Quote:
Originally Posted by woodlandcottage
The TV was empty except 3/4 tank of gas. The pad was almost 100% level. I squatted down to take the closer pic so I might have been leaning. :P We will definitely be measuring before we take it out again. WDHes aren't expensive if it turns out we need one. I just don't know why it's so tricky to figure out if we do need one. I guess I thought towing problems would be more obvious when you were doing something wrong. One day I'll look back on this experience and laugh at how dumb I was "in the beginning".  |
Glad to hear that you will be checking out the measurements. When I stared towing there was no internet and I counted on a hitch shop to do all the measurements, setup the hitch with the camper attached and educate me. They custom made hitches at that time and welded the WDH together. I too was lost as to what I needed. Most of us went through this learning curve.
The rear squat can be solved with a WDH or airbag or springs, but to much rise on the front end which affects your safety and how the TV handles can only be solved with a WDH.
If you find you need a WDH. There are two numbers that they are rated for: tongue weight (spring weight) and tow capacity. Tongue weight is the most important number to be concerned with. This is a time when
more is not better.
For the WHD to work right, which has to do with the bars spring. You
never want you camper tongue weight to exceed the WDH tongue rating, but you don't want too much tongue capacity of the WDH. So you need to find a hitch that is rated for your tongue weight. In my case I found a reese WDH that was rated for 600/10,00 lb (600 tongue and 10,000 tow capacity). My research found that it' it was designed to operate between 200 and 600 lbs of tongue weight. My TM dry is around 350, LB loaded it's somewhere around 425.