kehyler

Hi All,

In a spreadsheet that I'm using to plan, I assume that 15% of the tongue weight is distributed off the truck and back onto the trailer via a properly setup weight distributing hitch. Does this sound "about" right? (So for example, if I had a 1,000 lb tongue weight, only 850 of that would count as "payload," and 150 would be put back onto the trailer.)

Thanks,

-kehyler

clarkbre

Depending on how the WDH is set up, it can transfer a couple hundred pounds back. In my case with my old F150, 28% or 220 pounds.

If this is your spreadsheet, I helped modify it and can help you with it. If not, I can get you this one that may help. PM me.

Here's mine:

kehyler

Thanks for the real data! BTW, with the specs of my truck (see my sig) what do you think my likely hood is to be able to setup a WDH properly for a 7,000 lb trailer?

kehyler

Would also be great to hear from some other people who have a real-world cat scales for properly setup weight distributing hitches.

clarkbre

If your payload is truly 1853 like your signature says it is, your truck could handle the tongue weight of a trailer weighing 7k.

That being said, your truck has one of three tow ratings:
3.55 gearing, 7600 with a GCWR of 12,900
3.73 gearing, 8000 with a CGWR of 13,300
3.73 gearing, 9000 with a CGWR of 14,300...This requires the 2.7L Payload Package

Is the trailer you're looking at GVW 7000 or is that the dry weight?

Either way, speaking from experience towing the trailer in my signature with a heavier, steel body F150, that WDH has to be dialed in order to get an OK towing experience. Having towed our trailer (scale weight is about 7500) 4200 miles, it always towed ok but never really felt that planted. The F250 gives me much more confidence going down the road.

Here is a link to the spreadsheet referenced above: WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION SPREADSHEET

kehyler

Ryan_2020

I would say you should be fine, I haven't actually weighed mine but here are my estimated/some measured weights:

215 me
165 wife/bags/etx
66 hitch
100 baby and his stuff
40 tonneau cover
16 tow rope/hitch/d-ring
5 air compressor
5 cordless drill
10 booster cables
125 generator w fuel
-----
747 truck stuff
1842 Stickered payload
-----
1095 available for trailer
95 other stuff in truck / buffer
-------
1000 allowed hitch wieght
13%
------
7,758 Max Wet Trailer

Ricktwuhk

Keep in mind that your goal isn't to move a certain amount of weight to the trailer. Your goal is to ensure that each component of the setup is bearing the proper weight for safe driving. For example, too little weight on the front axle of the truck, and you have major steering issues.

The WDH you buy should have extensive setup directions, which need to be followed, and should be done with the trailer loaded as it would be for a trip, and the vehicle loaded as it would be for a trip.

As you can see from the linked spreadsheet, people that want to be very sure and safe spend a bunch of time running numbers, measuring (see your manual) before and after, and reconfirming on a CAT scale. Then real world experience, i.e. driving, may tell you something else - and you may need to make another adjustment to feel comfortable.

You should also do some reading on properly setting your trailer's brakes as well as understanding the automatic anti-sway built into the F-150, so your'e not surprised when it reacts.

By the way, kudos to the amount of effort you're taking to making your family, and the rest of us, safe!

This is a great video to watch:

8100hd

acdii

Pfft yeah...right. You would not say that if you had driven the 16 when set up to the way Ford wants it! It handled like crap until I got all the weight returned back to the front axle!

As far as weight values being moved rearward, it varies on the type of hitch used. With a Husky round bar, very little was moved rearward, around 80 pounds on mine. When I switched to a Blue Ox, quite a bit transferred back.

Here are some real world scale examples with my setup.

These are from my 2016 4WD Lariat, AKA The Red Devil(what a POS that truck was). I only have the 2018 truck weight without the trailer weights, but the setup is identical to the 2016.

The Truck alone
Steer 3240
Drive 2760
Gross 6000

Truck and trailer no bars attached

Steer 3000
Drive 4060
Trailer 5400
Gross 12460 < there is some variance when weights are below 10K per axle, so this value changes

With bars attached, Husky Round Bar

Steer 3100
Drive 3880
Trailer 5440
Gross 12420

Chain tightened one link, far as I could go with it

Steer 3160
Drive 3800
Trailer 5480
Gross 12440

As you can see the Husky bars did not distribute as well as it should, could be due to them being 800 pound bars, and should have been 1000.

Here is the same truck and trailer, though about 120 pounds lighter due to 1/2 tank of water instead of full, and the Blue Ox with 1500 pound bars. I only did one pass since I already knew the empty values of the truck and did this to verify front axle load.

Steer 3240
Drive 3420
Trailer 5640
Gross 12300

As you can see, the BO transferred 240 pounds forward, bringing the steer axle back to it's unloaded weight, and moved 240 pound back to the trailer. This was the only time that truck and trailer towed well. I have the BO setup identically to how it was on the 16 4WD to my 18 RWD, the weights are different due to the lack of the FWD unit. It tows like it isn't even there. I did need to disable the truck sway control, it felt weird when a truck went by the other way, and turning it off, I no longer had the weird feeling like the trailer was wiggling.

Here are the empty weights of the 18 before I put the topper on.

Steer 3040
Drive 2340
Gross 5380

Compared to the 2014, that one had an ARE topper on.

Steer 3180
Drive 2800
Gross 5980

Without the bars

Steer 3000
Drive 4560
Trailer 5200
Gross 12760

With bars

Steer 3180
Drive 4300 < had the entire family in the truck, after this weighing, we took an additional car for some members to stay under GAWR/GVWR
Trailer 5280
Gross 12760

As you can see, even with 700 pounds tongue weight, which is where it was when I scaled the 14, the 800 pound bars were unable to transfer anything more than 80 pounds, yet was able to transfer the front axle back to unloaded weight. The 2014 handled the trailer very well, drove it from Rockford IL to Bryce Canyon, over the IKE gauntlet and back, and was perfectly relaxed the entire trip, except for the sudden hail storm in Colorado, have plenty of dents in the front of the trailer as a reminder.

So depending on the truck, and the hitch, what works on some, may not work on others, and not all hitches transfer weight the same.