Is a weight distribution hitch needed on dually?

[ulvik]

I have a 1/2 ton truck to pull our 26ft. TT and absolutely need a weight distribution hitch to tow our camper. But a family friend is going to borrow out TT for a 500 mile trip and he owns a 3500 dually that when hooked up our TT does not even squat his truck.
Question is can he use my weight distribution hitch alone and not use the weight distribution bars for their trip or will just the sway control bar be all that he needs?

[tinner12002]

It only takes a couple minutes to put them on, so why doesn't he want to use them??

[valhalla360]

What advantage is there in not using them?

[Sweedish15]

I use a Reese w sway control. My father in law uses it on his truck too. We don't have to adjust the hitch between trucks bc they are the same. It would only take a few mins to set up the full wd and hitch on your friends truck so I say why not use it. Especially if he is taking your trailer and is not used to towing it.

[DutchmenSport]

There are questions if it's really needed, but there is no debate, the WD bars will not hurt anything to use them.

I have a one-ton diesel dually and use WD bars all the time. I never tow without them. Why guess? Just use them. No harm done.

[blt2ski]

I doubt Bryan has things mixed up. IIRC he has a LOT of custom made items on his Van. I would personally not be surprised if it does not have a 6K HW rating. I also doubt his van would handle 6000 lbs too. As he notes. once you remove X lbs off the FA< your steering, braking etc does not function as it should. Hence why he would need a WD to fix these issues, Assuming he did put a trailer with HW over IMHO about 1500-2000 lbs. This is an amount of HW, I have found on my 168-175" WB crew cab pickups where I notice the need for a WD vs not,as I described above.

There are also many of us, that pull loads over the typical hitch one can find aftermarket, or from the dealer/manufacture, that go to custom shops to have hitch's etc welded up to handle the loads we know we will put on them. I've done the same in the past with pickups, and cab and chassis rigs I have owned.

Marty

[Second_Chance]

carringb wrote:
My hitch receiver is rated for 6,000 pounds of tongue weight without WD, however once trailer tongue gets really heavy, braking distances get much longer without weight-distribution because the front tires get offloaded.

I highly doubt that 6,000 lbs. tongue weight capacity. A class 5 hitch - the heaviest pull-behind hitch made, is rated for a maximum of 2,000 lbs. pin weight. The Ford towing guide for 2000 shows that some of the E350 wagons with the V-10 had a 6,500 lb. max trailer weight. I think you've gotten max trailer weight and tongue weight mixed up.

Rob

[Ivylog]

Bryan, it would take a class 6 truck to handle 6000 lbs of "tongue weight". ^^^^ I doubt your van is up to that.
OP, on here a popup would need WD behind a dually. I would not worry about a one time 500 miles trip. I have tied my 500 lb tongue weight bumper hitch to my 750 lb receiver to pull my 13,000 bumper pull equipment trailer without WD.

[carringb]

My hitch receiver is rated for 6,000 pounds of tongue weight without WD, however once trailer tongue gets really heavy, braking distances get much longer without weight-distribution because the front tires get offloaded.

[blt2ski]

THen for what it is worth.......

I've towed my old TT with nothing, WD bars, and a Dual cam. The trailer dead weighted did not take but 60-80 lbs off the FA. Overall no handling issues.

BUT with above said. THere were minor differences. IE when there were higher mph sidewinds, The trailer would sometimes rock side to side while towing. This rocking was more pronounced with no bars, less with a WD, and lessor with the dual cam.

I did not have any issues with uncontrolled fishtail sway in ANY of the ways pulled!

At the end of the day, I did prefer the dual cam over the other options. BUT, like one trip when I lost a WD bar, there was not real issues in towing. I did not notice the bars gone for over 75 miles, including pulling locally HWY 2 stevens pass with it snowing lightly, then down the east side which can be a semi turny pass.

marty

[mich800]

ulvik wrote:

BarneyS wrote:
He will probably be fine as far as handling the trailer goes however he should check the weight limits of his trucks receiver. Many of them have a weight carrying limit of 500-600lbs and if your tongue weight is above that amount a weight distribution hitch is called for.
That information should be on a sticker on the receiver itself.
Barney

I should of cleared this up. My mistake. He is going to utilize my hitch itself but wondering if the distribution bars would be needed. Will edit post.

You are talking about two different things. Barney is referring to the actual receiver "hitch" attached to the truck. You are referring to the draw bar or the removable part. So what Barney stated still applies. As long as the TT tongue weight does not exceed your friends receiver rating than they can tow without the weight bars with your draw bar.

[Second_Chance]

ScottG wrote:

BarneyS wrote:
He will probably be fine as far as handling the trailer goes however he should check the weight limits of his trucks receiver. Many of them have a weight carrying limit of 500-600lbs and if your tongue weight is above that amount a weight distribution hitch is called for.
That information should be on a sticker on the receiver itself.
Barney

X2.
Still need this answered to know for sure.

X3. Here's an example from my 1-ton dually (different truck, but most of the 350/3500 DRWs are simmilar):

Dead Weight Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 5000 lbs
Dead Weight Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 500 lbs
Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 17500 lbs
Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 2625 lbs

Rob

[Grit_dog]

You can proof the tongue load numbers, but I wouldn't have an issue with hook and go with that trailer with no sway or wd. Unless there's something different and the trailer has abnormally huge tongue weight.

There are 2 schools of thought. 1 is the typical RVer school where ALL TTs need a wdh with sway control.
2 is the rest of the world that haul trailers of all shapes and sizes day in day out without much concern, especially with reasonable and moderate loads like your camper.

[ScottG]

BarneyS wrote:
He will probably be fine as far as handling the trailer goes however he should check the weight limits of his trucks receiver. Many of them have a weight carrying limit of 500-600lbs and if your tongue weight is above that amount a weight distribution hitch is called for.
That information should be on a sticker on the receiver itself.
Barney

X2.
Still need this answered to know for sure.

[ulvik]

BarneyS wrote:
He will probably be fine as far as handling the trailer goes however he should check the weight limits of his trucks receiver. Many of them have a weight carrying limit of 500-600lbs and if your tongue weight is above that amount a weight distribution hitch is called for.
That information should be on a sticker on the receiver itself.
Barney

I should of cleared this up. My mistake. He is going to utilize my hitch itself but wondering if the distribution bars would be needed. Will edit post.

[JBarca]

How heavy is the loaded TW of your camper?

Does the actual hitch head or draw bar your friend is going to use have a weight carrying rating to hold the dead weight of your loaded camper? You did not say what hitch was being used, if it is your WD hitch put in his truck, many of the WD hitches have reduced load ratings if the hitch head is used in weight carrying mode.

What is the receiver rating of your friends 1 ton truck? You did not mention the brand and year. Some of the older 1 ton dually's only had a receiver rated for 500 to 600# in weight carrying mode and needed a WD hitch to be able to go higher in weight.

As to the truck and your statement

ulvik wrote:
our TT does not even squat his truck

Did you use a tape measure to check the distance the back of the truck sagged when hitched? Even a 1 ton truck will sag something with a 500# plus loaded TW. How much depends on a few things. Empty bed,fully loaded bed and the actual raw trailer TW etc.

My 1 ton truck rides a whole lot better on 500# and above TW trailers when used with a WD hitch. My upgraded hitch setup does not require the WD hitch but I myself would use the WD just for the better ride. If you are letting your friend borrow your WD hitch to go with his truck to allow him to have some anti sway control, I myself would tell him to hook up the WD bars and have a great trip.

Hope this helps

John