Towing a 2720 SL with a Ram 1500 Hemi: Real-World Experiences

[BrandallCMe]

Hi All ... I just joined the forum as I'm looking to ask, "Do any of you OR have any of you pulled a 2720 SL with a Dodge Ram 1500 Hemi? Thank you in advance. Your advice is worth volumes.

 

[Kidkraz]

I’ve been towing my 2619 for several years with my Ram. I don’t use a WDH, and have had zero issues towing.

 

[Bill]

I'm not sure what kind of advice you are looking to see. You could pull two Trail Manors with that bad boy! You will not need sway control, you almost certainly will not need a WDH (weight distributing hitch). The one thing you will need is an electric brake controller - aftermarket if it is not built into your truck. Does the truck have a factory tow package?

 

[BrandallCMe]

Awesome response ya'all. My truck has trailer brakes and I plan to add a stabilizer hitch to the platform. Tomorrow I'm travelling 900 miles to look at a TM. Thanks again. I'll let you know what I find.

 

[BrandallCMe]

My 900-mile, one-day turn around trip to Washington was successful. I flew Alaska using miles saved from work travel. All in all, the speed trip cost just over $100 for the rentcar and gas. I wound up purchaing the 2720 SL in really good shape for $7,750 out the door. No curtains, but that makes it, "a blank canvas, right? "Yeah ... in the pic, that's me and my shadow. The RV place, "Scott's RV Sales", in Vancouver, were most accomodating making this an awesome experience in buying a consignment unit. Now the fun starts as we'll head back up there to pick the unit up from my in laws home once I get a set of WDH bars. Thanks again for your input ... much appreciated.

 

[BrandallCMe]

So, on inspection of the TM and in consideration of a WDH, can a WDH be added to the swing-away front hitch section? If, "YEs", can anyone please add a photo so I can see what the installation looks like? I'd appreciate it greatly! Thanks.

 

[Bill]

The answer is YES. There is one thing to be aware of. A WDH uses what are called "spring bars" - a pair of metal bars, each about 36" long. In use, they extend from the hitch head (the part that is inserted into the tow vehicle's hitch receiver), and toward the rear, over the TM's A-frame. The end of each spring bar is attached to a bracket of some kind that hangs over the TM's frame rails. The exact nature of the brackets is different for different WDH designs. But those brackets need to be placed on the frame rails at a location that happens to be near the location of the hinges for the swing-away hitch. Be sure you understand where the brackets need to go. An inch forward or back from the "ideal" location is OK, but not much more than that. I've never seen a WDH that couldn't accommodate the location, but there are occasional tales of problems ...
. . The attached photos are not of a TM, but will give you an idea of the layout. The first shows a chain-lift WDH, a kind which is available from many manufacturers including Curt and Reese. Some users prefer a different attachment method from Anderson. All will work - prices vary.

 

[Bill]

Follow up. The first photo shows the spring bars, the lift chains, and the brackets hanging over the frame rails. But it also shows a friction sway-control bar - the flat thing with the word "Curt" on it. You do NOT need one of these. The second photo shows the same thing, with the bracket circled, and without the friction sway control.

 

[BrandallCMe]

Thank you Bill, once again for your explaination of the WDH. Attached is a pic of the 2720SL with a WDH added to the swing hitch sent to me from the place where I acquired the unit. It appears to mount behind the swing portion as you explained. Sweet!

 

[Shane826]

I don’t have a WDH on any of the smaller TMs (two 2720s and a 2619) and the Ram tows them just fine. But the 3326 tows smoother and steadier behind the Ram with an Andersen WDH. It makes the rig feel like one solid unit.

 

[BrandallCMe]

The Dodge 1500 Hemi with WDH pulled the TM 1,250 miles just fine with no issues.

 

[Stihlmania]

I pull my 2007 2720SL with my 2000 Dodge Durango with a 4.7 auto, 4x4 with heavy duty cooling package. No sway or weight hitch needed. I do suggest tire pressure moniter system, which I have. I don't even go to the Cat scales without it!

 

[Wavery]

I'm sorry that I just saw this post.

I agree with others that you probably don't need that WDH at all. I'll go a step farther and say that a WDH (especially an over-rated WDH) on a TM can cause some issues.

The TM is built specifically to be light weight in design. As such, you will notice that there are large holes in the frame. Removing that steel decreases weight without compromising a lot of strength as long as the trailer is not over stressed.

The weight of your trailer (fully loaded) will be in the area of 3500-4,000 pounds. WDH hitches are designed to operate properly with a "Weight range". The type of hitch that you installed has spring bars and those bars are designed to flex when stressed so that they don't transfer too much stress to the trailer frame.

The "ideal" WDH hitch for a 4,000# trailer would be a 4.000# rated WDH and the spring bars would be designed to flex at that weight. Unfortunately, I've never seen a 4,000# rated spring bar type WDH. It seems that 6,000# is the lowest that I've seen and 10,000# seems to be the most common WDH sold.

Using a 10,000# WDH could be (and I suspect is) the cause of a number of reported cracked frames on TMs.

If you really want to use a WDH, I (and several others on TM forum) suggest using the Anderson WDH. It's unique design (NO steel spring bars) allows the user to adjust the tension on the hitch to match the weight of the trailer without over stressing the trailer frame.