I haven't towed anything in a while so I need a refresher on WDH systems. A little background. I had an 03 F250 and pulled a 6700 dry weight trailer. I spent most of a full day setting up the hitch. When I was finished everything was about as perfect as I could get it. The truck lowered the same amount on the front and rear. The trailer was about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch lower in the front from level. All in all when looking at the combo everything looked level on the truck and the trailer.
I don't really remember how I determined height of the ball and how much tilt was required or even why it was tilted.
Fast forward to today. Its been 10 years since I have towed and we just bought a used trailer from Camping world. I recently had back surgery so I am letting the camping world people set the hitch up. What I need is a refresher on what to look for after they do the set-up, especially the tilt of the ball. I still look over peoples rigs on the highway and all too many times I see the ball setting straight up and the truck nose way up and the trailer nose way low. We are pulling with an 03 f-150 super crew and the trailer shipping weight is 4839 or so.

 

Simple, forget the ball angle. Are the truck, the trailer, and the weight distribution bars all level? If they are, you are probably in fairly good shape. If the bars are not level, the ball angle comes into play.

Steve

 

Thanks RV Tech. I couldn't remember why mine ended up being tilted back a bit. a couple of cob-webs were jarred loose and some of the process is coming back now. So looking for level all the way across the board is what I'll do.
Jim

 

Jim,

If the bars were pulled up too high out of level, you would tilt the ball back so the bars were lower when you started to pull them up and when tensioned they would be level. Make sense?

Steve

 

What kind of system are you using??? There are so many new makes and models now, it'll make your head spin.
Although RV Tech's advice isn't wrong, there may be more pertinent advice to be given based on what you have.

 

Sorry its taken so long for me to get back with my results. I wound up buying a Fastway E2 WD and 2 point sway control. The RV place installed it and the truck and trailer were both level when hooked up. Its a pretty neat set up. the sway is controlled by the bars. Instead of connecting to the trailer with chains there is an adjustable bracket that the bars ride on. It was pretty pricy installed but I didn't have to do anything. The drive home was great. I didn't get sucked over by any 18 wheelers and we had to drive most of the way home on a two lane interstate. Lots of truck traffic and not one single un-commanded lane change on the whole trip. The cost of this set up was just a little higher than a WD hitch with chains on the bars and the 2 friction style sway control arms I would have installed. On an earlier trailer I wound up using two of the friction type sway controls because of the two lane interstate we have to drive on just about any place we wanted to go to. Hwy 395 in So. Cal. Thanks for everyone's input.
We didn't go with the camping world trailer after all. We found a 2016 Salem T231RKXL that was actually 1K cheaper and about 500 lbs lighter (delivery weight) than the used trailer we were going to pick up that weekend. We hadn't signed the loan paperwork yet and Camping world was awesome enough to give our deposit back also
Jim

 

Jim,

Glad to hear it is all working well for you.

Steve