Weight Distributing Hitch

**Civil_War_Buff** · 08-07-2002, 08:20 AM

Hi,

We bought a 2002 2720 this past weekend at an RV show near our home, we have not taken possession yet as I need to sell my tent trailer first, but I was wondering about the need for a WDH?  I have a 1998 Chevy S-10 Blazer and used an anti-sway bar with my TT, but I read that TM does not recommend the use of a sway bar.  Is a WDH necessary?  What are others' thoughts?

Thanks.
Larry

08-07-2002, 08:54 AM

You can try it without a WD hitch if you think your truck can handle the tongue weight; but unless your blazer has upgraded springs it will probably sag a good bit...

I would plan on getting one.  They make a tremendous difference in towing and get your front wheels to help share the load.  You'll be amazed how much of a difference it will make.

**Denny_A** · 08-07-2002, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Hi,

We bought a 2002 2720 this past weekend at an RV show near our home, we have not taken possession yet as I need to sell my tent trailer first, but I was wondering about the need for a WDH? I have a 1998 Chevy S-10 Blazer and used an anti-sway bar with my TT, but I read that TM does not recommend the use of a sway bar. Is a WDH necessary? What are others' thoughts?

Thanks.
Larry

If you have most of the options on your 2720 that everyone seems to get, the tongue weight will run 480-500 lbs. The trailer will be 3000 lbs with propane tanks full. Then you load it for travel.

Yes, a WD Hitch is necessary. Here are 3 links which I thought were useful discussions regarding the specifics of a WDH.

http://www.rumseytruck.com/product/putnamwt.htm

http://www.signonsandiego.com/market...23trailer.html

http://www.rverscorner.com/info/equalizer.html

Denny_A

08-07-2002, 03:25 PM

You're towing capacity as is will be 5,000lbs, not sure if that's with or without towing package from the factory, (Got an S-10) might get a tranny cooler if ya don't have one. and I'm NOT experienced with towing mine yet, but from what I've read, tow it a few miles first carefully and see if it's needed, from other users of this board, it can mask problems instead of fix em, just make sure ya load everything to specs first tho. Don't lighten the tounge weight of your TM, or weigh it down.......fair enough guys?

Happytrails........

**Bill** · 08-08-2002, 04:53 AM

I am a big fan of weight-distributing hitches. Unfortunately, most of the discussions ignore (or gloss over) one of the most important points. When you load weight onto the hitch ball, you UNload the front end of the tow vehicle.

On most TT setups, the hitch ball is located considerably behind the rear axle. If you put weight on the hitch ball, the whole vehicle acts like a see-saw on a playground - when one end goes down, the other end goes up, pivoting around the rear axle. And when you unload the front end, the vehicle doesn't steer right.

At risk of oversimplifying, see the attached sketch. It's easy to see that if you put enough weight on the hitch, the front wheels would come right off the ground. And then the steering gets really poor! Fortunately, we don't load them that heavy. But if you put 1000 pounds on the hitch, you may very well take 300 pounds off the front wheels, and the car was not designed to steer correctly with 300 pounds (the weight of the engine, in some cases!) removed from the front. Yup, it gets really squirrelly.

Beyond that, the car was designed to handle properly when a certain proportion of the total weight is carried on the front wheels, and the remainder on the rear wheels. If you add 1000 pounds to the rear end, and subtract 300 pounds from the front end, this proportion gets way out of whack. Again, handling suffers.

A weight-distributing hitch puts the weight back where it belongs, dividing it roughly half-and-half between the front and rear wheels. (Actually, a certain amount of it is passed back to the trailer wheels, too.) In operation, a WD hitch is usually described as being like a wheelbarrow. I found a good description of this at
http://www.marinemechanic.com/site/page92.html

So close your eyes, and imagine driving at high speed as somebody gradually lifts the weight off the front wheels of your car. I don't know about you, but it scares me.

Incidentally, part of the reason that 5th wheels don't sway much is that they put the hitch weight directly on (or a bit forward of) the rear axle, eliminating the playground see-saw effect.

Bill

08-08-2002, 11:56 AM

Bill,

I recently purchased the Eual-i-zer brand hitch for our 2720SL and GMC Yukon XL combo. I asked for and got a lot of different opinions on EQ hitches, most saying save your money. Even with a long tow vehicle like ours, I had some minor sway problems when fully loaded for travel mode. Perhaps 500 lbs in the Yukon and not all of it can be loaded in front of the rear axle since we need room for our 2 girls in the center seats. Couple this with a fully loaded TM and you still have some potential for sway - I hit the "sway" wall just about 65 mph and sooner with strong winds or big trucks passing by. We installed the EQ hitch just prior to a 10-day trip from AZ to Yellowstone a few weeks ago and I was simply AMAZED at how well the Yukon handled. It was truly like "floating" through turns and higher speeds were no longer an issue. I never exceeded 70 for safety even though posted speeds were 75 in some areas. Winds, rain, trucks, etc all were so much easier to deal with. I am sold on the EQ hitch and drove with so much less stress it was amazing.

Wade

08-09-2002, 06:16 AM

The discussion here has been on WD hitch vs. non-WD hitch.  Don't confuse sway control with weight distribution.

Weight distribution is very important for safety and vehicle control.  Most small and mid-size vehicles drive and handle much better with WD hitch installed.  Full size vehicles can usually accomondate the ~500 lb tongue weight of a TM, but may still benefit from WD hitch set ups.

Sway control is an secondary device (in most cases) which resists sway by some type of friction or dampening.

Most TMs tow very well and sway control is used for "piece of mind."  It is dangerous to use sway controlers on trailers with a true sway problem.

08-11-2002, 05:16 AM

I just bought a 3023 mid-July in Liberty MO, about 250 miles away. The dealer had a Hensley Arrow hitch available, which I was actively looking for. (Unfortunately, it was a 2 5/16" ball for my 2" Trailmanor...found this out when I got home). But since it was Saturday, he didn't have a mechanic to install it. He loaned me an Equilizer with sway bar until I could install the Hensley myself. I took the Trailmanor on a 2500 mile trip to Rushmore, Devil'e Tower and Yellowstone with the Equilizer in place. It handled fairly well, but big trucks and cross winds still could be felt. I didn't like unhooking the weight distributing bars and sway device every time we disconnected the Durango (2002, 4.7l w/ tow package). I also bent the sway bar connector, even though I didn't back up with sway bar attached (as instructed by the dealer).

When I returned home,  the Hensley people had switched out the 2 5/16" main unit for a 2" one. I installed the Hensley and took a test drive to Liberty, MO to have some service done on the new Trailmanor (Suburban stove had screws missing....only took an hour to disassemble and fix....wheh....., hold down latch was broken....bad weld, L-shaped bed guides didn't have enough staples, kids broke the antenna rotator shaft.....).

Anyway, the Hensley DROVE GREAT. I'd pay twice what the Hensley cost ($2700) to prevent sway. I HATE SWAY !!! The Durango (110 inch wheelbase) felt like driving a big rig. The Durango feels more stable with the trailer attached than without.

Sorry about the long-winded post, but I thought someone would like to know about these alternative hitches. I thought it might be overkill on a light trailer (3023 is 3700# dry), but I LIKE IT....

08-11-2002, 06:27 AM

Am I mistaken, or did you mean to say $270.00 for the Hitch?

Dave

**Bill** · 08-12-2002, 01:04 AM

Unfortunately, no. The Hensley web site
http://www.nosway.com/pricing.htm
shows the current price at $2795. But shipping is free!

I admit I don't know anything about the Hensley. The mechanical operation looks interesting and ingenious. However, it seems to me that the various dual-cam setups do pretty much the same thing for a lot less money. For a good example, see the Reese web site http://www.reeseprod.com. Click "Products", then "Weight Distribution", then "Dual Cam Sway Control". The Reese website does not include prices, but I have this exact Reese WD hitch and springbars (without the dual cam kit) and love it. I expect that if I wanted to add the dual cam kit, the cost would be no more than a couple hundred bucks. Total cost of WD hitch and dual-cam would be about $500-600. In the face of this, you would have to really LOVE the Hensley.

Bill