I'm still attempting to dial this in. Weight disto isn't an issue with 1 ton (3300 payload) and 8800gvwr trailer but I still get ALOT more sway than I ever got with the Equal-i-zer 4. Here are some pics from this weekend trip that show bottom plate. I'm trying to decide if I should drop ball down one slot to drop nose some. As it sits, when I measured, there is 1/2" drop from the **** end to front of trailer. Recall reading where someone had to drop lil further to combat sway. I didn't notice any more wear on ball than I had from my original post. I did tweak the chains another thread (5 to 6 showing) to see if that would help with sway; it didn't.

 

There's hardly any bulge on that urethane spring. Tighten up the nut until you see a visible bulge.

 

I wondered as I saw a post you once had about the bulge. I'll crank that more before dropping ball and see what happens. I haven't weighed empty but did weigh just before that pic was taken and had just filled up, bed loaded, kids, dogs and good gosh everything else they all think they need loaded in truck. Granted, trailer was prob lil lighter as we were headed home. I try to keep 1/3 fresh tank just for the weight (tank in from of axles) and for bathroom stops when needed. Here is weight ticket

 

To know how much affect the WDH is having, you need to get a weight ticket when the chains are not connected. That will give you a before and after. A weight of just the truck is helpful also because we want to know what the front axle weight is before the trailer is connected. The goal is to configure the WDH such that the no-trailer weight of the front axle is very close to the trailer and configured WDH weight of the front axle is.

For example, front axle weights only:
Weight A: 4500 lbs (no trailer)
Weight B: 4000 lbs (trailer, no WDH configured)
Weight C: 4050 lbs (trailer, WDH configured)

You only put 50 lbs back on the front axle. That's no good.

For example:
Weight A: 4500 lbs (no trailer)
Weight B: 4000 lbs (trailer, no WDH configured)
Weight C: 4400 lbs (trailer, WDH configured)

This is very good and may be as good as it gets. I would be pretty happy with this as long as it drove well.

My gauge that I use to know if I've put enough force on my chains is if vehicles passing me (same direction) cause the truck/trailer to get sucked in towards the passing vehicle. If it does, I need more force. No sucking action = a good configuration.

 

You have to crank the chains before dropping the ball. I drop the trailer on the ball, latch the tongue, then raise the tongue using the trailer jack until all the weight is off the ball. You'll actually see the aluminum plate tilt back a little bit once the weight is off the ball and the jack is just starting to lift the receiver (I don't lift the truck, just unweight it completely). Then, I connect the chains to the plate and crank the nuts by hand, as tight as I can get them by hand. Then, I lower the tongue. That generally gives me enough of a bulge on the urethane bumpers.

 

Any better luck with reducing sway after tightening the chains? I’ll be getting an F350 and towing a 11,030 lb. GVRW trailer and have been considering an Andersen.

 

I cranked it down more to get lil more bulge and saw better results. I had to go more than just the hand-tightening noted.

 

When I first got my Anderson WDH I had seen videos like this: where folks could simply raise their trailer tongue a little, pop the pin out and drop the triangle. I must admit though, I did not have the same experience. What I found is that in order for me to be able to disconnect the WDH in this manner, then I wasn't really using much weight distribution and I still experienced some porpoising. In order to stop this, I needed to apply more weight distribution, and this is done by tightening the chains. So, now when connecting/disconnecting I just tighten or loosen the nut with the socket driver in order to attach or remove the triangle plate. I did think that this would be a pain in the butt, but it really isn't. I bought a cheap 1/2" socket driver from Harbor Freight and just keep the included socket attached to it in the campers toolbox. Once I connect the trailer I raise the tongue up a ways and then tighten the nuts down so that there are 7-8 threads exposed behind the nut. This seems to be the right amount of tension I need on chains to get what I feel like is the best connection and ride. Plus, I have verified with CAT scales that this amout of tension gets the weight back to the front axle's pretty close to what it started at. For reference, here are a few CAT scale tickets. The first is my truck by itself before hooking up the camper. The second is with the camper attached and the WDH set with 7 threads exposed, and the third photo is with 8 threads exposed.


No trailer attached, but items in the cab and bed.

Andersone WDH set with 7 threads exposed.

Andersone WDH with 8 threads exposed.