Do any tow without W/D?

[Foiled Again]

I towed for seven years without any problems - fulltiming.

Then I had a wreck.

I always used weight distributing hitch with Sway control.

The wreck had almost nothing to do with sway... it had a lot to do with a cocky driver who at (age) 64 should never have tried to drive at 64 (mph) on I-64. With depreciation and cost of new truck/trailer the wreck cost around 64K. Even the bill for the E/R was $5K for 5 hours... most of which was a waste of my time as they didn't do an MRI on my head or spine for 2 hours (any damage would have been permanent without treatment within the "golden hour").

Do what you want. Everything will be JUST FINE... until one day it isn't.

Extra safety features? Hopefully they WILL be a waste of your money because you'll be such a competent, safe driver that you'll never need them, and no one stupid will do something stupid that comes close enough to hurt you. Prior to the big wreck? Dinged a guy's door 40 years ago & 2 months after that someone rear ended me after I'd stopped in time to avoid a wreck ahead of me on the freeway. Less than $1000 damage in my LIFETIME until... the fertilizer impacted the ventilator.

Something bad happened to me 1/10th of a second faster than I could react. The safety gear I had may be the difference between me sitting here typing and owning a new Eddie Bauer trailer versus being in a nursing home blowing an air tube to activate a wheelchair.


Cost of safety gear vs cost of wreck? My arithmetic says the cheaper route is to get the best effen hitch in the world. BTW the most important safety item is one you can't buy: avoid acute cranial-rectal inversion. In my case that's to realize I AM a "geezer" and need to drive like one.

Cause of wreck? Still undetermined, but leaning strongly toward an axle or shock problem. (metal fatigue on axle - hit a rock months before that bent the rim on the rear axle and my steps. I never though about the possibility of axle damage and never inspected it. No weird tire wear either. Another poster here had same thing happen and they found a bent axle.)

I STILL think if I'd been going 50-55 and gone off the pavement onto the berm I might have been able to slow to a safe stop. My hand was on the way to the brake controller to .... then there was grass and cowflop all over my windshield. The first police officer on the scene thanked me for wearing my seatbelt - he'd just come from a wreck where the driver was removed from the car with a wet-dry vac!

Paula

[78SovIntl31]

I pull my 31' with W/D only if I am using my F150. When pulling with my dually F450 I do not. The 450 doesn't seem to realize there is even a trailer there.
I do like it on the 150 - especially while passing trucks
I don't think it would be a necessity on a 250/2500 series truck, but if you have a W/D Hitch, I would use it.

[youngpeck]

I pull a 25' with an F250 V10 (my apologies to the diesel folks) with manual transmission, no less. When loaded the trailer drops the TV rear end about an inch, but the AS still tows like a dream. I'm still going to get a WD hitch, however.

[truckasaurus]

Originally Posted by MrUKToad

I'm always surprised when this question comes up.

There are simply no disadvantages to using weight distribution and sway control/elimination, regardless of your tow vehicle. Spread the load over all the axles and mitigate the chances for terminal sway - what could be simpler and safer?

It's cheap, too, compared with the cost of your beloved Airstream.

Wouldn't disadvantages be cost, extra combo length, weight and hitch up inconvenience? I'm using a Reese WD anti sway and it works a treat but if I didn't need it I wouldn't bother (kind of obvious). I'm almost certain I'll get at least a 2500 for my next TV and like the option of heavy duty parts, more wheelbase options and possibly better brakes but I do struggle to see how just some extra weight and wheelbase would mitigate needing anti sway kit. The WD just doesn't seem that big a deal if it's only 600 lbs or so but there doesn't seem to be tip top anti sway without it. I'm pencilling in the Anderson set up to go with the 3/4 ton for my 33 footer hopefully that'll be a good package.

[dwightdi]

When I pull my 63 Overlander with my 350 dually I do not use the W/D hitch. It works perfectly because of the relative weights and wheel base of the units. When I put the 31 W/D does help. The 34 pulls as good as the 31 but a sway bar in addition to the Reese Dual cam makes it better in marginal weather or with trucks passing. If you have a full size bed truck with crew cab (long wheel base), I think you could get away without bars for most travel.

[RickDavis]

At risk of being flamed, well at least mildly scorched, I was always an advocate of both WD and sway control.

I do feel the use of WD makes for a smoother ride even though you can probably do with out in some instances.

On the other hand I spent several 100,000 miles delivering new trailers to dealers using a 3/4 ton long box Dodge. New trailers do not have any sway control as it is an aftermarket item. Typically we would drop the snap up brackets on, set the bars at XX links and go. Often not to level and certainly not refining the hookup in 1/2 link increments.. Certainly no sway control..
I can honestly say I don't recall ever having an unstable trailer sway wise except for a couple 38 foot park models. Wiggle from passing trucks and tire grooves worn in the road yes, but no real sway.
I do not use sway control anymore but do use WD. Not suggesting any one else give it up and quite likely when you are towing every day you develop a sense for how much to twitch the wheel as that truck blasts by, where the 2 week vacation person is more likely to over react.
I personally put a higher priority on weight distribution than on sway control but am not suggesting any one else take this route. My TV is somewhat overkill and we don't ever intentionally exceed 60 MPH because of how fast things can unravel at high speeds.
Of course I could end up parked in the median like Paula did and I too have been doing this for 40 years.
At least I am not the guy I saw with the 34 ft Avion dropped on the ball on the bumper of his 1/2 ton truck

[Skooter]

Have WD/sway on the Bambi and love it. However, with a 3500 lb rating, putting very much tension on the WD could result in too much weight transferred to the trailer axle/tires. Loaded up it's pretty close to 3500 already.

Point is, it's not just about the weight you take off the TV's rear axle...that weight is absolutely transferred somewhere with some level of consequence.

[BAB]

Hitch weight on my trailer is 950 lbs. Even though a have a Ram 2500 with lots of capacity, the thought of dropping almost HALF A TON gives me the heebie jeebies. Moving some of that weight onto the front of my TV ....well, I can tell you that I can't imagine NOT having a PP....and I've had 18 wheelers blast by me when they are hitting 70-75 MPH and I feel zero movement in my truck or my steering wheel. I can't imagine towing without WD.

[wncrasher]

What are they using in this video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px5LH52Ayns

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by wncrasher

What are they using in this video?

Looks like the Andersen to me but I don't know for sure.

[barts]

We pull our 1971 Tradewind w/o sway or WD w/ our F250 crew cab 4x4. I do use air springs to allow me to level the truck when I'm carrying extra stuff in the back; w/ just the Airstream we carry perhaps 10 psi - just over the minimum of 5 psi.

If our trailer had more tongue weight like the newer ones do, I'd prob. go to a pro-pride. As it is, the 500 lbs or so is not an issue, and with a 20' truck w/ a 1000 lbs of diesel on the front wheels, 'lifting the front wheels' with the trailer tongue weight is not going to happen.

We of course trailer at reasonable speeds; the F250 isn't a sports car empty. I beat 14 mpg by a bit pulling at about 60 mph.... and that numbers goes down in a hurry climbing steep hills or if I start running 70 mph.

- Bart

[dkottum]

[QUOTE=wncrasher;1430902]What are they using in this video?

Looks like an Andersen ball mount, no sway control or weight distribution, on the truck and part of a Reese (not connected) on the trailer. In other words they picked up a trailer, found a ball mount, and hooked the trailer up with neither sway control or weight distribution to make the video.

The sway control mentioned presumably is the truck's electronic sway control.

[wncrasher]

That is what I was thinking, but wasn't sure.

I experienced the GM sway control once on my Suburban pulling a 30' trailer. That was a bit scary, but it does work. I was using a WD hitch that day, but left out forgetting the anti-sway bar. A series of 18 wheelers blew by me going around 80 or so. I consider the electronic system a back-stop safety device, not a primary. But in the video GM seems to be implying it is all you need.

In the video, I can't tell if that is a 23 or a 25. For a 1/2 ton truck, it looks like it handled the tongue weight extremely well.

[Zigidachs]

WD and Sway Control: don't leave home without them!

In Airstream Life a couple of years ago a very nice article was published on WD and SC. In essence, the shorter the TT, the more you need SC and to a lesser extent WD. The higher the weight, the more you needed WD.

[slowmover]

Weight is a concern, but the help given by a WDH in winds is the real reason, IMO. Safe driving is about risk minimization, and skill (I drive professionally) is more a matter of awareness of what constitutes risk (I can probably read road surfaces better in terms of predictions of what might ensue, for example).

No WDH on a construction trailer (with near zero side wind resistance) is one thing, a TT is quite another. WDH is dirt cheap compated to the rig and allows fine-tuning in an overall set of effects that are, again IMO, beneficial. (TV tire pressure optimization plus more weight on TT tires: best braking. Etc.).

Every thing is fine until it isn't. A well-set articulated rig lash-up trumps none at all when it matters.

.

[Zigidachs]

There is posted on this forum and beautiful 3/4 ton and 27' AS destroyed in a roll-over caused by a "perfect storm" of side winds and uncontrollable sway. Occupants survived. Equipment-NO!
They had a WD hitch other than a Propride…I honestly cannot remember the type. That one incident alone compelled me to bite the bullet so to speak, and invest in a Propride hitch.

[wncrasher]

Frankly I wish people that post in threads would stick to the request made by the OP. I understand fully all aspects of towing, weight distribution, sway control and the variety of equipment available. I've been towing almost 30 years now a variety of different trailer types and sizes.

I don't really care if you like one brand of hitch over another. Or if you wouldn't leave home without it on you 16' Bambi. Or you heard of wreck once somewhere where someone did something stupid and shouldn't have.

Please re-read the original post and contribute if you are doing what was requested. If you are afraid of being flamed in here, then a PM would be OK. Thanks.

[dkottum]

Ouch. Are you sure you're looking for anything but confirmation? I think everyone here is trying to help and have a discussion, which gives all points of view.

[wncrasher]

Originally Posted by dkottum

Ouch. Are you sure you're looking for anything but confirmation? I think everyone here is trying to help and have a discussion, which gives all points of view.

Sorry that sounded harsh.

But yes, I'd like confirmation or denial by persons with first had experience within the parameters I've set.

That is - towing a 25 or 27 with a 1/2 ton or bigger pickup trying with and without W/D and sway control.

Outside of these parameters, while interesting, is not the point. Whether it's prudent or not is not the point. Whether you rear-ended someone because you weren't paying attention, or you heard someone got blown off the road because of huge winds is not the point. All interesting though, but for other threads.

Thank you.

[barts]

As I noted earlier, we pull our 25' Trade Wind w/o either WD or sway control w/ our 3/4 ton F250 4x4 crew cab pickup. The key for comfort is to keep the ball as close to the rear axle as possible. The truck has load range E tires and air ride suspension; the trailer has Michelin 15" radials. We have been buffeted by trucks, strong sidewinds and unusual road surfaces, but this rig is quite stable and doesn't display any interesting dynamics. Of course, we pull at reasonable speeds and are especially careful heading down hills to maintain a safe pace. The disc brakes on the trailer, combined with the tires provide ample braking, but with the combined weight of over 12000 lbs care is needed.

- Bart