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Old 11-06-2012, 07:14 PM   #11
Harry Womack
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Default Away

The best thing I did was put LT tires on the tow vehicle. That helped more than the friction sway bar I have.
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Old 11-15-2012, 08:34 AM   #12
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The biggest reason to use a WDH is the tongue weight. Nearly every Class III receiver is rated for only 500 pounds without a WDH and somewhere near 1500 to 2000 with one. Your camper tongue weight is probably around 750 to 900 pounds.
Of course a WDH does not control sway, and most of us do not need sway control-that is the reason they put so much weight forward at the factory.
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Old 12-09-2012, 11:23 PM   #13
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Default Do I need a WDH for 2011 2720 and 2004 GMC Yukon?

I just joined the TM club. Took the plunge today and picked up a used 2011 2720, fully loaded (except leather). Question is regarding a (WDH) Weight Distribution Hitch.

My TV is a 2004 GMC Yukon 5.3l with factory tow package (max TC=7500#)
Hitch can go weight carrying or weight distribution and says:
maximum weight carrying = 5000
maximum tongue weight = 600
Little more than double those numbers for weight distribution.

When I hitched it up at the seller's house today, I had no visible bowing at the hitch, looked nearly flat. No dip down at the front of the trailer and no dip up at the front of the TV. It pulled great 50 miles home.

Do I need a WDH or does that more depend on how much I load the tralier and the tow vehicle?

The TM2720 has a dry wt = 2732
Load capacity = 1333
Tongue wt = 350

Thank you in advance for your reply.
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Old 12-10-2012, 05:22 AM   #14
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If you do a search, you will find the average TM owner has figures higher then what TM gives. This will pretty much be your choice. We use the WD more for peace of mind. We got away with towing the TM 1100 miles with out the WDH. Based on our CAT scale weights; that is exactly what it was we got away with it. With the WDH the axle weight on the TM was 3680#'s. TM lists the dry weight as 3218#'s
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Old 12-10-2012, 09:37 AM   #15
Bill
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To the best of my knowledge, a WDH has two functions. The first is to remove some weight from the rear suspension components, such as wheel bearings, springs and shocks, if they need relief. The tongue weight rating you have indicated - 600 pounds weight-carrying - suggests that your vehicle does not need relief unless you put a lot of stuff in the Yukon's way-back area.

The second purpose of a WDH is to put some weight on the front suspension components. When you put a trailer on the hitch ball, the see-saw effect sketched out here

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...&pictureid=441

removes weight from the front end. As you would expect, this can have a bad effect on handling (since the front end does all the steering) and braking (since the front end does most of the stopping).

The addition of weight to the rear end tends to push the rear end down. The removal of weight from the front end tends to make the front end rise. This is the diagnostic - the indicator - for the need for a WDH. Since the rear end of your Yukon doesn't sink much, and the front end doesn't rise much, and your weight ratings are OK, my conclusion is that you don't need a WDH unless the handling feels squirrely. The Yukon's wheelbase of 116 inches helps this situation. Just for the fun of it, you might want to measure the rear end drop, and the front end rise, and see if they are excessive. But I'm reasonably sure you are OK.

It should be noted that if the rear end of a tow vehicle sinks, and the front end rises, the vehicle can be returned to level by installing air bags in the rear. However, air bags do NOT remove weight from the rear end, as a WDH does. And they do NOT add weight to the front end, as a WDH does. They mask the symptom, but do not address the problem. We have a lot of discussion about this, but the conclusion does not change.

Bill
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Old 12-10-2012, 10:58 AM   #16
ELM-JLM
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Default A good explaination!

Quote:
Originally Posted by rafjr64 View Post
I just joined the TM club. Took the plunge today and picked up a used 2011 2720, fully loaded (except leather). Question is regarding a (WDH) Weight Distribution Hitch.

When I hitched it up at the seller's house today, I had no visible bowing at the hitch, looked nearly flat. No dip down at the front of the trailer and no dip up at the front of the TV. It pulled great 50 miles home.

Do I need a WDH or does that more depend on how much I load the tralier and the tow vehicle?

Thank you in advance for your reply.
Airbags are great, but they are definitely not a replacement for a Weight-Distribution Hitch. A WDH has 2 primary purposes, as well as several additional benefits.

A WDH will raise up the back of the tow vehicle, and reduces some of the sag caused by the trailer’s tongue weight. And I think this is what the OP is referring to in his comparison to air bags. Both will raise up the rear end of the truck.

But the way a WDH raises up the rear of the truck is key – it uses torsion to shift a percentage of the tongue weight to the front axle of the tow vehicle. This is the key difference between a WDH and airbags. Without shifting some of the tongue weight onto the front axle, you‘re likely to have problems in a panic stop or other emergency maneuver. When you brake hard, the weight of the trailer shifts forward and pushes down on the hitch ball even harder than normal, which causes the truck to get light on the front wheels. When that happens, you can lose steering and a big part of your braking capacity. A WDH resists the trailer’s nose-dive, and keeps more of that tongue weight transferred forward.

By using Airbags instead of a WDH, in the same panic stop as above, the trailer weight will shift forward, pushing down on the hitch ball. The hitch in turn, will push down on the rear of the truck. Since the airbags are resisting that downward force (at the axle), they become a pivot point, and the front end can get light very quickly.

In addition to the 2 primary purposes described above (shifting weight to the front axle & reducing sag), a WDH also introduces more stability when encountering cross winds, especially if you use a sway control device with the WDH. Also, most modern trucks come with hitches that are rated lower when not using a WDH, and higher when using one. Some peope ignore those ratings, but that's a whole other conversation.
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Old 12-10-2012, 11:52 AM   #17
Harry Womack
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The Suburbans and Tahoes built before 2007 towed the trailers fine without any modification. Its only the 2007 and up that are built for the ride and not towing and load capability.
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Old 12-10-2012, 08:11 PM   #18
Mr. Adventure
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Womack View Post
The Suburbans and Tahoes built before 2007 towed the trailers fine without any modification. Its only the 2007 and up that are built for the ride and not towing and load capability.
The manufacturers have been working hard with their computers to pull weight out of vehicles (mostly steel) for decades and they've also been able to tighten up on specs at the same time. I think this has resulted in vehicles which are better than the older ones for the intended purposes, but it also cuts things closer to more carefully defined objectives. In other words, vehicles more reliably achieve their spec performance, and there isn't as much slop in the specs as there used to be.

The scale numbers tell us that a 500# trailer tongue will put something like an 800# load on the rear axle (multiply the tongue weight by the wheelbase divided by the distance from the rear axle to the hitch ball to get a more precise estimate of the weight that gets put on the rear axle by the trailer tongue).

Air bags and other kinds of stiffer suspensions might help you carry that extra weight on the rear axle, as long as the extra load doesn't get you into trouble with something else, for example warranties, tires, or axles. The WDH will always help you carry tongue weight by pushing some of it to the trailer axle and putting some of it back on the front where it's useful for stopping and steering. Because of this, the WDH is essential for a significant majority of us.

The best way to know for sure is to put it on the scale, and then you'll have the real answers.

Here's a spreadsheet to help with the calculations:
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ad.php?t=12552
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Old 12-11-2012, 02:17 AM   #19
T and C
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I weighed my 3023 on a CAT scale it weighed right at 4000 lbs combined axle and tongue weight. I tow with an F-150 and use air bags to keep things level. I do not use a wdh. I have made one panic stop while towing, and everything worked fine.

For what its worth.

Tom
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