Another WDH question (hold the sway)

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by Riblet

Thanks for the response! And from most of the other responses as well, it does seem wise for me to get the stupid WDH. Now...
What is the specific “not all WDH are a PITA”? Brands/models to check out?
Thanks again for all the help folks!

your best bet is do nothing at all . if you install air bags to get rid of some squat you will now have sway . if you use the timbrins you may experience sway . with air or timbrens you are changing the stance of the truck and Trailer . as it is now no problem if you do anything get a wdh i would recommend the andersen but that's just me

[bikendan]

I love my 4pt Equal-i-zer, made in America. With an electric tongue jack, it's easy-peasy to hookup and unhook. Easy to adjust. No need to disconnect to back up.
But for a trailer your size, I'd recommend the Fastway E2. From the same company that make the Equal-i-zer but only has 2 points of sway control and it's made overseas.

[Tundra 2014]

I use the Equal-i-zer. Have 8K TT pulled over 12K miles w/ zero problems. Get the plastic hanger pads to eliminated the rock crushing sound when you turn sharp corners in the campground. It does not effect the WDH. I just tired of people looking at us LOL.

[rsdata]

YES spend $800-$1000 on a WDH and all your problems will be solved with a 3800# trailer... NOT...

Harbor Freight $200 WDH with integrated sway control... and buy a 2 5/16" ball to go with it... about $200 out the door with one of their 20% off coupons. this will work for your trailer just fine and soothe your mind and keep your pocketbook full. It takes maybe 5 minutes to hitch or unhitch... unhitch the bars when doing radical turns and backups into gnarly areas while boondocking... If you have an electric jack this is painless... if not then it will take you some cranking time and effort on the jack to hok or unhook the bars.

[Boomerweps]

Definitely get an electric power tongue jack if you get a WDH. I bought mine second year for my TT. I lift both the TT front and TV rear to easily slide my bars onto their frame platforms. I rarely need to use the WDH tool to install or remove the load bars. Many suitable power jacks for under $200.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Boomerweps

Definitely get an electric power tongue jack if you get a WDH. I bought mine second year for my TT. I lift both the TT front and TV rear to easily slide my bars onto their frame platforms. I rarely need to use the WDH tool to install or remove the load bars. Many suitable power jacks for under $200.

You can get refurbished power tongue jacks on Ebay, starting around $90.

[Go West]

I'm happy with the Husky Centerline TS. I towed with a Hensley Arrow previously; but for the two relatively light trailers I've owned (both around 5,300 lbs on the road), the difference in the towing experience is insignificant. The main "plus" of the Husky Centerline hitch (besides its reasonable price) is its very effective and precise weight distribution. Concerning sway control, I've never experienced trailer sway with either the Hensley Arrow or Husky Centerline hitches. If you go with the Husky Centerline, here's the link at e-trailer for a 600 lb tongue weight hitch. It comes with the hitch ball pre-installed (many do not). https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Dist...y/HT32215.html

[mxtreme30]

Sorry I thought you were just trying to keep your truck from squatting under load. Not sure if the Toy's spring packs are as weak as my frontier Pro-4x's are, but you might end up having to replace them in the long run anyhow. I have less then 30K on my truck and the spring pack is almost looking like a "w" already and haven't towed anything with it yet. Might take a gander at your spring pack before throwing money down on anything. Aftermarket HD springs are out there, but might sacrifice empty ride quality. I just received my Ride-Rites about a week ago and due to wife falling and surgery on her arm, they've taken a back burner. I'm having to play housewife for a while.
Of course you could always just go hog wild and get a 3500HD and a 1K WDH and call it good.

Keep us updated on the outcome regardless!

[Rugman1952]

Originally Posted by rsdata

YES spend $800-$1000 on a WDH and all your problems will be solved with a 3800# trailer... NOT...

Harbor Freight $200 WDH with integrated sway control... and buy a 2 5/16" ball to go with it... about $200 out the door with one of their 20% off coupons. this will work for your trailer just fine and soothe your mind and keep your pocketbook full. It takes maybe 5 minutes to hitch or unhitch... unhitch the bars when doing radical turns and backups into gnarly areas while boondocking... If you have an electric jack this is painless... if not then it will take you some cranking time and effort on the jack to hok or unhook the bars.

I agree with this post. This size and price WDH should reduce your squat on the back axle, and return your front axle's foot print to near original. For a 3800# tt, I think anything bigger would be over kill.

[Mrprovy]

Originally Posted by hobienick

I just got an Andersen WDH for my F150 and Roo 19 because I am just over my non-WDH tongue weight. It is very easy to attach, no spring arms, backs nicely, no squealing and groaning when turning, no grease anywhere in the system, and the whole assembly is about 60 lbs for my setup. They are fairly reasonably priced new compared to other better quality WDH's. The initial setup took just under 2 hours and after that it takes about 2 minutes to connect it using only one pin. Half of the setup stays on the trailer and the hitch can be used without the WDH portion connected.

I agree that the Andersen may be your best choice. Full disclosure, I'm new to touring a TT, but decided to go with the Andersen because of simplicity and weight. After buying and installing it, I took some time to tune it and found you can adjust the torque as desired. Specifically, the Andersen can be tuned to get your truck back to its unloaded level, which returns the appropriate weight to your front axle in turn maintaining the vehicles front end stability. Thanks to this site, I learned how much more important it is to return the front height (down)than to simply raise the rear bumper (with air bags).

2006 Chevy Trailblazer; owners manual specifies max 500lb tongue weight without WDH & 1000lb tongue weight with WDH.

Also, read through the thread I stared about adding Airbags: https://www.forestriverforums.com/fo...d.php?t=196885

[Riblet]

Thanks for all the input folks. I do appreciate it greatly!

[Tundra 2014]

The Timber's did not add sway problems! I was close to max hitch weight limit, it did prevent banging the bump stops over rough roads or railroad tracks. On my Tundra I could adjust headlight level from within the cab, not so on most trucks. I tow my 4k flat bed w/ kayaks and 4 wheelers W/O WDH, Much better-no sway. On my 8K TT, I did use a WDH w/ Timber's, again much more stable towing experience over 10K miles. Better than high dollar shocks, sway bar or higher load tires, all of which I had added. Friend added to his F-450, he carries two race cars and spare equipment in a 42' enclosed trailer. The Timber's are progressive compression and take the jarring/float out of big bumps.

[Larry0071]

Originally Posted by Tundra 2014

The Timber's did not add sway problems! I was close to max hitch weight limit, it did prevent banging the bump stops over rough roads or railroad tracks. On my Tundra I could adjust headlight level from within the cab, not so on most trucks. I tow my 4k flat bed w/ kayaks and 4 wheelers W/O WDH, Much better-no sway. On my 8K TT, I did use a WDH w/ Timber's, again much more stable towing experience over 10K miles. Better than high dollar shocks, sway bar or higher load tires, all of which I had added. Friend added to his F-450, he carries two race cars and spare equipment in a 42' enclosed trailer. The Timber's are progressive compression and take the jarring/float out of big bumps.

You said "much better than high dollar shocks or sway bars".

Shocks, nor sway bars support load.

Sway bars primary job is to fight body roll in a turn, and less but also, to somewhat share spring force from one side to the other during individual vertical wheel motion. There is no ability to support loads.

Similarly, shocks have no load bearing capability unless your talking about old school air shocks or modern coil overs. But in your typical truck suspension the spring supports all load and the shock absorber dampens motion and provides resistive force to high speed motion.

So you compared the load bearing effect of a polymer spring to that of a shock absorber and to a sway bar and stated that the polymer spring does a much better job of supporting load.

If someone convinced you that spending money on shocks and sway bars would in some way help your overloaded truck rear axle support a load, shame on them.

[Underthedog]

With our second pup (coleman utah)we used this:
https://www.reeseprod.com/products/w...H%7Cqss9R1qHf3


a single bar light duty wdh. very easy to use. we also used this: https://www.reeseprod.com/products/w...k0vinEnFq6tMQe, for sway control and the one time I forgot to tighten it down i nearly lost the whole mess during an emergency maneuver.





With our rockwood pup, and now the roo we switched to this one https://www.reeseprod.com/products/w...Js3r0m2XWmdIti
because there was a plate covering the hitch triangle. this one does have sway control built in though

[Tom48]

Ok So next to tire brand and truck brand you hit one of the hot buttons.

Heidi's never owned a Tacoma but that seems like a lot of tongue weight for a small truck and I have never seen a weight distribution hitch from the factory rated for more than 500 pounds without weight distribution hitch except on super duty size trucks.

I am leery of putting that much tongue weight on anything small and when you load that trailer it's probably going to get heavier.

So do yourself a favor and stay on the safe/legal side. Get a weight distributing hitch. I'll put a link for the cheap ones at etrailer, and while chains are a bit of a pain in the butt, it's not that much different than putting any other hitch on especially with a light trailer.

if you don't want to add the sway bar then don't but I can tell you with our f250 super duty and a 7300 pound trailer with heavy tongue weight we could tell the difference dramatically between sway bar or no sway bar when we get on the southern California freeways next all the insane 70 mile-an-hour heavy truckers.
And you can back up STRAIGHT with even the simple friction sway bar, but DO NOT TURN.

https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Dist...IaAuCpEALw_wcB

I have seen that chain style hitch and the 600-lb bar type for as little as $196 if you shop around carefully and watch for a good sale

To this day I use a Curt chain type hitch but for our current 10000 pound trailer I put some 1400 lb bars with it because our front-loaded toy hauler can be a bit nose-heavy.

and yes I'm sure I said it before we now are the proud owners of a Holiday rambler Diesel Pusher as well but the trailer is still sitting out there crying to be used. I'm sure it'll find a new home this spring if anybody's interested in a well upgraded 30 foot bumper to bumper 2017 toy hauler give me a jingle.

[thebrakeman]

Originally Posted by rsdata

YES spend $800-$1000 on a WDH and all your problems will be solved with a 3800# trailer... NOT...

Harbor Freight $200 WDH with integrated sway control... and buy a 2 5/16" ball to go with it... about $200 out the door with one of their 20% off coupons. this will work for your trailer just fine and soothe your mind and keep your pocketbook full. It takes maybe 5 minutes to hitch or unhitch... unhitch the bars when doing radical turns and backups into gnarly areas while boondocking... If you have an electric jack this is painless... if not then it will take you some cranking time and effort on the jack to hok or unhook the bars.

The HF # and picture you posted does not have "integrated sway control". You can tell just by looking at the picture, it's simply an old school snap-up bracket WDH.

And you don't need to spend $800-1000 to get an Equal-i-zer. Go to RVWholesalers.com. For a trailer this light, you can probably find their E2 type for even less.

[itat]

The Fastway E2 can be purchased at RVWholesalers.com for well under US$300 but you have to order the ball, too, for US$24.

https://parts.rvwholesalers.com/sear...t&q=Fastway+e2