Quote:
Originally Posted by mtnguy
I was just wondering about reasoning. I understand about the weight of the WDH......I hate lifting that puppy, although it stays on my truck most of the spring, summer, and fall.
Just beware of the limitations of your OEM hitch. Mine is rated at 500 lb. tongue weight (5000 lb. towing) when used in the weight carrying mode. That goes up to 990/9900 when using a WDH. My TM tongue weight was over 500 lbs. after adding a 2nd battery, so I would have been over the hitch rating without a WDH. The 3023 is listed as about 50 lbs. heavier on the tongue than my 2720.
When I did a weigh in before adding my second battery, to close to 500 lb. tongue weight added 700 lbs. to my rear axle, and took off 200 lbs. from my front axle. Adding airbags will get your headlites out of the trees, but will do nothing to get the weight distributed back to the front axle.
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Mtnguy,
I puzzled over your post for a while. Then I went to a Ford F150 site and read that many owners have replaced their class III hitches with class IV hitches at a cost of about $300.
Then I went to bed.
When I awakened this morning it was obvious to me that my subconcious mind had worked on the problem while I slept. The answer just surfaced in my thoughts as I awakened.
Look at those numbers again. We have been thinking that the 500/5000 limit had to do with the shear strength of the bolts that attach the hitch to the truck. BUT...look at that 990/9900 figure. If you load the hitch at 501 pounds it will fall off?
But if you put a WDH on it will bear 990 pounds with no problem???
The answer is that both ideas are wrong. What Ford is regulating here, (to avoid liability), is SWAY. 500 and 990 are both exactly 10% of the weight limit they recommend. As we all know, the standard figure for the RV industry at large is that tongue weight should be limited to 10-15% of trailer weight.
But...TM's do not fit the average. Their axle configuration and low wind resistance both serve to limit sway beyond the normal limits.
So, I am not going to sweat the 500# limit too much.
Now if I throw an extra can of beans in the trailer and then the hitch falls off, I'm wrong.
Tom