BoatingWilly
Fayetteville, Ar.
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Joined: 10/19/2003
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I have a question re overnite stays. Does staying hitched up overnite place any undue stress on the truck, trailer or hitch itself? I have an equilizer hitch and am just starting out as a TT traveler and totally unfamiliar with this setup. I am thanking you for your comments in advance.
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Gadget Guy
Calgary
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Joined: 02/18/2007
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NO
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Golden_HVAC
Fulltime, CA, USA
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You will be fine leaving it all hitched up at night. If you need to raise the front of the trailer about 2-4" that is fine too, and will actually take some stress off the hitch, but I would not raise more than about 4" without unhitching.
And if anyone has not told you already, mark the chain link that you hook up to when you tighten the weight distribution hitch. Then when unhitching, raise the front of the trailer about 5" or so, and taking off the bars will be really easy. Resist temptation to tighten the bars one more link, it is not really necessary to have them very tight at all when you are towing with a truck.
Overtightening the weight distribution system can cause it to feel like it is bouncing back there.
Fred.
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crickeydog
Marietta, Ga.
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Joined: 01/29/2004
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BoatingWilly wrote:Does staying hitched up overnite place any undue stress on the truck, trailer or hitch itself?
Nope. We've been hitched with our previous TT and our 5'er for as much as a week at a time!
Happy camping!!! See y'all down the road!!!
USAF RETIRED. "EITHER LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET OUTTA THE WAY"!
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2006 GMC 3500 CC DRW D/A LBZ 4X4 SLT "THE SILVER FOX" PRIMARY
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fordsooperdooty
Southern California
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It's always better to take the weight off and relieve the stress of the WD bars rather than leaving it that way for extended periods (months for example) as they CAN lose their "springiness"...but for a shorter time, nope!
My posts shouldn't be taken for factual data. They are purely fictional, for entertainment purposes and should not be constituted as actually related to scientific, technical, engineering, legal, spiritual or practical advice. Amen. 
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BarneyS
S.E. Lower Michigan
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Golden_HVAC wrote:snip... Resist temptation to tighten the bars one more link, it is not really necessary to have them very tight at all when you are towing with a truck.
Overtightening the weight distribution system can cause it to feel like it is bouncing back there.
Fred.
I don't know where this information in the first sentence comes from but it is not true at all. The WD bars should be "tight" enough to properly distribute the weight that was displaced by putting the tongue on the ball. In most cases, that will be quite "tight" and will put considerable pressure on the chains or whatever is used to put load on the WD bars.
The type of tow vehicle doesn't matter. The WD bars still need considerable pressure in order to do their job. We have a good sticky thread at the top of this forum that will help anybody get their WD hitch set up properly.
In answer to the OP's question. NO, it will not hurt a thing. We do it all the time and have been doing it for years.
Barney
2004 Sunnybrook Titan 30FKS TT
Hensley "Arrow" 1400# hitch
2002 Ford F250 Super Duty, 7.3L PSD
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Camper Mama Bear
New Jersey
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not at all. we do it regularly.
Good Sam Life Members. Camping with two young children in a 2007 Pilgrim fifth wheel (278BHSS) pulled with a 2002 F350.
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CND SuperCrew
SK, Canada
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Just unplug from the truck overnight but don't forget to re-connect before leaving...
Ron, Lori and Autumn
TV 2012 F150 loaded XLT EB SuperCrew 7700GVWR Maxtow 6.5'
TT 2008 Jayflight G2 23FB/ Equal-i-zer WD
2013 Colorado bound
2012- 4000km, 28 nights for the season 
2011- OR & CA done, 6800km in 3 weeks
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skipnchar
Topeka or somewhere else
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Joined: 12/17/2003
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Should cause no issues of any kind with the hitch or truck or the trailer itself BUT.....remember you're not far removed from tornado alley so you won't have quick or easy use of the tow vehicle in an emergency.
I mention this because we once were doing a quick overnight stop in NOrthern Oklahoma and had a tornado warning around 2:00 AM while we were plugged into utility hook ups (water and electric, had stab jacks down but remained hitched to the truck. When we were awoken in the middle of the night and told we needed to get to the shelter (about a mile away) after a few minutes of fighting 50 plus MPH winds and blinding rain, we gave up and walked the mile to the shelter. Got there just as the "all clear" was sounded but it wasn't a pleasant night for us.
There were two trailers traveling together with us (another travel trailer and a 5th wheel) and we all had the same problems getting one of the vehicles capable of using so we all ended up soaked, muddy and totally disheveled.
2011 F-150 HD Ecoboost 3.5 V6. 2550 payload, 17,100 GCVWR -
2004 F-150 HD (Traded after 80,000 towing miles)
2007 Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
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jerem0621
Sequatchie, TN
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No problem at all.
Why would it put more stress on the tongue simply by sleeping in the trailer?
Makes pulling out in the morning much easier.
TT: 1995 Layton 2910
Tow Vehicle: 1999 F-350, v10, 2wd, Crew Cab, Dually
Hitch: Draw-Tite Trunnion WD Hitch
Sway Control: Valley dual friction sway control
Brake Control: Tekonsha Voyager
"It's Kind of Fun To Do The Impossible"
~Walt Disney~
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