So last week was my first tow with my 18 F250 as I talked about in my other post.I didn't want to say anything about one of the issues I had until I had a chance to talk to the rv dealer.My TT is 9460 empty and has a max gvw of 10,900.I estimate I'm around 10,500 as it was pulled.The WDH hitch came with the TT from the dealer,both brand new.They delivered it to my site since I only had a F150 at the time of purchase.Equalizer hitch installed by them.When it was delivered I didn't really look at it that close I just put it away.
Now fast forward a couple months.We were headed on a short trip last Saturday 160 miles round trip.I pull the hitch out and see it's rated for 10k max and 1k tongue weight.Grand Design says mine is 1280 tongue weight empty and I know I have way more than 600 lbs of stuff inside.The ball they installed on the hitch is rated 14k.Bars are rated 1k.I decided to go ahead and make the trip and everything was fine for the most part.
When I called and talked to the dealer they assured me this particular hitch was more than sufficient and they supply it with much heavier coaches.Seems like that wouldn't be a good idea on their part.Seems like that would leave them open to some legal issues if things went south with a hitch breaking.The whole thing just bothers me.Equalizer makes a 12k wdh,why wouldn't you supply that?Am I wrong here or just being a worry wart?

 

My call is you are worrying about nothing. Are you having a problem with handling or weight distribution? A heavier bar can give you less desirable ride quality. At the very least get some real world weights rather than estimate.

 

Not really having any problems o there than a small sway every once in a while.My hitch height is probably a bit high.I talked to another rv dealer about what I had and they didn't agree that the 10k WDH was sufficient for my TT but of course they wanted to sell me another one.

 

Here's my take and admittedly I have a much different perspective than many others. Before you do anything else you get weighed. You will hear some folks say all the manufacturers underestimate weight, but that is not my experience. Some do and on some others you will never reach the weight on the label unless you are packing rocks. So first thing to do whenever discussing weight is get it weighed. Super easy and cheap to run across a CAT scale at a truck stop. Plenty of posts here explaining how to do it. That way you at least know if you have even a theoretical issue.

After that what is most important to me is how something actually handles on the road because in the end it is about handling, not numbers. Some folks on FTE whom I respect make several fine adjustments which I would never do unless I was having a problem because if it were possible to do a blindfold test, I don't think anyone could tell what effect minor changes makes. That's just me, but if something works, I don't screw with it. So I ask are you are having a problems or are you simply making a series of assumptions. I want you safe, but I would rather see you enjoying your rig than spending time fixing something that may not be broke.

 

No I'm not having any issues to speak of just worried about the hitch being overloaded.

 

I bought my bumper pull toy hauler used and it came with a Blue Ox WDH. I came to realize that the WDH had a shank rated for 10K. The trailer has a GVWR of 11K. The prior owners don't appear to have ever loaded an ATV in the garage, but I'm almost certain they filled the 126 gallon fresh water tank 100% full (the crossmembers were bent due to the weight). So the trailer's weight was likely never over 10K, but the tongue weight probably exceeded 1,500 lbs (500 over the shank's rating).

This is all on a toy hauler so the comparison isn't quite apples to apples.

Because I'm now loading the trailer to the maximum weight, I switched to a WDH with more capacity. I didn't feel comfortable pulling that much weight on a hitch that wasn't rated for it. RV_Tech has way more experience with this than I do but your margin between WDH rating and trailer GVWR is real close to what mine was. I have a lot better peace of mind with the higher rated WDH.

One other thing, did they give you a WDH with a 2" shank or 2.5" shank? If it's the 2" I would take it back on that alone. The reducer sleeve can rattle and be a bit sloppy. I have a full size 3" WDH shank, so no reducers needed.

 

It is a 2" shank.

 

Again my two cents.

1. When it comes to discussions about weight, I think the starting point is knowing the actual weight. Without that everything else that is said is simply noise in the system with estimates and hypotheses, but no firm data. I wish every time one of these threads start we all just stop and say "come back with a scale ticket".

2. Secondly is the issue of what to do with the weights once you know what they are. As many of you know I am within my weight ratings on everything I drive and everything I tow or haul. That is just me and I am not on a crusade to change anyone else. Some folks want to be well over what they need and for folks that fall into that category, just get the heaviest components you can find and be done with it. Some folks are going to do what they are going to do despite their ratings. They really don't need to post either as they made up their minds before they posted. I know my weights and my choice is to buy accordingly. Lots of individual differences is all I can say.

3. The difference in concerns about weights on the various towing sub-groups continues to amaze me. In this thread we might be talking a few hundred pounds or maybe nothing at all, while on the truck camper group folks might be totally happy a thousand pounds over their ratings. It just seems to depend on what component folks decide is important.

It's just a crazy world!

Steve

 

I agree on getting weights. I have a tongue scale so I know my tongue weight for sure. Trailer weight is a bit fuzzy. I had to scale mine to register it. It came to a bit over 8K, dry. At least I had thought it was dry but the guy that did a checkout of my trailer left at least 40 gallons of water in my fresh water tank and who knows how much in the black and grey tanks. So while I'm pretty sure my wet weight is under GVWR, I don't know that for sure with a scale ticket in hand.

 

I guess I don't understand why you would supply a hitch rated for less than the gvw of what you are pulling.I pull a 15 ton pintle hitch trailer 48 states .I'm 26.8k on the trailer loaded and 39.9k gcw.I won't have anything less than a 25 ton pintle on my truck.I have just never in my life seen anyone supply or use a hitch rated so close to maximum load say nothing about likely over.

 

I may be confused on this. Can you tell me what brand and model you are referring. I am trying to make sure I am on the same page.

 

I have a 2018 Grand Design Reflection 315 RLTS.The numbers I stated in my last post are my work setup not my TT.

 

Boy I was on a different page with this one. Sorry to all for the confusion. Selecting an Equalizer hitch is well covered on their site which says

"Max trailer weight is pretty straight forward. Each trailer has a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) which is the maximum weight of the trailer when it’s fully loaded. You want to make sure your hitch has a max trailer weight higher than your trailer GVWR. Some trailers won’t list a GVWR but instead an Unloaded Vehicle Weight (UVW) and Cargo Carrying Capacity (CCC). The sum of those two numbers is the GVWR."

No need for me to expand on that one.

 

If you do determine the bars are too light you can just buy new heavier bars. The rest of the hitch is the same between models.

 

If the rest of the hitch is the same between models why is there a 6,10,12 and 14k rated ones?