idahoboi

I've always wondered the same thing. Seems like the steering would be very squirley, plus I would think that there would be some serious sway going on. Can you imagine that setup in a stiff crosswind?

jcain

You say you like air bags, bug rag on people with wdh's and sitting a little low in the rear. Just because you sit level with bags and no wdh, makes YOU much lighter in front, genius.

russellsawatsky

We have a wdh the truck sits level no suspension mods we pull on some vary contoured highways with high winds as long as you slow down (better for trailer ) handles good. on good highways 70 mph no problems i pull super b tankers in Saskatchewan Canada (oilfield ) this setup might be a bit much for someone with no trailer towing experience ;-)

Buck

You do realize that in this picture you posted, the truck DOES have a weight distribution hitch if you look closely....

yokev

Apparently you don't understand basic physics MENSA
Here...this one's free.
When your rear end drops, you shift weight from the front to the rear.
When you RETURN your rear end to it's original height, the weight returns to the front. This is how air bags work
When you SHIFT the weight on the tongue to the front, the rear end raises back up. This is how weight-distributing hitches work.
They both are designed to do the same thing. They just do it differently.
One down-side to W/D hitches is that you have to adjust them properly. This requires a tape measure and the ability to use it.
You need bags.

Buck

You must have some bad eyes if you can't see the torsion bars on that setup.

Air bags are NOT a sufficient replacement for a good weight distribution setup. They are better suited for use in conjunction with a WDH.
All an air bag does is support all of that weight on the suspension a bit better. Just because your *** end isn't sagging as much doesn't mean that you aren't light in the front end. You still have the same amount of downward force on the rear end as if you didn't have air bags. A weight distribution hitch (even if it still sags a bit) still distributes weight to the front end of the truck. In fact, I would even go as far as to say that a WDH setup that still sags a bit will have more weight distributed to the front end than the same setup with just airbags.

I think you need to do a bit of research yourself before you come on here accusing people of not understanding the "basic physics" of this matter.

EcoboostKev

If there wasn't a WDHitch on there then i think the front of the trailer would be nose diving and not perfectly level..

jcain

that'd be true if the fulcrum point was over the axles, and not behind ala bumper pull. keep trying, bud.

yokev

I don't know how much easier I can explain it.
When weight is collapsing your rear suspension, it PULLS weight off the front.
Do you at least agree with this?
When using them, you of course need to set the height of your hitch so that both the tongue of the trailer and the truck are level, so when you air up the bags, both the truck AND the trailer is level.
When you hook your trailer up to your truck, the tongue weight depresses the hitch, the rear end sags, PULLING the front end upwards. This is where PHYSICS come in to play. When your rear end PULLS your front end up, the weight that USED to be on the front keeping it level, now shifts rearward. Where else could it go?
NOW you pump air into your bags taking the weight off the rear, and here is where it apparently loses you. YOU either having READ the instructions, or being explained the proper procedure(s) by the dude at the RV/trailer store, have already set the ride-height of the trailer and it's tongue by setting the height of your hitch, so the trailer rides level when the truck is level.
You pump enough air into your bags to raise the rear of the truck AND trailer so they're both level, and mysteriously your front end ALSO returns to level.
Why do you think the front,rear AND trailer leveled out? The weight on the rear and trailer had to go somewhere? Mysteriously the front end went back down at the same time, but what caused it?
WEIGHT SHIFT. Air bags don't magically suck up all that weight when they raise the rear end. They do the SAME thing a W/D hitch does, just by using different 'tools' to do so. PHYSICS cause the front-end's weight to shift rearward when you hook up the trailer to your truck, and PHYSICS cause the weight to get shifted back to the front when you raise your rear and trailer back to level height.
I guess I was lucky, as when I had my W/D hitch installed, the installer not only adjusted them so my truck sat level when my trailer was hooked up to it, he also explained HOW the W/D hitch works, and that I would need to sometimes pull the chain(s) tighter as they stretch. By properly 'Maintaining' my W/D hitch, my rear end NEVER sagged.
You either NOT properly mounting your hitch, and/or NOT properly maintaining it, has absolutely NOTHING do with how well air bags and/or W/D hitches work, or how much weight either one transfers to the front. They're both engineered to do the job. Operator malfunction(s) not-withstanding.
BTW, there's also 'Anti-Sway' products on the market, which are NOT the same thing as W/D hitches. They control side-to-side movements, which W/D hitches are NOT designed to do.
In any event, I personally cannot make it any easier to understand, so this was my last attempt at doing so.
Maybe someone with better 'Teaching' skills, who also knows how it works, will chime in and do a better job with it.

Buck

Trust me I'm well aware how all of this works. No "teaching" required.
Even if your rear suspension is not collapsing as much (ala adding air bags) That weight behind the rear axle is still pulling weight off of the front end. Think of a "teeter totter". By making the fulcrum point higher on the teeter totter does not make it harder to move up and down on either side.

The fulcrum point is the rear axle at this point (bumper pull trailers) therefore, no matter how stiff you make your rear suspension there is still weight on the rear end of the truck (behind the fulcrum point) pulling weight off of the front end. This is what a WDH is designed to alleviate.... not airbags. Air bags do not take some of that tongue weight and distribute it to the front of the vehicle AS WELL AS THROUGH THE TRAILER AS WELL like a WDH does...They simply do a better job bearing the load than the stock suspension does.

Its simple....Airbags help to better support the weight, WDH help to better distribute the weight.

The torsion of a WDH distributes the weight between the truck and the trailer. airbags simply support that weight. By adding airbags you aren't distributing weight. you are simply raising the fulcrum point making it look "distributed". Airbags are NOT a sufficient replacment for a good WDH setup if towing heavy loads.

You keep trying to "teach" how these things work when its apparent you yourself don't know how they work.