Just stumbled across this. Looks to be well made, and a good idea, but a little $$$$. I wonder how long the scale will hold up



Weigh-Safe Trailer Hitches - The Drop Hitch That Saves Lives!

 

I read it wrong the first time

 

The number of accidents related to towing is without support. The built-in scale is interesting, although I am not sure weigh changes are usually not great enough or frequent enough to worry about frequent weighing.

Steve

 

Wouldn't this only work if you're NOT using a WDH? Otherwise you'd be changing out the hitch for the WDH after you got the tongue weight, right??

 

I could see it being useful on a car trailer or utility trailer where the loads are different all the time. Also agree that that they over stated the problem.
Yes the is for NON WD hitches.

 

I have to agree with some of the other posters.

If you are using a WD hitch, then this is a mute point. It has an interesting concept and I frequently tow with a similar hitch (Without the scale bling) ( https://www.andersenhitches.com/Prod...ombo-ball.aspx )

To be honest I have never had a weight distribution problem on any trailer I have ever towed. Car trailer for example. Move the vehicle until the truck levels again. All good from there.

It's just my .02 but towing requires a little common sense to perform safely and properly. Although hitch weight is definitely important. A level towing angle is even more so. Driving slowly and cautiously is another huge piece of it.

I have a friend that tows a 9k trailer behind a Mercury Mountaineer. yes it has the V8 and he has all the hitch tows imaginable. But he now decices that it's OK to drive 90 when towing. Since he can get it going that fast of course.

Nothing to do with the hitch, but a perfect example of being smart when towing. Or in his case -- Dumber than dirt!


If you really must know, use a scale. I am positive that the hitch mounted scale is a short lived novelty. One similar to that of the clocks put in American cars in the 70s.



G

 

You all have to admit that a 300 buck SS drop hitch sure is pretty though

 

Bob, I was just 'googeling around' and found the Weigh-Safe site, as you did. So I did a search on 'this site' to get more information on this unique product. I was surprised that yours was the only thread mentioning this hitch.
It does look like a quality product, but being a measuring instrument, it is probably delicate and would need calibration from time to time. That would make me a little wary. Not being in the rust belt anymore, I almost never take my hitch out of the receiver, but probably would with this one. Another concern with me would be, how do I incorporate it with my WD hitch?
Has anyone else seen or used one of these hitches?
I just found all of the other comments that I somehow missed the first time, never mind.

 

I have this hitch, and have used it for 10,000 miles pulling various trailers. I like it. I've used all three stainless steel ball sizes with mine, and I like how nothing on it will rust. I did grease all metal-to-metal contact areas and it seems to be working out well.

I don't take it out of the receiver, but it's easy to reverse the scale/ball part, turn it around and have it underneath the rear bumper, so no one walks by and hits their knee on it.

You cannot use it with your WDH, they're totally different tools that won't work together. I guess you could use it to get your tongue weight, then remove it completely and re-hitch it to your WDH.

I have the 8" drop, with the 2.5" drawbar, and have used it with the 1-7/8" ball at the lowest drop, towing a small open motorcycle trailer 1200 miles and the scale didn't register anything for that light load. Most of the other 8800 miles were with the 2-5/16" ball and a 24' car-hauler, that read 1,000# on the scale at times. The scale is also kind of hard to read, but it does give me an idea of where I'm at, a step I always just used to skip. It helped me avoid trailer sway, by providing some information when loading.

I called them, and they'll rebuild/replace the scale for something like 20-30 dollars, and I could buy different parts like a longer drop later for something like 85 dollars.

It's solid. CNC'd hunk of aluminum, that scared me, but it hasn't broken or cracked yet. It's not polished all shiny, but it looks a lot better than the normal rusty ones. It does seem like you could defeat its lock pretty easily via set-screws, but I haven't tried it.

It's high quality, especially the stainless *****, and I can tow anything (conventional) that I come across, pretty much - and with the convenience of having the potential to safely distribute the load better.

 

If someone uses this they are most likely a responsible driver ie weight dist hitch, proper loading, safe speed etc and thus wouldn't really need this. Our new camper had a tongue weight 15 pounds heavier than my hitch receptacle. Did I tow knowing the safety factor would most likely cover this? No, I upgraded.

Still a neat device.

 

I would think this could be valuable for some people who don't know how to load a trailer. My brother in law used to pull a Coleman popup camper. He always complained it whipped bad over 45 mph. He put a sway control on it but it still whipped bad, so he tightened the sway control which resulted in breaking the sway control. Finally one day I was watching him load the trailer. He would open the door and shove all of their gear into the back of the trailer, because it was easier to reach the back than move the gear to the front. All of their coolers of food, their clothes and their camping gear all went to the back of the trailer. This is what caused his whipping. When I convinced him to load at least 60 percent of the weight to the front it pulled a lot better. He did not think their gear had enough weight to it to cause a problem towing, but 3 coolers of food and drink and clothes for 5 people was a lot heavier than he thought. A hitch like this could have given him a reference to know how he was loaded. It could also make sure you don't exceed your hitch weight limits.

 

I have one of these, it works great. I used it for getting my tongue weight correct with my F150 and the Toyhauler Trailer by adjusting the load in the Toyhauler then the WD was hitch up. This was a quicker way for tongue weight reading than the other weight scale was using before, they both read the same tongue weight.
I still use it even with the F350 to check the tongue weight by the load in the toyhauler but when towing my toyhauler the WD is always used.
No guessing your Tongue weight with this handy built-in gauge.
Tows straight as a arrow, no sway even from passing 18 wheeler's.