Hensley 1,000 lb bars or 1,400 lb bars?

[Herm26U]

Terry and the guys at Hensley shipped my Arrow hitch with 1,400 lb bars that don't fit my 1,000 hitch! I'm towing a Intl' 27FB with a '14 Dodge Ram 1500 Eco diesel. He said he'd send me a bushing to make the larger bars fit or he'd send me the correct 1,000 lb bars. Can anyone save me the trouble of trying both and recommend one over the other for my rig? Thanks and Merry Christmas!

[dznf0g]

I use 1000# bars and would not want 1400# bars.

[blufishin]

I have the 1000lb bars and they work great for my setup. Our tongue weight is approx 1000 pounds.

[crispyboy]

If it were me I would opt for the 1400 lb bars because the Ecodiesels typically have a lighter payload than other trucks.
What is nice about the Hensley setup is that you have the ability to dial in the exact amount of weight distribution through the use of the jacks and it doesn't effect the performance of the hitch.
Send an email to DKOTTUM (doug and cheryl) as I believe they have a setup similar to what you have.
http://www.airforums.com/forums/memb...tum-38001.html

[Wingeezer]

Never tried 1400#, but 1000# seem just fine with our 2500HD Diesel.

From the wording of your post, it sounds as though you were sent the 1400# bars in error ?

Brian.

[HowieE]

You want the 1000 unless you want to beat the guts out of your trailer, but then there are some that do want that.

Set the hitch up and then take your rig to a cat scale. Weigh the truck axles without the trailer and then with the trailer. You want additional weight on the front axle. The amount varies rig to rig combination but the important thing is to insure you are transferring some weight to the front axle.

[dznf0g]

I'll add this. I do have a "Propride for Hensley " tilt adjustable stinger which does allow for more vertical pull distance with my 1000# bars. I can easily restore 350# to the front axle and add 120# to the trailer axle.

[dkottum]

One of the reasons we bought our EcoDiesel was for the relatively soft coil spring suspension, and the round tapered-to-flat w.d. bars of our Hensley/ProPride style hitch contribute to that. Our second coil sprung Ram with these 1400 lb bars, we have never damage to our Airstream inside or out, nothing shaking loose inside or falling on the floor.

However the back of the truck will sag and the rear axle may overload without enough weight distribution. Too light a w.d. bar and the lifting force on it will take absorbed by the bars, rather than effecting enough weight distribution. So owner/engineer Sean W. at ProPride recommended 1400 lb bars for our truck.

Here's some points we use to adjust it once set up. Part of the setup is to put as many washers as possible on the rivet that tilts the w.d. bars down. That helps getting enough range for lifting the w.d. bars and transferring enough weight. The combination is also a little more stable in turns with the bars tilted down.

The adjustable jacks lifting the spring bars easily allow a great deal of fine tuning. I try to get near an equal load on each truck axle, and I can make that adjustment right at the truck scales. Just turn the jack screws, although you should use to tongue jack to take some of the load off the jack screws while turning them. For example, if we load each axle to 3425 lbs, we will be right at GVWR for the truck and well under the 3900 lbs each axle is rated to carry. With a loaded mid-size or larger Airstream and substantial load in the truck, you may be a little over GVWR but safely under each axle's 3900 lb rating.

You must weigh the truck and trailer together when loaded and w.d. set. Drive onto a CAT scale before or early during the trip so you know what you have.

We have been using this method since we got our Hensley/ProPride style hitch, the combination is absolutely rock solid in all traffic and weather conditions. Depending on truck bed load behind the rear axle and the load in near the front of our Airstream, a substantial amount of hitch weight will be transferred to the trailers axles. It's nicely balanced, softly riding combination. It handles nicely in sharp turns, and brakes evenly, a very pleasant riding and driving experience.

Here's a couple photos, note light load behind the truck's axle. I also added a couple of washers under the w.d. tilt rivet for more w.d. bar range after this picture early this year.