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Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: Adobedude] #1736871
01/24/15 03:21 PM
01/24/15 03:21 PM
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 28,312
Cincinnati, Ohio
Challenger 1 Offline
Too Many Posts
Challenger 1  Offline
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 28,312
Cincinnati, Ohio
Quote:

I tow my Dakota on a 18' open trailer behind my 98 Ram 2500, never felt the need to use my EQ hitch but last year I bought a Tilt-A-Hitch off craigslist for 75 bucks, never used it out of fear that it would make towing a challenge. I plan to make a trial run with before I'm all loaded up and committed to going to the track.




Please try it, I bet you will notice a difference for the better. I know you will properly setup. It keeps the front end of your truck down during bumps and is huge in safety.

A weight distributing hitch of one sort or another is way better than none at all, even for a 18' open trailer with a car on it.

To the OP, wow towing without a weight distributing hitch with a 28' enclosed trailer? I can't imagine. What trailer dealer let you get out of the lot without one? Please get and use the right one, see a good long time in business hitch company. They will get you the right equipment for your trailer. That's way too much trailer to have all on the back tires. Even a 18' open car trailer should be towed using a "weight" hitch.

I have been using the same Reese hitch with weight distributing bars that was originally for a 26' enclosed trailer and a 3/4 ton pickup since 1986. I'm not sure on how high the bars are rated? I'm thinking high for a 26' trailer because the hitch was specced for that trailer.

Since then I have used it with 4 other trailers and at least 5 or more different tow vehicles over the years including currently behind a huge toterhome pulling a little 18' open trailer with a car on it. Even then the weight hitch makes a difference and I use one. It dampens the up and down over bumps even with a huge wheelbase toterhome with 505 HP(big and heavy in the front end). I have towed both ways several times to be sure. Got lazy and didn't hook up the bars for a short trip and the ride was worse. My

Bragging, I towed a honest 18000+ miles last summer with my weight hitch, 2014 alone.

Last edited by Challenger 1; 01/25/15 01:31 AM.
Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: Challenger 1] #1736872
01/24/15 03:35 PM
01/24/15 03:35 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,991
Anoka County, MN
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Leigh Offline
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Anoka County, MN
Weigh the total weight and tongue weight, (I use a drive through scale that is on 24-7, so you can weigh after business hours to take my time), then compare the numbers to the deadweight numbers from the hitch manufacturer. I think you'll be surprised.

Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: GTSDave] #1736873
01/24/15 04:15 PM
01/24/15 04:15 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 6,015
Salem
Grizzly Offline
Moparts Proctologist
Grizzly  Offline
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Posts: 6,015
Salem
Your main focus here is to get some weight on the front axle of your truck to get stability.

Without seeing a side-on shot of what it all looks like loaded up, I can offer this:

If it was me, on your next outing, back the car in. Getting the engine weight further back should off-set everything you have in the cabinets beating on the truck.

Balance your trailer weight. Scaling is the proper way, but start with the wheelie bars at the cabinets, get out, have a look, and then keep rolling the car a few inches toward the back door at a time until everything sets right. A 3/4 ton should only squat a few inches.

Go for a drive and see what the difference is. You'll know when it's right when the front-end feels glued to the road and it pulls easier.

Biggest thing to keep in mind is that a tow vehicle is meant to pull a trailer, not carry it. Move weight to the trailer axles, not the hitch.

Those torsion hitches are a last-resort, band-aid fix for a poorly designed/balanced trailer.


Mo' Farts

Moderated by "tbagger".
Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: Grizzly] #1736874
01/25/15 11:26 AM
01/25/15 11:26 AM
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 28,312
Cincinnati, Ohio
Challenger 1 Offline
Too Many Posts
Challenger 1  Offline
Too Many Posts

Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 28,312
Cincinnati, Ohio
Quote:

Your main focus here is to get some weight on the front axle of your truck to get stability.

Without seeing a side-on shot of what it all looks like loaded up, I can offer this:

If it was me, on your next outing, back the car in. Getting the engine weight further back should off-set everything you have in the cabinets beating on the truck.

Balance your trailer weight. Scaling is the proper way, but start with the wheelie bars at the cabinets, get out, have a look, and then keep rolling the car a few inches toward the back door at a time until everything sets right. A 3/4 ton should only squat a few inches.

Go for a drive and see what the difference is. You'll know when it's right when the front-end feels glued to the road and it pulls easier.

Biggest thing to keep in mind is that a tow vehicle is meant to pull a trailer, not carry it. Move weight to the trailer axles, not the hitch.
Those torsion hitches are a last-resort, band-aid fix for a poorly designed/balanced trailer




Sorry but I have to disagree Grizzly.

The reason is, a properly loaded 10000 pound GVW trailer at full capacity has near 1000 pounds tongue weight. That's a lot of tongue weight and a weight distribution hitch helps spread the weight to the front end of the tow vehicle. Helps the tow vehicle brakes work better, Steer better, helps the tow vehicles headlights point where they should. Makes a big difference in the tow and safety/handling is like 3X better. Not a band aid, it's a requirement for a heavy trailer. imo.

Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: Challenger 1] #1736875
01/25/15 01:03 PM
01/25/15 01:03 PM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
MR_P_BODY Offline
Master
MR_P_BODY  Offline
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Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
10% MIN- 15% MAX on the tongue... I'm sure people have
heard the term "the tail wagging the dog"... you DONT
want that... thats the reason for the tongue load...
no tongue weight or too low of tongue weight and you
WILL have the trailer wagging the truck... put on
the tongue weight and use the bars to level the rig..
and there is such a thing as over loading the trailer..
just because it fits doesnt make it right... in most
cases the tires will dictate the weight.. if they
are good then its the axles... and remember that
you have to subtract the trailer from the axle ratings
to get the carrying capacity

Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: MR_P_BODY] #1736876
01/25/15 02:14 PM
01/25/15 02:14 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 6,015
Salem
Grizzly Offline
Moparts Proctologist
Grizzly  Offline
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Salem
Alright one last go at this and then I'm going to leave you experts a victim to your own devices:

Where do you see a set of equalizer bars in this photo?

Where is the weight positioned on this Pup?

Hint: it's not on the $%*&@%'en hitch, it's over the axles.

8407422-pup.jpg (81 downloads)

Mo' Farts

Moderated by "tbagger".
Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: Grizzly] #1736877
01/25/15 02:51 PM
01/25/15 02:51 PM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
MR_P_BODY Offline
Master
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Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
Quote:

Alright one last go at this and then I'm going to leave you experts a victim to your own devices:

Where do you see a set of equalizer bars in this photo?

Where is the weight positioned on this Pup?

Hint: it's not on the $%*&@%'en hitch, it's over the axles.




Yep... 3 axles CENTERED to carry the load... and
he probably has a pintle lock also to keep it from
swaying much
EDIT
Why do you think the axles on our enclosed or open
trailers are biased to the rear some... its to give
you some tongue weight

Last edited by MR_P_BODY; 01/25/15 02:55 PM.
Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: MR_P_BODY] #1736878
01/25/15 03:12 PM
01/25/15 03:12 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 6,015
Salem
Grizzly Offline
Moparts Proctologist
Grizzly  Offline
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Salem
Yup, keep arguing with me genius, I've been in the trucking (Family) business my entire life. Didn't my Gravel Truck above tell you something?

I don't come on here and tell you how to set up a cam, or port heads, or what carb to run.

You've said enough BS in this thread, go somewhere else.


Mo' Farts

Moderated by "tbagger".
Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: Grizzly] #1736879
01/25/15 03:29 PM
01/25/15 03:29 PM
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 7,506
Az
Crizila Offline
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Crizila  Offline
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 7,506
Az
Quote:

Alright one last go at this and then I'm going to leave you experts a victim to your own devices:

Where do you see a set of equalizer bars in this photo?

Where is the weight positioned on this Pup?

Hint: it's not on the $%*&@%'en hitch, it's over the axles.


Apples and oranges here Wayne, but beautiful rig. I would hate to load anything in it. You must own it.


Fastest 300
Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: Grizzly] #1736880
01/25/15 07:19 PM
01/25/15 07:19 PM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
MR_P_BODY Offline
Master
MR_P_BODY  Offline
Master

Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
Quote:

Yup, keep arguing with me genius, I've been in the trucking (Family) business my entire life. Didn't my Gravel Truck above tell you something?

I don't come on here and tell you how to set up a cam, or port heads, or what carb to run.

You've said enough BS in this thread, go somewhere else.




You might think its BS... but like its been said..
apples and oranges... your trailer is designed to be
loaded on the axles... our car haulers need tongue
weight... but since you drive a truck .. never mind..
but all the rest of us are wrong.... OK
EDIT
just so others dont think this is BS
Proper Tongue Weight



If you don't have enough weight on the trailer tongue, less than 10 percent of the total loaded trailer weight, the trailer can end up swaying from side to side, making it difficult to control. If you have too much weight on the trailer tongue, more than 15 percent of the total loaded trailer weight, it can overload the rear tires and push the rear of the vehicle around. You might not be able to go around corners and curves properly, and your vehicle might not stop fast enough when you press the brake pedal.



Load Placement



Start with a correctly placed load to end up with the proper tongue weight and a safe trailer towing experience. The tongue weight is the static force the trailer tongue exerts on the hitch ball. An improper load condition can make for a dangerous trailering situation. Proper trailer tongue weight can make the difference between a safe trailer towing experience and a difficult journey.



According to the 2013 GMC Trailering Guide, to get the proper trailer tongue weight, you should put about 60 percent of the load centered evenly over the front half of the trailer. You can calculate the proper trailer tongue weight by figuring 10 to 15% of the total loaded trailer weight. For example, a 3,000 pound trailer has a proper tongue weight of 300 to 450 pounds.

Last edited by MR_P_BODY; 01/25/15 08:10 PM.
Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: MR_P_BODY] #1736881
01/25/15 09:08 PM
01/25/15 09:08 PM
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 43,269
Bend,OR USA
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Cab_Burge Offline
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Bend,OR USA
I take any of my new to me trucks that I will tow with to a local comercial truck scale and weigh it full of fuel and me in it(the state comercial scales here in Oregon have a external LED sign visiable to see when thier closed) and write the front and rear axle weights down, I then take the race trailer with the car in it ready to go to the races and weigh how much more weieght is now on the rear axle of the truck and how much total weight it removed from the front truck axle and then decicde if it is safe or if I need to pull it off the scales and readjust the car in the trailer and reweigh it. I do wiegh the amount of weight on each axle on the trailer also, I like to see about 150 lbs more on the front trailer axle My current set up adds between(depending on how much fuel and how long I'm going to be gone racing with luggage and the at the rack snack box wieght ) 300 and 600 lbs on the rear axle on the truck and takes around 150 lbs off the front axle of the truck The current truck is aRam 3500 single wheel 4x4 crewcab long bed that weighs in at 7600 lbs or so with one tank full of fuel and me in it. I have added a tool box with a built in 47 gallon auxillary fuel tank and a camper shell since last weighing it, sounds like it is time to reweigh it again with both fuel tanks full Sorry for hijacking It pays to take the time to be safe


Mr.Cab Racing and winning with Mopars since 1964. (Old F--t, Huh)
Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: Cab_Burge] #1736882
01/25/15 10:54 PM
01/25/15 10:54 PM
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 893
illinois
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rbkt65 Offline
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illinois
I just recently purchased a 24' v nose and I am looking to buy an equalizer hitch also. so am looking at this post intently. have seen an anderesen hitch that looks good but don't see any mention of it here. on my v nose a conventional hitch wont work because you need extra long tongue. with Andersen you don't. any one have knowledge of this brand. thanks in advance rick

Re: Weight distribution hitches for 28' race trailer. [Re: Cab_Burge] #1736883
01/25/15 11:06 PM
01/25/15 11:06 PM
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 7,506
Az
Crizila Offline
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Posts: 7,506
Az
BTW, if your GCW is 7000 lbs or less, you can use a 350 lb bathroom scale to adjust tongue weight. Mark the center of a short length ( around 4') of 2X4. Make sure the trailer sits level. Set one end of the 2X4 on blocks. Other end on the blocked up scale. Trailer tongue goes over the center of the board mark. Read the scale. You will need to know the GCW. Slowly roll your car (load) forward until you get 10% of the GCW on the scale. Done.


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