Floridaguy80

Looking at my hitch on my truck, I see a sticker that shows max towing at 5000lbs and with a Weight Distr Hitch it's at 11500.
If I'm reading it correctly, a normal trailer with NO weight distribution hitch can weigh no more than 5000lbs TOTAL? ****, if that's the case, I can not carry more than roughly 3500lbs in trailer cargo (if trailer weighs 1500lbs empty)??

2013 Crew cab, 2wd, Eco Boost, 3.31 axle.

acadianbob

I think that is essentially correct. It is really about how the tongue weight is distributed on your truck. A 5,000 pound trailer without a WD hitch will put about 750 pounds of tongue weight entirely on the rear of your truck (assuming 15% of total trailer weight goes to the tongue). That's a lot. Your handling will be affected.

A WD hitch will transfer some of the tongue weight to the front axle and to the trailer axle. With tongue weight more evenly distributed, you are then able to tow more trailer. Your handling will be more stable.

When towing, it always comes down to payload capacity and not the overall weight of the trailer. You will typically run out of payload capacity before ever getting to your maximum trailer weight capacity.

Ricktwuhk

And Payload Capacity is printed on a sticker on your door jamb.

Norotso

There is also the problem of porpoising that comes in to play without the use of a WD system. Basically you have flex between the trailer and tow vehicle at the hitch that takes away from your steering ability when you drive over dip and bumps on the road.

smokeywren

Yep. So stop trying to fight the system and invest in a good weight-distributing hitch.


Don't buy a cheap hitch such as a Reese Pro Series or most hitches sold by Curt and Husky. Invest in one of these:


Reese Strait-Line trunnion bar


Blue Ox SwayPro


Equal-I-Zer


The jury is still out on whether the following two belong in the same class of "affordable but very good" hiches as the 3 above:


Husly CenterLine


CURT TruTrack Trunnion Bar Weight Distribution System

11screw50

The Husky Centerline TS performed well for me last summer...but I cannot compare to the other three you had listed since I've never used them.

ColbyL

Smokeywren, your opinion of EAZ-Lift 1000 lb. for a 25' 7300 GVWR trailer? Specs say 760 lb tongue weight for 6000 lb unloaded weight.

Floridaguy80

My friend has this Hitch he used a few times. He doesn't need it anymore and said that I'm more than welcome to it..
I know when your post above you said that husky is a cheap weight distribution hitch..

Is this a hitch I can back up with?

Norotso

There are literately 10s of 1000s of these being used all over North America without problems, and if its free all the better. I personally wont use one without a built in sway control for the record but that's me. As far as backing up, you do need to disconnect the sway control bar and as far as the round bars, I don't believe they need to be disconnect but someone else may know the product better.

Floridaguy80

So I guess what I had pictured above is not a built in swaybar even though it does connect to the hitch?