$$$$. I put it in the classified a few months ago but got little response $350 for everything.

Here is the link to the ad: http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...wdh-90401.html

That is a good price! The pics do show its in great shape.
Had the 10k equal-i-zer (like new) and sold it in a few days for $350 on CL. Guy drove 70 miles one way to get it. Now I have the 14k equal-i-zer and I do like the hitch.
If I was going to upgrade my equal-i-zer I would get the ProPride.

I towed a 6000 lbs. Tracer with 1/2 ton Silverado, LT tires ,10k equal-i-zer , Firestone airbags and towed sweet.

The equal-i-zer can make some noise tho.

[uhduh camping]

Plato,that would be a nice upgrade. I really like the Hensley. You forget your pulling something behind you.