tooltruckguy

I'm buying a new TT. It has a hitch weight of 475 lbs according to info. I'm unable to weigh the trailer at this time. The trailer has a GVWR of 6900 lbs.

Should I be looking at a sway pro with 750 lbs bars. It seems that is the correct size as the 500 lbs bars would be awful close to the 475 lb weight.

Thanks for your advice.

Boulevard

My TT weights 6000 lb and I initially used the Blue Ox SwayPro with the 750 lb bars. I say initially because they bent after 3 years. I now use the 1500 lb bars which work much better that the 750's ever did.

smokeywren

That's dry hitch weight. Ignore it and compute TT tongue weight as 15% of trailer GVWR plus another 100 pounds for the WD hitch.



So the max hitch weight you might tow - assuming you won't overload the trailer - is (6900 times 0.15) = 1035 + 100 = 1135


That formula is conservative in that it will tell you the most tongue weight any TT with a heavy WD hitch will probably have.


Average tongue weight is 13% of gross trailer weight, but many (including mine) have more, up to about 15% max. So assume 15% tongue weight and you won't be stuck with not enough hitch.


The SwayPro 1500 has shipping weight of 88 pounds, so the 100 pounds in the formula is rounded off on the high side. Again, too much tongue weight rating of a WD hitch is fine, not enough is a show stopper.

No. The bars should be rated for at least the max hitch weight of the tongue and hitch, which is 1,135 pounds. So you need the SwayPro with 1,500 pound bars.

Blue Ox doesn't sell a SwayPro rated between 1,000 and 1,500 pounds. Other brands make a 1,200 pound tongue weight model, but not Blue Ox.

But the 1,500 pounds max hitch weight rating is okay. You simply don't tighten the spring bars as tight as you would if they were rated closer to your actual hitch weight.

My WD hitch is rated for 1,450 pounds max hitch weight, but my actual wet and loaded tongue weight (not including the WD hitch) is about 600 to 650 pounds. But it's easy to adjust the weight carried by the spring bars. I've towed thousands of miles with that hitch and couldn't be happier.

But then you will feel like an idiot when your tongue weight scale says your actual tongue weight (including the WD hitch) is actually as much as 1,135 pounds.


And BTW, you need a tongue weight scale. I never leave home without mine. Here it is: