Towing Set-Up for One Ton Ford

[ppine]

I have a Ford F-350 diesel, but the factory Class III hitch is only rated for 500/5000 without a load equalizing hitch. I just bought a Rockwood trailer that is 4,800 dry with a GVW around 6,700 pounds. I have no hitch with the trailer.

I could add a simple equilizer hitch like a Husky for around $170 plus shipping that will handle 1,200 lb tongue weight and 12,000 pounds.

The other idea would be to change out the Class III hitch for a Class IV, for around the same price. Then the hitch would handle 1,000 lb tongue weight and 10,000 pounds without the equilizer hitch.

I already have a sway bar. The weight of the trailer is not enough to drag the ass end of the truck down much at all. What is your opinion of the two choices?

[007matman]

Another option.. I purchased a barely-used Fastway E2 hitch for $150 and love it. It's a Trunnion style WD hitch and helps with both sway and WD at the same time.

I used it on my Escalade as well as my F-350. Works well for both.

[SeaDog]

kind of a small hitch for a big truck I would change it out to the bigger hitch then pull the trailer and see how things go, there may be no need for a WD hitch.

[ppine]

I talked with a guy in the trailer business. He made it absolutley clear that a weight distribution hitch is your friend, and you need one even on relatively light trailers.

The second thing I learned is that the rating of the hitch should be somehwere in the neighborhood of the weight of the trailer. My trailer hitch weight is around 470 pounds. I am going to buy a hitch rated at 500-800/8,000 pounds. A weight distribution hitch matched to the truck capacity of 1,200/12,000 pounds will result in a very harsh ride with a light trailer.

[Chuck_S]

You sure there's only a Class III receiver there? Even my Expedition has a Class IV. There's a label on the bottom. But even Class IV is only good for 6000/9200 pounds towing and 600/920 pounds on the ball.

A WDH tows any trailer better in my experience. I had one on my Coleman Bayside popup and, of course, have one on my Roo 23SS. Currently using an Equalizer (brand) 1000/10,000 pound hitch -- for the past 15 seasons.

-- Chuck

[BigH]

Originally Posted by ppine

I talked with a guy in the trailer business. He made it absolutley clear that a weight distribution hitch is your friend, and you need one even on relatively light trailers.

The second thing I learned is that the rating of the hitch should be somehwere in the neighborhood of the weight of the trailer. My trailer hitch weight is around 470 pounds. I am going to buy a hitch rated at 500-800/8,000 pounds. A weight distribution hitch matched to the truck capacity of 1,200/12,000 pounds will result in a very harsh ride with a light trailer.

I bet the trailer guy you talked to sold hitches also...

Couple of things...a class III hitch is only rated 500/5000 with or without a wdh.
I find it hard to believe your truck has a class III.

I don't know about your Ford but a 2017 Chevy 2500 cc long box doesn't call for a wdh up to the maximum 2000lbs tongue weight for the factory hitch that came on the truck. The same truck with the only difference being a short box requires a wdh at 1500lbs on the ball. The reason is because tongue weight has a greater effect on shorter wheelbase vehicles.

If you play with this it will make it more clear: w is tongue weight / x is distance from the center of the ball to center of rear axle / L is distance between axles.

https://www.engineersedge.com/calcul...e_levers_1.htm

You need to follow exactly what is says in the manual for your truck. If I was pulling that trailer with my truck I would load it very tongue heavy 15% or more and go for a drive without a wdh to see how it goes. Trailer stability has to do with load distribution and axle placement. I don't use a wdh for my trailer which has seen 1500 tongue at about 9500lbs. It tows perfect at any speed.

[tbarb]

What year is your F-350. You cannot even get a class three hitch on F350 to my knowledge. If you can give us a little more info we can check for you. The F150's come standard with a class 4.

[ppine]

The truck is question is a 2002. It has a Class III Ford hitch. It is rated at 500/5,000 convential and 1,200/12,000 pounds with an equalizing hitch. I don't care if you believe it or not, that is what is on the factory hitch.

We can agree to disagree, but no 9,500 pound trailer tows perfectly without a weight distributing hitch.

[BigH]

Originally Posted by ppine

...
We can agree to disagree, but no 9,500 pound trailer tows perfectly without a weight distributing hitch.

'No' 9500lb trailer huh, really?...all encompassing almost always leads to being wrong. See what I did there?

Do you actually know what you are talking about based on experience...ever tow my 9500lbs trailer with a 2017 cc long box Chevy 2500?

Good luck sir.

[SeaDog]

[QUOTE

We can agree to disagree, but no 9,500 pound trailer tows perfectly without a weight distributing hitch.[/QUOTE]

I tow my ranch tractor (it weights more then 9,500) on a flat bed without a wd hitch and have no problems I don't go over 65 mph. All a WD does is transfer weight to the tow vehicle front wheels and F350 has tons of suspension to handle heavy trailers without WD. JMHO

[tbarb]

Sorry I did not realize we were talking about an 02.

[HarryWebster]

My old 97 F350 did not come with a factory hitch. Probably added after market or dealer installed.I would remove the class III and replace it with a class V. That way you can safely use all of your trucks towing capacity. That is what came factory on my 2012 F250.

[2Evil4U]

I run my wdh on my 3500 mainly because it pushes the trailer back far enough that I can open the tailgate fully.

[TheGerman]

Originally Posted by ppine

The truck is question is a 2002. It has a Class III Ford hitch. It is rated at 500/5,000 convential and 1,200/12,000 pounds with an equalizing hitch. I don't care if you believe it or not, that is what is on the factory hitch.

It's not about the hitch but the truck. Think about it: It's not that using a weight distributing hitch magically increases the physical strength of the hitch. The hitch can tow 12000 lbs (likely with a 2x safety factor so it won't fail with even twice the weight) and can handle the forces associated with 1200 lbs tongue weight and the leverage of a WDH (again, likely x 2). The reason Ford says to use a WDH above 5000 lbs is simply to prevent people from unloading the front axle too much. So changing the hitch does not buy you anything, the same limits of the truck still apply.
Check how much the front axle weight changes with the trailer hooked up, that will give you an idea if a WDH is needed. Kudos to the trailer guy recommending not to go hog wild on the WDH rating, there's plenty of people thinking "the more the better".

[ppine]

Done with this one. Thanks for all the responses.