Setting up a weight distribution hitch

[jjcooler65]

I am fairly new to RV’ing and have not had much experience towing my trailer. I am wondering if I have set up my hitch properly or maybe I need a higher rated one. My TV is Dodge Ram 1500 and my WD bars are rated at 800-1200 lbs. I took my rig to the scales today and this is how the numbers came out.

With trailer and WD hooked up:
Steer axle 2900 lbs
Drive axle 3320 lbs
Trailer axle 7440 lbs

I re-weighed only my truck and got
Steer axle 2940
Drive axle 2320

Given these numbers I calculated my trailer weight at 8300 lbs.
I noticed only 40 pounds being transferred to the front axle and 1000 pounds being transferred to my rear axle of my TV. My calculated tongue weight is 960 lbs.
I am on the fifth link of my weight distribution bars and the instructions say that I cannot go any smaller. So I’m curious if these numbers seem right, I thought I would be able to put more weight on the front axle and take some more off of the rear axle.

[upflying]

What is the cargo capacity on your Ram?

[VernDiesel]

5260 is light. What year truck? Is it a single cab short bed 2WD Tradesman? You transferred a lot of weight. If you took a third weight without your WDH hooked up your steer axle would have showed a lot less than 2900 and Your drive axle would have showed a lot more than 3320. Both your steer & drive axle weights are good as you have largely replaced your unloaded steer weight and have not exceeded your likely max drive axle rating of 3900.

Check your math Your TT gross weight is 8,400. 960 divided by 8,400 equals 11.4 percent TW (tongue weight) In my experience that’s a little light for a box TT if you want sufficient stability for up to 65 mph travel. 12.0 is always my minimum for a box front TT and I transport them for a living.

Upflying why do you care what his cargo capacity is. Minimum gvwr is 6,800 so at 6,220 with the trailer attached he has at least 580 pounds for passengers. Not that he could even feel being 2 or 3 percent over (200 pounds) or that it would affect his stability etc. It’s like if “drive 55 saves lives” vs driving 56 ok but not texting and driving probably makes a bigger difference. Not to pick on you forum responders put way too much focus on a payload sticker number than things that really make the difference in setting up a safe n stable setup. Safety laws & Mfgrs give us 5 specs to use to assure us a safe setup not just one. To focus only on the first one typically exceeded totally misses the purpose which is safety.

[jjcooler65]

Just FYI. My truck is 2004 2 wheel drive 5.7 quad cab. I believe the maximum trailer capacity is 8800 pounds. Also I need to clarify in my original post I stated that 40 pounds is being transferred to the front axle, when in actuality the front axle is 40 pounds later with the trailer attached. Also the tongue weight was calculated from the weights at the scale. But I did an actual tongue weight with a tongue weight scale and it comes to 1100 pounds with nothing attached.

[dannyabear]

You need to find a way to transfer more weight to the front axle; unloading the front axle is the leading cause of sway

[Dustyhd]

Originally Posted by dannyabear

You need to find a way to transfer more weight to the front axle; unloading the front axle is the leading cause of sway

With all due respect unloading the TV front axle doesn’t cause sway. Too much unloading will cause oversteer but not sway.

If anything I’d say you transferring just a little too much back to the front. Reduce the tension one link.

[67L48]

Start with your WDH owners manual, not necessarily the scales.

For example, the set up for an Equal-I-zer hitch has nothing to do with scales. It's all about the height of the front end and controlling the geometry of the lever action the hitch mount causes.

Not sure what your brand of WDH is, but I recommend reading its manual or searching for YouTube videos of your specific WDH.

[VernDiesel]

8800 would be your trucks max tow rating. He was asking about your payload or more accurately with respects to towing available gvwr.

Yes what I’m saying is it is transferring a lot of weight as without it you would have lost way more than 40 pounds. Yes when using a WDH Cat scales difference is the actual legal accurate TW.

With WDH tongue weight is dynamic IE spread between the steer, drive, & TT axles. Without a WDH you would have static tongue weight and 1100 would be accurate.

Danny why do you think he needs to transfer more weight to his front axle?

Equalizer cannot assume everyone always has access to triple scales. Equalizer engineer would tell you triple scale is more accurate but generally not necessary. Unless of course you are working at the legal limits and are trying to optimize your setup for stability and of course to stay at or below Mfgr maximum specs.

[dannyabear]

Originally Posted by 67L48

Start with your WDH owners manual, not necessarily the scales.

For example, the set up for an Equal-I-zer hitch has nothing to do with scales. It's all about the height of the front end and controlling the geometry of the lever action the hitch mount causes.

Not sure what your brand of WDH is, but I recommend reading its manual or searching for YouTube videos of your specific WDH.

If you are pulling a 6000 lb camper with a 1 ton truck, no problem; scales are a much more accurate way of determining the weight on the axles vs a tape measure...

[dannyabear]

Originally Posted by VernDiesel

8800 would be your trucks max tow rating. He was asking about your payload or more accurately with respects to towing available gvwr.

Yes what I’m saying is it is transferring a lot of weight as without it you would have lost way more than 40 pounds. Yes when using a WDH Cat scales difference is the actual legal in accurate TW.

With WDH tongue weight is dynamic IE spread between the steer, drive, & TT axles. Without a WDH you would have static tongue weight and 1100 would be accurate.

Danny why do you think he needs to transfer more weight to his front axle?

Because he has 'unloaded' the front end by 40#, while that is not much, it would be better at add some

[mopwr4me2003]

Not enough information here and what information we have is scattered. What is your trucks actual payload ( yellow sticker on door frame )?

You need to know the weight of your TT so you can have 10-15% Tongue weight. If you do a generic way you take 10% of your gross weight rating of your TT ( the max limit you can have in the TT ).

What WDH do you have? Different hitches require different ways to set up. As stated before follow the owners manual from the hitch manufacturer.

Also read the TV owners manual and make sure you read how they recommend to transfer weight back to the front.

There is a lot to consider and I know I missed some stuff but I would double check all numbers and maybe even start from scratch. Good luck.

[Dustyhd]

Originally Posted by dannyabear

If you are pulling a 6000 lb camper with a 1 ton truck, no problem; scales are a much more accurate way of determining the weight on the axles vs a tape measure...

Yes a scale is more accurate, but a getting to a scale all the time just isn’t practical for most people. The front wheel well measurement can certainly be adequate for determining how much weight is returned to the front axle. This method was established by Richard H. Klein (a real engineer) back in the 70’s.

[VernDiesel]

Originally Posted by mopwr4me2003

Not enough information here and what information we have is scattered. What is your trucks actual payload ( yellow sticker on door frame )?

You need to know the weight of your TT so you can have 10-15% Tongue weight. If you do a generic way you take 10% of your gross weight rating of your TT ( the max limit you can have in the TT ).

What WDH do you have? Different hitches require different ways to set up. As stated before follow the owners manual from the hitch manufacturer.

Also read the TV owners manual and make sure you read how they recommend to transfer weight back to the front.

There is a lot to consider and I know I missed some stuff but I would double check all numbers and maybe even start from scratch. Good luck.

How does this happen? This person appears to have not read anything after the OPs post. On top of that must have read over some of the details in OPs post. Then appears to only have random things they have to parrot about towing some of which have no meaningful connection to what OP post about. Is this some kind of bot? It’s fine if someone has little experience in towing setup by why would they want to try to direct others? If this was posted by a real person my apologies if my post embarrasses you it’s certainly not my goal. Ok let’s assume it’s legit & try to address this post.

What info would you want to help OP?
What help do you think OP needs?
What info 0P laid out was logical and thorough for what he wanted to know.
Why do you want OPs payload?
OP posted his TT weight and you can see it in his weight slips.
OP said he has Blue Ox WDH.
It’s going to be in his owners manual? How manufacture wants weight to be transferred?
Why should OP start from scratch?
OP appears to be only minor adjustments away from optimizing his setup.
You did not address any of OPs questions or anyone else’s.


Measurements are very helpful they help you to get a near the limits load to the scales more safely so that you can better optimize your setup for both your families safety & “legal” spec. Measurements help you get in the ballpark. Generally being in the range or in the zone so to speak is all you need unless you’re betting your families safety on it to tow a 30 plus foot TT with a half ton truck.

[jjcooler65]

To clarify, my WD hitch is a husky 30849 rated at 12,000 pound trailer with a 1200 pound tongue weight rating. It has the round spring bars. My trailer is a Rockwood 33 foot. I have started from scratch and went step-by-step through the instructions that came with the hitch again but they seem to counter dicting themselves in setting up the height of the spring bars relative to the height of the ball. As I stated before I am using the number five link and cannot go up another link because they say that is the minimum amount of links to use. I am now Considering the Reese Steady flex with built-in sway control rated at 14,000 pounds and 1400 pound tongue weight. I think my problem mostly lies in acquiring a cheaper brand of hitch.

[BigH]

Originally Posted by dannyabear

You need to find a way to transfer more weight to the front axle; unloading the front axle is the leading cause of sway

No sir...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Dgxe584Ss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2fkOVHAC8Q

[mopwr4me2003]

Originally Posted by VernDiesel

How does this happen? This person appears to have not read anything after the OPs post. On top of that must have read over some of the details in OPs post. Then appears to only have random things they have to parrot about towing some of which have no meaningful connection to what OP post about. Is this some kind of bot? It’s fine if someone has little experience in towing setup by why would they want to try to direct others? If this was posted by a real person my apologies if my post embarrasses you it’s certainly not my goal. Ok let’s assume it’s legit & try to address this post.



What info would you want to help OP?

What help do you think OP needs?

What info 0P laid out was logical and thorough for what he wanted to know.

Why do you want OPs payload?

OP posted his TT weight and you can see it in his weight slips.

OP said he has Blue Ox WDH.

It’s going to be in his owners manual? How manufacture wants weight to be transferred?

Why should OP start from scratch?

OP appears to be only minor adjustments away from optimizing his setup.

You did not address any of OPs questions or anyone else’s.





Measurements are very helpful they help you to get a near the limits load to the scales more safely so that you can better optimize your setup for both your families safety & “legal” spec. Measurements help you get in the ballpark. Generally being in the range or in the zone so to speak is all you need unless you’re betting your families safety on it to tow a 30 plus foot TT with a half ton truck.

Haha jokes on you I’m not a bot. This response was for a totally different post from a while back so I’m not sure how it posted. It was in my drafts last I knew and the next thing I know I posted and I have no idea how that happened or how to remove this from his post so my apologies for this.

[VernDiesel]

Mopwr. Cool thanks.

Jjcooler, Woops I listed the wrong hitch for you but no matter it’s irrelevant. Looking at a bigger hitch you seem to think you need more weight transfer to the steer? At 11.4 percent you don’t. My experience 570,000 transporting TTs you want at least 12.0 for a flat front TT to run 65 and have the stability for semi truck bow wave etc. It’s exactly like the Uhaul example big H posts where you already have a relatively light TW and you are wanting to take more off like they do in the uhaul video. You didn’t state a driving issue just posted setting up a WDH.

[Chuck_S]

The trailer may be too heavy for the truck.

What's the maximum towing capacity of the truck? The maximum allowable tongue weight with a WDH is usually 10% of that.

There are normally two maximum allowable tongue weights: weight carrying and weight distributing. On my entirely unrelated truck rated at 9200 pounds maximum towing capacity they're 600 and 920 pounds respectively.

-- Chuck

[jjcooler65]

The max towing cap for my truck is 8800 lbs, my trailer weighs in at 8300. My actual tongue weight is 1100, taken with a tongue weight scale.The truck is not overloaded as far as max weight on rear axel (posted in my prev text), I am just trying to get advise on if possibly the WD hitch I bought is not strong enough, as in the spring rods (also speced in my prev post)

[VernDiesel]

Lol