Mmm Coffee

I was just reading the weight distribution hitch setup section in the 2017 towing guide. Ford's recommendation for the F150 is a 25% "weight distribution correction factor". In their example, if your front fender height change without the weight distribution bars is 1", then you should setup your hitch to reduce that amount by only 0.25 inches. I was surprised, it's the first time I've seen a recommendation like this. The instructions for my Equalizer hitch say to aim for 50% to 100% correction, with 100% being ideal, which seems to be the most common recommendation when researching online.

8100hd

acdii

I call BS big time on that. I followed the OM to the letter and had sway when set to that fender height. When I returned it to nearly empty setting, sway was gone. Right now my BO has it 100% returned and it handled better than it did with the Husky hitch. It may have a lot to do with the type of hitch used too. I will know more later this year after I have some miles on the new hitch. With all the issues I had with the way the truck handled without a trailer and with, and hopefully now corrected, I will have to drive it again to find out for sure. For all I know at this point, with the EPAS being recalibrated, it may very well only need a small amount of weight moved forward. The EPAS calibration was done after my trailer was stored.

8100hd

Steve83

If there's ANY tongue weight (and we know there SHOULD be), then that weight will compress the truck's suspension. It has to. So having EITHER end at UNloaded ride height is wrong.

If you remove ALL that compression from the rear with a WDH, then it ALL has to go to the front (PLUS the weight of the WDH). That's too much on the front, and not enough on the rear. The goal of a WDH is to DISTRIBUTE the tongue weight across both truck axles - not to remove it from either.

Mmm Coffee

I'm a read-the-freakin-manual kind of guy, I try to trust that the manufacturers know their own product, and follow their recommendations. So when the truck manufacturer and the hitch manufacturer are not in agreement, I find that irritating. But I guess the correct answer is to pick one way or the other, set it up that way, see how it handles, then adjust it from there. The point where it handles the best is the "right way".

acdii

You got it! 8100 I know you didn't mention sway, I was saying what happened when I set the WDH up to what the Ford OM said to set it to, and it swayed. By setting it up to what Blue Ox said to, which is to return as much unladen weight back to the front axle, IE return front fender height to original, the sway is gone and the handling quite improved. Just don't go past it or you will set it up for disaster! The current setup now equates to having 600 pounds against the front bed wall and 400 pounds behind the axle, and the truck handles just fine that way. Hopefully it handles the same when hitched since it appears the EPAS update worked, I no longer get that figure 8 feeling when loaded going down the highway ( the truck, not me on booze).

8100hd

Freedom1955

I read the Ford manual. When I set up my Blue Ox I did it the way Ford recommends and didn't like the way the truck handled. I then put enough spring bar tension to return the front fender height to it's unhitched height and liked that the best.

acdii

See^^ I'm not the only one.