I've been towing a 20' trailer with a Toyota Land Cruiser using a weight distributing hitch - it has a bar on either side that fit on the sides of the hitch and then on the tongue of the trailer.

Will I have to use this with my new 250 SD? I have a separate brake to keep the trailer from swinging back and forth so I don't think I need the bars as an anti-sway mechanism.

The bars are a pain to put on - put the trailer on the hitch, jack it up, put the bars on, lower the trailer, etc, so I'd rather not use if I don't need them.

 

A lot of that will depend on how heavy your trailer is. Typically, you won't want more than 10-15% of the trailer weight on the bumper of the truck. That WD setup helps distribute the tongue weight of the trailer more equally across both vehicles' frames. Plus, the factory-rated tongue capacity is far less without a WD setup than with. You probably could do it if your trailer is light enough, but you may not have the control you do now with the hitch and lighter vehicle. I noticed in switching from my last vehicle to my SD, that there's not the 'squat' to the SD that I had with my "air controlled" suspension and that made getting the hitch onto both vehicles much easier. Plus, with the WD hitch, you typically get more than just 2-dimensional sway control, which makes a big difference in driving comfort over long distances.

 

First of all, weight distribution bars are not anti sway bars. They are completely different parts, and while the WD does help with sway, it is not the intention.

Second, they are a great thing to have on any trailer. Even through they take an extra 5 minutes to hook up they will increase the tow rating of the hitch and make for a more level and safe ride. You might be perfectly fine without them, but they will make it even better with. You don't have to spend the time you do on it, you can put the WD bars on without jacking up the trailer. Just hook it up like you normally would, drop the trailer down (lift the jack) then use a pipe to attach the chains. It will pick itself up.

Brakes have nothing to do with anti-sway either... I don't know if I read that part right....

 

I have a 20' TT that I tow with a 1-ton. I know my truck would handle the weight without the WD hitch but it does tow better with it so I use it all the time. Not sure why you are having to jack up your trailer. As Grafekie stated just use the leverage bar, hook up the chain and they should go right in place. Your antisway bar should be a different bar than your WD's so not sure what you have.

As for your question, you dont have to use it but it will be a better and safer tow.

 

Thanks for all the responses!

I had to jack up the trailer to hook up the WD because I was connecting to a Toyota LC. The rear end is ultra soft, so just connecting the trailer would drop the back end down to the tires. I'd then jack it up, connect the WD bars and then lower it back down. I don't think I could have pulled it up by hand (though I never tried).

I have yet to hook it up to my SD. I'm a little worried that the hitch will be too high, but I'm very excited to see how the V10 pulls.

Thanks!

 

Depending on what WD hitch you have, you'll probably want to adjust the trailer-side brackets on the hitch setup. I raised mine about 2" (two notches on the Equalizer hitch) going from my old Nav to the SD. I started with one notch and it helped, but the second made all the difference in the world. There will be a huge difference in the ease of setup on the hitch with your new SD - it won't budge nearly as much and setup on- and off-the-ball are a breeze. I'm sure you'll wonder like I did, how you ever went so long without the truck to pull with.

 

Agreed that it will be night/day going from the Toyota to Superduty. Place you tt out on a level surface and measure the distance from the ground to the trailer hitch. Then do the same with the truck and what ever the difference is will be the amount of "Hitch drop" or rise that you will need. You can then either go with a hitch that matches that drop, lets say 4" drop or you can get one that is adjustable. I have approximately 4" difference with mine on the tt and I have 10" with my 18' utility trailer. Also consider the weight of the hitch it self which will drop the rear of your truck a little. I probley get, SWAG here, 2" drop. Basically you will have to play with it a little to get it all even. Afterwards it just a matter of remembering which chain link gets hooked up for the equilizing hitch.

 

I'd stick with the WD hitch. In my own experience, it makes the overall ride better and helps keep the trailer from moving around so much. I also use a single sway control on my car hauler, which is immensely beneficial. My current tow vehicle is my 04 F350 CC 6.0 4x4 SRW, and it's been good to me so far. The car hauler is a 20ft Exiss, and it's had everything from an Expedition to a Honda Accord on it with no problems.

You shouldn't need to jack up the trailer with the pickup. Remember to never have less than 5 links between the spring-bar and the catches on the trailer.

I have hitches that are adjustable height. If I need to reset the height for aother vehicle, I remove two 1" bolts (I don't recall the grade, but I think it was 7 or 8), remove the set-secrew, and slide the ball and equalizer assembly up or down to get the proper drop. The reciever is cast steel. It was expensive, but I am out on the interstates quite a bit with it so I don't want it to fail. A full trailer if 10Klbs, though, so I've got to watch that the hardware is tough enough to handle it.

Do you have electric brakes? If you do, take a moment and set the level on the controller. Properly adjusted brakes will save truck brakes and make your tow a lot easier.

 

Well first reason to put them on is that without the bars the receiver rating is cut by 50%. You said that you had a new F250 so assume it is rated for 15000#, but that is WD only 7,500# with out. That assumes that you have no more than 750# on the tongue.
The WD bars are not used for sway and the jacking up is to preload the bars and make hooking them up easier. Yes a long bar could be used, but if you do not remove the stress when you take them loose the force can cause problems if the bar hits you.