Towing with standard hitch

[Mewcasa]

Originally Posted by BigH

What chances?
What recommended equipment what are you talking about? A WDH isn't required until 1500lbs on his truck.

Congratulations for following your owners manual!

None with a properly loaded trailer.

Why? For being within what the engineers (and lawyers) lay down in the owners manual?


The amount of weight that starts to cause a problem with vehicle handling due to unloading the front axle (and more) is tested under SAE J2807...This weight is not pulled out of a hat by fearmongers, it is tested and measured. The testing determines the tongue weight that needs a WDH and then it is placed in the owners manual. You can read about it for yourself:

SAE J2807 Tow Tests - The Standard

Its not taking chances...understanding your vehicle's limits (reading the owners manual), understanding how trailer loading affects handling and staying within these limits prevents taking chances.

Where does one get all this worry?

The OP asked for an opinion, I gave mine. Sorry YOU didn’t like it!

[jeffnick]

The way I look at it, the specs are for those folks who want to max out their rig weight, towing 70 mph in the rain at night. If I lower expectations to under 55 mph only during sun I have a lot more flexibility.

[BOO-BOO-IS-IN-CAMP]

THERES A FEW FACTORS IN VOLVED
I Did Not Read Every ones post ,,,,
So That Said..
If your driving a 3500 F350 truck just truck's.
you might be all right if IF you live in a state that is kinda flat & not a twisty winding road & not a lot of hills?
you could possibly not see a big deal UNTILL YOU HIT A CROSS WIND....
"" even then you might just brush it off hummmm""""

weight distribution & Sway control is a funny thing.

"JUST THE FRONT END OF YOUR TRUCK"
you have a traction bar swayer's bar's steering stabilizers & dampeners .. ALL O.M.E "STANDARD PARTS"WE are not even adding a 4X4 Axel in there ...

IF if say you put H.D parts in place of these O.E.M YOUR TRUCK IS GOING TO HANDLE way different THAN that the same truck of same GVW....

'NOW "
wair i live we have hill'S like you have never seen some on the high ways you can walk right up them some hairpin turns straight up a A** DRAGGING HAUL ALL THE WAY
with twisted turns straight down white knuckle rides summer leave piping boozeos stopping in the middle of the road taking pictures trying to get run over on my watch NOT!!! HAPPINING.... there is no perfect trail or highway... go safely..

MY TRUCK IS A 2000 3500 EXT CAB DODGE DULLY 4X4 8' BED 4.10 G it has over load on top of my 1 ton leaf's this truck will haul safely 8,000 LBS easy but i can feel the difference when i do not use my WDH... and AND,
in a cross wind THAT, MY Friend is mouther nature your messing with very very UNFORGIVING SHE IS ...

and there is a difference in what kind of WDH set you get ..
I have the round bar setup it's a older one but good one. i like it ...
i got it with one of my first trailers and i kept this hitch setup i took all the brackets and set it up on every trailer i get...

my trailer is a TT 2608ws 2014 weight is ruff 5,700

just my take :signhavef un::tr ink39:

[Nastynotchback1]

You may have already picked up the trailer but most dealers don't charge much,if at all to install the hitch for you. Just my experience.

[babock]

Originally Posted by Nastynotchback1

You may have already picked up the trailer but most dealers don't charge much,if at all to install the hitch for you. Just my experience.

He said they wouldn't install a hitch unless they sold it to him.

[Nastynotchback1]

Originally Posted by babock

He said they wouldn't install a hitch unless they sold it to him.

I see. Didn't read the whole post. O well.

[PatHoppe]

We decided to put the ProPride on at the Dealership. For a small fee, The dealer pulled it into a service bay and a mechanic helped me install the hitch. They were very kind to help me out and I appreciated it.

We stopped at a CAT scale and I adjusted the WDH until I was within 100# of the original front axle weight. The ride home was great, our truck pulled the trailer with ease. I kept the speed at 60 and the trailer tracked beautifully.

Thanks for all the comments.