I was talking to a guy today that tows trailers for a living (he was picking up a rv trailer at a business nearby)....
he had a new dodge 4500 and was towing a 30ft travel trailer (and was taking it several hundred miles away). I noticed that he didn't hook up the weight distribution bars, all he had on the trailer was the single swaybar.
he told me that since his truck/hitch could handle the 1000# tounge weight he didn't need the weight bars. As far as I could see, the truck was sitting perfectly level and everything looked good.
What's the official stance on this?
the trailers don't come with them from the factory and you aren't supposed to have them on if you're going off road or turning sharply.
so does this mean that as long as my hitch/truck can handle the weight I can leave them off?
My truck & hitch can "handle" the tongue weight, but that doesn't mean that I get the best handling without the W/D bars. In fact, it's a noticable difference when I don't use the bars for a quick pull to the dump station. The steering is a bit squirrely without them, but I'm within the specs of what my truck can handle.
Your mileage may vary.
Glen
2004 Dutchmen 27BG, Rocky Mountain Elk Edition
2002 Chevy Silverado 2500HD 8.1/Ally
2 boys, 12 & 14
a friendly black lab
a couple of decks of cards
a cold beer
Make sure that if your truck is strong enough to handle it, your ball mount is strong enough. If you have one of those ball mounts that is good for the big loads, you will be okay (I'm talking about one that is usually rated for 10,000#). I used a dealership issued ball mount (the hollow shaft type) and found that after using it some, I saw stress cracks in the mount where it comes out of the 2" receiver. I started, at that point, using the W/D bars.
Just the 3 of us...SpoiledRotten, TotallyRotten, and ALittleRotten
2000 F-250 Lariat, CC
7.3 PSTD-Superchipped
2005 33RL2 New Vision - AKA "SpoiledRotten"
2000 Jeep Wrangler Sahara Edition
Trailers have been towed without WD bars for years. It's only when people started pulling bigger trailers with smaller vehicles did someone determine that the WD invention was a must for proper safety and balancing of the overall load.
That said.. I suspect that if he's got a 1000# tongue weight limit without using WD bars and he's pulling empty trailers then he might be putting 500-700# on his tongue. Yeah that would make sense that he wouldn't use WD bars. There wouldn't really be a need to especially if everything is sitting level. It would all depend on how much weight you were dropping on the rear end of your TV and what your TV was rated for as well as the suspenion of that TV. In his case no big deal. In a case like mine I wouldn't dream of towing without a good WD hitch setup.
That commercial duty truck has plenty of rear suspension to handle trailers without extra help from a weight distributing hitch. As long as the hitch itself is not overloaded, it's fine. Weight distribution's purpose is primarily to make up for a tow vehicle with insufficient suspension strength. A trailer that sinks a Ranger to the ground may not even be felt with a one-ton dually. A trailer sinks a one-ton dually to the ground may not be felt at all by a Peterbuilt. Strength is all relative.
It will be interesting to watch how the RV market develops now that the ratio between supply and demand for fuel is becoming more and more unfavorable.
Because of high fuel costs, Europeans tow differently than us. They predominately do not use weight-transfer bars because of lighter trailers and tow vehicles. I bet the US market will begin to copy that as fuel costs climb.
I'm towing with a Dodge 3500 Dually... so I'm pretty sure I have plenty of weight capacity in the back to tow without the bars. In fact, when I back into the driveway or take my rig off-road i take the bars off anyways, and the truck doesn't sag.
I'll probably try towing the next time without the bars and see how it goes.
I can (vaguely) remember when the Weight Distribution hitches first came out. The only purpose then was to keep the back bumper of the towing vehicle off the ground, or to put it another way, to level the towing vehicle so the headlights weren't in the trees.
"Sway control" was unheard of, you were expected to load the trailer properly so sway didn't occur, and it was assumed that the trailer was built properly to keep sway from occurring.
The guy who towed our 22 foot housetrailer from Billing to Hungry Horse in 1950 had neither, but he survived the trip, as did the truck and trailer.
I had to have a WD hitch to tow my 19 foot self contained TT with my 1970 Wagoneer, to level the wagon. Other than that, I have never used one.
I have never owned a sway control.
Yes, it can be done.
CM1, USN (RET)
'94 Dodge 3500 4X2 CTD, Std. cab, LB, 5 speed, 4.10 LS diff., Jacobs Rambrake, 273,000 Miles
'99 Monaco McKenzie 32' triple slide
'95 Tioga 29H Ford-based Class C
Daily driver: '06 Jeep Liberty CRD
Towed: '06 Jeep Rubicon Unlimited
Our WD made a VERY LOUD bang noise when husband was making a sharp turn backing into our driveway. Would y'all advise undoing the WD bars before we make turns like that? We were afraid we broke something, all appears ok tho.
We are about 9,500-10,000 loaded, well within our truck's limits.
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