Wdh?

Hi all,
We are new campers, with a 2004 3326K. My question is do I need to have a WDH?

We towed the TM from where we purchased it in Maine 150 miles to our home in Alton, NH. The TM seemed fine and I did not have any problems pulling it.

Jimmy

What did you pull it with? Was it a 1 ton truck with dual wheels on the back?

[rvcycleguy]

Originally Posted by JBYRNE7844

Hi all,
We are new campers, with a 2004 3326K. My question is do I need to have a WDH?

We towed the TM from where we purchased it in Maine 150 miles to our home in Alton, NH. The TM seemed fine and I did not have any problems pulling it.

Jimmy

need much more info to offer an opinion. what tow vehicle are you using? what engine size, tow package?

2006 Dodge Ram w/towing pkg. Belongs to my son who is a contractor which he pulls a large dump trailer and an enclosed work trailer.

Like I said it towed very good, didn't have and adverse effects on the way the truck handled.

I appreciate you guy's answering the "Newbee's" questions.
Jimmy

I now pull my Elkmont without a WDH. I know others on the board with pickups pull without a WDH too.

There are several issues that I can think of:

Without the WDH, the truck's rear axle will be loaded with whatever is in the truck, plus the trailer's tongue weight leveraged by the distance between the ball and rear axle, plus the weight lifted off the front axle. So you may be exceeding your rear GAWR and your rear tires may feel "squirmy", especially if they are P-metric. In my case, I've switched to LT-metric tires and weigh the truck regularly - no problems with GAWRs (or GVWR) or rear tire squirm.

Second, the weight lifted off the front axle may make your steering feel light or floaty, and could reduce your braking efficiency. In my case I don't notice any handling difference, and the measured ~200# lifted off the front axle is only 6% of the total 3200#, so I feel relatively secure.

Finally, most after market class 3-4 hitches are only designed for ~650# weight on the ball when not using a WDH. My Ford's hitch says only 500#, but it certainly looks as solid as my previous hitch that was rated at 650#. So I feel comfortable at my current tongue weight of ~550# and would be willing to go to 600# with a non-WDH. Anything more and I would probably be taking enough weight off the front end to justify a WDH anyway.

My previous truck (a Tacoma) had a hitch rating of 650# but the handling was very floaty with our trailer so I always used a WDH. It was a lighter truck with a shorter wheelbase, so over 10% of the front axle weight was removed when not using a WDH. And with the P-metric tires ...

Anyway, I would put your rig on a CAT scale (you can google a location close to you; they are cheap) just to check your weights.

[Harry Womack]

I have never used a wdh pulling my 3124KB trailer. With the 2000 Suburban I did not do any modifications. With my 2007 Suburban I added Firestone air bags inside of the coil springs.
I had the trailer weighted on vacation at a CAT scale and it weighted 4900# loaded. The tongue weight is high because of the double propane tanks, electric jack and double Group 31 batteries.

I'm surprised Bruce....do you not get moved around when a semi truck passes? That was the big issue I had. I have to use a WDH with the built in sway control. Perhaps the Tundra wheel base is shorter than your Fords causing less stability???

[rvcycleguy]

im using a Tundra V8 to pull my 3124KB without a WDH. No issues at all. I do have Firestone Sport airbags to assist with the tongue weight. The only time I use a WDH is when I load my motorcycle in the truck bed as cargo and pull the TM.

Originally Posted by Redhawk

I'm surprised Bruce....do you not get moved around when a semi truck passes? That was the big issue I had. I have to use a WDH with the built in sway control. Perhaps the Tundra wheel base is shorter than your Fords causing less stability???

I'm sure there's more sway with the upright Trailmanors, but it hasn't been a huge problem so far.

My previous truck (a Tacoma) had a stiff suspension but needed a WDH with a far amount of weight put back on the front axle to get decent handling under load. The WDH didn't have any sway control though.

The F150 has a softer suspension so I've added Heavy Duty shocks, LT-metric tires and a rear spring helper (Roadmaster Active Suspension), but it doesn't need the WDH as it's heavier (~6800# loaded for Florida, including tongue weight ) and has a longer wheelbase (145").

I haven't had any sway related issues with the F150, but can remember one or two times with the Tacoma where it was definitely noticeable. Typically there was a strong cross wind and a very fast, passing semi or bus blocked the cross wind and hit me with a bow wave at the same time (or something like that). But the Elkmont tracks so well (with the rear axle so far back and the high tongue weight) that the recovery was very fast, and it didn't bother me too much. It was tiring driving though, and it didn't happen on our maiden voyage .

I have never had "sway" with the Elk, just the crosswind, semi thing scared the you know what out of me a couple times.