timtrace

I bought my 2014 screw boost about two months ago. I need to tow my 6x14 TA cargo trailer to a job next Saturday, so today seemed like a great day to dial in my Reese WD/AS hitch and road-test the rig.

Got up on a beautiful Memorial Day morning, set up the hitch, and pulled the trailer to a QuikTrip about 15 miles away. That way I could get weighed AND get a good hot dog. Here's a few pics of the rig. Forgot to take pix of the hot dog.

timtrace

Here's a detailed pic of my ready-to-roll Reese WD/AS hitch, with 1,500# TW square bars. This is its second tow vehicle and second trailer.

timtrace

These are Ford's specs for my truck:

• Gross Axle Wt Rating - Front 3900 lbs 3750.0 min 4050.0 max
• Gross Axle Wt Rating - Rear 3850 lbs 3850.0 min 3850.0 max
• Curb Weight - Front 3214 lbs 3214.0 min 3317.0 max
• Curb Weight - Rear 2372 lbs 2372.0 min 2518.0 max
• Gross Vehicle Weight Rating Cap 7200, 7350 lbs 7200.0 min 7700.0 max
• Gross Combined Wt Rating 13500 lbs 13500.0 min 13500.0 max
• Dead Weight Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 7700 lbs 7300.0 min 7700.0 max
• Dead Weight Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 770 lbs 730.0 min 770.0 max
• Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 7700 lbs 7300.0 min 7700.0 max
• Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 1155 lbs 1095.0 min 1155.0 max
• Fifth Wheel Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 7700 lbs 7300.0 min 7700.0 max
• Maximum Trailering Capacity 7700 lbs 7300.0 min 7700.0 max

Here's the door sticker.

timtrace

Used my Sherline scale to grab the tongue weight before hitting the road.

timtrace

All weighs include 36 gallons of fuel and me in the driver's seat (225#).

First weigh -- truck+trailer with WD/AS hitch and bars in play.



Second weigh -- truck+trailer, WD/AS hitch with the bars laying in the bed.



Third weigh -- truck by itself, hitch and bars laying on the ground.

timtrace

I'm hoping you folks can help me dial in my rig. Again, this is a 2014 screw boost. ~33K on the clock and running 5-Star's 93PT tune. The Hellwig rear anti-sway bar is installed, on the longest set of holes. I've also installed Air Lift LoadLifter 5000 Ultimates which were at 15# for all of today's weighs. The bags help haul heavy loads in the bed and trailers which can't be used with my WD/AS hitch.

I don't tow this trailer often, maybe once or twice a month for ~100 miles round-trip, mostly on the interstate. Nonetheless I don't want to break my truck by asking too much of it.

With 1,100# tongue weight against 6,680# of trailer, I'm at 16.5% weight on the ball. I'm OK with that. I had ~150# of equipment on a jobsite today, meaning it was not in the trailer for the weighing. When packed, it all lives behind the trailer's rear axle, where I expect it will drive up the gross trailer weight yet provide a small reduction in tongue weight. There's not much I can do to repack the trailer, it's like a master's game of Tetris inside that box. What do you guys think about the balance?

Next.....with the WD/AS hitch, I'm about 350# overweight on the drive axle with 510# available on the steer axle. My inclination is to send all 350# to the steer axle. My first thought was to take away another chain link on the snap-ups, but I'm already down to five, and that's the minimum number of links recommended by Reese. Could tilting the hitch head towards the trailer move 350# of weight to the steer axle?

I've got 115# remaining for payload. That's OK because I very rarely have anything else in the truck when I pull this trailer with it's heavy tongue weight. Maybe I have a notebook computer and an overnight bag with me, so, 115# of reserve payload is OK in my book. Likewise, I've got 50# of headroom for tongue weight - it's close, but within the manufacturer's specifications.

Thanks for any help you can offer with the questions about TW balance and tilting the hitch head. Or, I guess, with any other observations

pilotpip

I don't have any comments to help you, sorry.

I do want to ask, how is that QT in regards to using the scale? They're very close to home and I may need to do that sometime.

timtrace

They're used to seeing pickup+trailer combos. Two other guys like me were in line to weigh as I pulled away.

In between weighs you can pull into the overnight lot and tinker with or drop your trailer as necessary.

There's a great how-to here: https://www.f150forum.com/f82/how-ti...trailer-297482

lewisra

Be careful putting too much weight behind the axle, this can cause an increase in sway. Your Dual Cam will control most of it but it can be annoying. I would get this on my TT when I was putting too many bikes on the back.

timtrace

Thanks! I totally understand your point.

The trailer is balanced pretty evenly in my opinion. I once repacked it in the complete reverse of how it's loaded today, and the tongue weight changed by less than 50#. That seemed proof enough.