thomasmnile
Lake Mary, FL
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Joined: 05/14/2009
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Sjm9911 wrote:See what your manual recomends. Mine has it listed. And the factory sway control is not the same as sway control on the TV. The sway controll bars help you to control sway before it happens. The TV one kicks in after it detects sway. I much rather have it controlled then ajusted for afterwards.
^^^
I know the manuals for new vehicles are like a multi-volume encyclopedia, but no doubt there's a section for towing, see what it says. My since departed 2005 Ram 3500 SRW had the info in the manual and a WDH was strongly recommended if the GW of the trailer to be towed was 60% or more of the truck's GVW.
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PA12DRVR
Back in God's Country
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Joined: 09/17/2003
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- See what the manual says
- When I had a 2006 F350 towing a (IIRC) 8000# GVW travel trailer, I didn't need weight distribution but hooking up the WDH allowed me a bit of laziness / imprecision in loading the TT and eliminating sway.
CRL
My RV is a 1946 PA-12
Back in the GWN
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IdaD
Idaho
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Joined: 08/06/2014
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Just my two cents but having one of the big diesels hanging over the front axle goes a long way to eliminating the need for weight distribution. Will 1400 lbs reduce the the front axle weight on that truck? Sure. Enough to matter...eh, not so sure. Even loaded up you still have more weight on the front axle than an empty gas version of the same truck does.
I'd at least try it out before you go spend money.
2015 Cummins Ram 4wd CC/SB
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Vanished
Central PA
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Joined: 01/09/2007
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I'm thinking a 1-2 hr 'test tow' might be a good start before our first trip... But I might wait till the roads are dry so I don't get our new toy dirty! Also I'll have to load the Indian to keep the weights/distribution real..
2019 Ford F350 4x4 diesel DRW
2021 Grand Design Momentum 28G
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Huntindog
Phoenix AZ
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Joined: 04/08/2002
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IdaD wrote:Just my two cents but having one of the big diesels hanging over the front axle goes a long way to eliminating the need for weight distribution. Will 1400 lbs reduce the the front axle weight on that truck? Sure. Enough to matter...eh, not so sure. Even loaded up you still have more weight on the front axle than an empty gas version of the same truck does.
I'd at least try it out before you go spend money. As a blanket statement, this can be false.
The trucks may not always be the "same"
The front suspension can have different spring rates and shocks. So it may be set up for the heavier diesel engine. Removing weight from the front of a vehicle with heavy duty front suspension would not be desireable.
Huntindog
100% boondocking
2021 Grand Design Momentum 398M
2 bathrooms, no waiting
104 gal grey, 104 black,158 fresh
Full Body Paint, 3, 8K axles, Disc Brakes
17.5 LRH commercial tires
540 watts solar,
2020 Silverado High Country CC DA 4X4 Big Dually.
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TomG2
Central Illinois
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Joined: 03/07/2004
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IdaD wrote:....snip.....Even loaded up you still have more weight on the front axle than an empty gas version of the same truck does.
....snip.....
Exactly right. The diesel will put much more weight on the front two tires, regardless of tire size, or suspension. The gas powered model's handling will actually benefit from this reduction, especially when unloaded due to its better balance.
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Hannibal
Tampa Bay Area
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I use one of these for our 2020 F-250 with 7.3L to tow our 32.5’ TT with 980 lbs of tongue weight. Tows like a champ. I can’t imagine you’d need WD with your rig.
https://www.curtmfg.com/part/45456
2020 F250 STX CC SB 7.3L 10spd 3.55 4x4
2010 F250 XLT CC SB 5.4L 5spdTS 3.73
ex '95 Cummins,'98 12v Cummins,'01.5 Cummins,'03 Cummins; '05 Hemi
2017 Jayco 28RLS TT 32.5'. Reese HP Trunnion 800
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Hannibal
Tampa Bay Area
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An F-450 but an interesting video just the same. Yes I noticed no battery for the break away. For shame.
https://youtu.be/iQwahPcx8tk
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otrfun
On The Road
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Joined: 09/08/2012
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IMO a lot of folks with handling/sway problems don't bother (or don't know how) to check their tongue weight percentage and purchase/use a WDH (and anti-sway) as a band-aid fix when their core problem is insufficient tongue weight.
With 15% tongue weight (bumper-pull) you shouldn't have any handling/sway problems with any vehicle. Many 1/2-ton trucks must use a WDH to because of their limited rear axle capacity (which ends up off-loading weight from the front axle), not because they inherently need a WDH/anti-sway to prevent handling/sway issues.
We towed a 35', 10k bumper pull TT (with 14% tongue weight--1,400 lbs., and no WDH) with our '16 Ram 3500 SRW Cummins cross-country many times. Towed like a dream, even with 35 mph sidewinds. All you felt was one push/pull with every wind gust. When an 18-wheeler passed too close, again, just one push/pull, and that was it. Zero sway--completely stable.
* This post was
edited 12/06/20 02:21am by otrfun *
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Huntindog
Phoenix AZ
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Joined: 04/08/2002
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otrfun wrote:IMO a lot of folks have handling/sway problems, don't bother (or don't know how) to check their tongue weight percentage, and purchase/use a WDH (and anti-sway) as a band-aid fix.
With 15% tongue weight (bumper-pull) you shouldn't have any handling/sway problems with any vehicle. Many 1/2-ton trucks must use a WDH to because of their limited rear axle capacity (which ends up off-loading weight from the front axle), not because they inherently need a WDH/anti-sway to prevent handling/sway issues.
We towed a 35', 10k bumper pull TT (with 14% tongue weight--1,400 lbs., and no WDH) with our '16 Ram 3500 SRW Cummins cross-country many times. Towed like a dream, even with 35 mph sidewinds. All you felt was one push/pull with every wind gust. When an 18-wheeler passed too close, again, just one push/pull, and that was it. Zero sway--completely stable. I will add, that a lot of people have no clue as how to properly setup a WD hitch to get the maximum benefit. This is obvious just observing rolling trainwrecks waiting to happen going down the highway..... And those that do not want to use a WD hitch just don't understand what they are missing.
The thing about towing setups is that there are many opinions on just what level of performance is acceptable to each individual.
I am anal about it. It starts with proper TW, Tire pressures etc, and ends with a properly setup WD hitch.... Because I do not settle for good enough,,,, I want it to be the best it can be. There have been a couple of times I was glad I was so particular.
It is a lot like seatbelts. One can drive millions of miles and not need them (does that make one a fool for using them?) or have a wreck going around the block.... and be glad you were using them.
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