Thanks all for the feedback! I going to use it. It has the 1500 pound bars. It’ll be interesting to see what changes I notice.

 

How a WDH works needs to be understood before taking advice from others. First the Super Duty does not need weight distribution until it is in the thousands on hitch weight, what it uses it for is sway control. Drive without the bars engaged, just remove them, put them at the tailgate so the weight remains the same on the ball. Now get on the interstate and see how it feels. It may handle just fine, not feel any semis push or anything else. If so, put the bars in your garage and leave them for the person who buys your trailer.

If you feel sway, then properly set up the WDH using the correct weight bars. 1500 are too heavy for your trailer. With 750 pounds on the ball, you will never get enough tension on the bars to engage the sway control. Spring bars require 80% tongue weight on the set. For Example, for 1000 pound bars you need at LEAST 800 pounds on the ball for them to be effective. For 1500 pound bars to properly control sway you need 1200 pounds tongue weight. It is the tension on the pair of springs that controls sway, the more tension the more control. 750 pounds is not enough weight to provide the tension needed to control sway while keeping the vehicles level.

I had a Blue Ox with 1500 pound springs on a 900 pound TW trailer, and they would NOT control sway because I could not get enough tension without lifting the truck off the ground and pushing a lot of weight forward. I put on a set of 1000 pound bars and those worked beautifully to control sway. This was on an F150 where WDH is required, I used them on the F350 before I got the 5th wheel and without the bars every semi was felt, after putting the bars on, it made a world of difference. You don't need it on the F250, but to get the tension required on 1500 pound springs, you would be pushing weight off the front trailer axle to the rear axle and cause tire issues down the road while also off loading the rear axle of the truck. They are properly tensioned when there is a slight curve in them. Other types like Equilizer use a square bar type spring and those don't normally curve, but they have the exact same principal.

 

This is a funny way of qualifying your answer considering that about half of what you are saying is either opinion, malarkey, or physically impossible.

The OP has a WDH and has decided to use it. There is ZERO reason not to use a WDH if you already own one that is compatible with your overall set up. Using one ONLY provides benefits, and has no drawback unless you consider the effort to hook it up a drawback.

If you want me to take your first comment and claims about axle loading seriously, show us the free body diagram and associated math that shows us what you are saying is even possible (it’s not, btw)

the OP made his decision and I assume he is happy with it.

 

https://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-...on-systems.htm

Its all in there. Learn the basics of how Sway control works and it will set you free.

IOW prove what I said is wrong.

 

if you would do the free body diagram and show your math, you wouldn’t need me to show you anything at all.

Different systems control sway in different ways. Using generalized statements that you read on the web somewhere isn’t really helping anyone. You can’t apply something written for a Blue Ox hitch and apply it to a Reese Straight Line or Equalizer 4-pt. They all work in fundamentally different ways and one has nothing to do the other.

using bars that are stiffer than needed affects ride, and that’s about it. Using bars that aren’t stiff enough just can’t transfer enough weight before they reach the limits of the head geometry. Using too stiff of bars can transfer more weight than required, but it isn’t going to make it dangerous on most systems. Blue Ox being the exception here, maybe.

Weight transfer is a simple matter of torque applied to the hitch though the arms of the WDH. 1000 lbs of linear force at the end of the bar will produce a torque proportional to the length of the arm. The weight rating of the arm can’t change the physics that create the torque that transfers weight forward to the front axle and rearward to the trailer axle. That is simple physics. You can limit the ability to transfer torque with a weaker bar that simply bends to the point where it can no longer develop torque, but if you pull on the end of the bar with “x” weight, you will develop a torque at the hitch of “x * L” where L is the length of the bar. That torque will transfer a specific amount of weight forward and rearward which is proportional to the axle spacing of the vehicle and trailer. It’s all relatively straightforward math that has nothing to do with the weight ratings of the bar, unless the bar is the limiting factor in the equation.

As to overloading the front or rear axle of the trailer with the WDH …. Almost impossible. Unless your trailer frame is made of cooked pasta, it will never be flexible enough to change the loading between the axle groups from the torque from the WDH at the front of the trailer.

Do the math for yourself and you will see for yourself.

 

Making questionable statements and then forcing people to disprove them probably helps more than the "you don't need to know WTF you're doing, just throw money at it" crowd that outnumbers people like him by a lot.

 

Anyone with two hours to kill can proove the weights to themselves (and others if you so choose) byt going to the CAT Scales and taking 3 weights.
Truck without Trailer
Truck and Trailer without WD system engeaged
Truck and trailer with WD system engaged.

You'll see what axles are gaining and losing weight, and probably learn a lot about your actual situation. It's more fun than arguing on the internet, and more educational.

 

But what fun is that?

 

You get to pretend your are a trucker, which to me, is the most fun think I can think of, since I work an office job.

 

Both statement are wrong.

ALL Cam based Sway control works the same regardless if it is a chain based, like BO, or friction bracket based like Equilizer. Your statement proves to me you have no clue how sway control hitches work. This puts me back to my original statement, don't take others advice until you understand how the hitches work. A round bar WDH has NO sway control and requires the addition of a friction sway bar.

If you do not properly size the Sway control based WDH to the trailer, then the sway control will not function as designed. The math is stupid simple, weigh the trailers tongue, and buy a hitch that falls into the 80% range of the rating, set it up according to the instructions that come with the hitch and you will have proper handling.

I asked Blue Ox about bar weights, and they pretty much told me the exact same thing.

 

Reese straight line works different than a curt true track which works different than an equalizer 4pt.
And the Anderson no sway is different than all of them.

do more homework if you want to be taken seriously.

And I said from the get go that the blue ox is a bit of an exception because of the tapered bars and non adjustable head.but again, what applies to the blue ox does not apply to the Reese straight line or curt true track because they are fundamentally different.

You keep saying for others to do their homework, but it’s clear that you have a lot to learn yourself.

I’ve done the research. I’ve done the math. And I’ve verified it all with a scale.
You are barking up the wrong tree.

 

You're wrong, I'm right, Good bye.

You do NOT understand the fundamentals of sway Period. Have a nice day.

 

You could be right. The months of research I did when I got my camper probably didn’t help much. The weeks I spent setting my hitch up and running it to the scales probably didn’t help much either.
I probably just got lucky pulling my 7,000 lbs 35’ camper with a short wheelbase expedition. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the legwork I did.
keep on keepin on.

im not wrong. They all work differently. Spend 3 minutes looking at the hitches I mention and you will see.


Or don’t and keep thinking you already know it all.
Either way is fine for me, just if you choose the second option, stop giving other people advice.

 

In your shoes, with the truck and trailer that you presented in Post #1, I would use the WDH system that you already have on hand also.

@scott91370 made a point in Post #4 that cannot be ignored, overlooked, or emphasized enough. The trailer's actual tongue weight is not determined or determinable by the specification that the trailer manufacturer claims. Nor can the trailer's actual tongue weight be guesstimated by a percentage of the trailer's total weight, nor the trailer's GVWR.

The ONLY way to determine ACTUAL tongue weight applied to the rear of the truck... is with a tongue weight scale; or with a board, a bathroom scale, a brick the same height as the bathroom scale, and a measuring tape to measure the distance along the board bridged between the bathroom scale and the brick. And some math. I think most people would agree that a tongue weight scale is much easier.

I use a tongue weight scale designed and made in the USA by Sherline, who later reached an agreement with Cequent Towing Products (who later became Horizon Global, and who more recently was acquired by First Brands Group, LLC, who now owns the major towing brands of Reese, DrawTite, Bulldog, Fulton, Bargman, Tekonsha, Wesbar, Witter, and others, in a monopoly of towing products) to offer the Sherline tongue weight scale under the Reese and DrawTite brands and catalogs.

The idea behind the Sherline tongue weight scale is a round surface area of exactly 1 square inch, that serves as the piston that applies pressure within a miniature hydraulic cylinder, having a gauge that measures in pounds per square inch. Hence, if the tongue weight is 1,200 lbs, that 1,200 lbs applied to the 1 square inch round surface area will move the needle of the gauge to a 1,200 psi reading. Brilliant.

And highly recommended, even if a knock off copy cat brand from China is utilized. (When Cequent Towing Products acquired the Reese and DrawTite brands in the late '90's, they moved production from the US and Canada to Mexico and later all to China anyway, so even "legitimate" Reese branded products are imports.) I've had my Sherline tongue weight scale for decades, and purchased it directly from the inventor in Southern California, before he passed away. Best towing product that I have ever used.

A manufacturer's claimed tongue weight specification has little bearing on the actual tongue weight that a truck bears, because the trailer manufacturer has no idea what personal items / gear / cargo the owner and user of the trailer has loaded inside the trailer., and equally important, WHERE inside the trailer the load of cargo / personal items / gear is placed.

If I had a stroke of benevolence and set out to feed the 5,000, and loaded cases of soup cans from Costco on top of the bed in the front end of the travel trailer... that would be a very different tongue weight compared to piling up the cases of soup cans on the bed at the tail end of the travel trailer.

Furthermore, if my truck had a lift, and my drop hitch didn't extend low enough to tow the trailer at a level attitude, then a change in the trailer's pitch angle can appreciably alter the tongue weight born by the truck's hitch. Having a tongue weight scale enables one to physically measure the difference that a trailer's pitch angle makes in tongue weight. I've been able to alter a trailer's tongue weight from 1,200 lbs to 900 lbs, simply by raising the trailer's pitch angle upward and remeasuring tongue weight, simply for the sake of education.

So I urge anyone who tows trailers where the contents of the trailer can vary from trip to trip (such as a flat bed or enclosed cargo trailer, or camping trailers taken out for different sporting activities where the gear carried varies by weight and location stored within the trailer) to pick up a tongue weight scale. It is a very informative tool, used in combination with a 3 platform CAT scale for steer, drive, and trailer axle weights.

 

I completely agree and I also have the same Sherline scale and my 7000lb GVW TT tongue weight measured 950lbs. It is easy to use and simple to store in a small plastic tote which I keep in the front storage of my trailer so it is always handy.