Do I need a WD hitch for my TV?

[Argy 78]

I have a 04 F-150 with air bag lifts that I use when I pull my 30' boat. I was wondering if I need to have a weight distribution hitch to pull my 27' Argosy or will I be OK if I use what I have?

Argy 78

[2airishuman]

hi argy'

if the trailer tongue weight is greater than 500lbs, with lpgas and loaded...

most receivers (not all) are only rated to 500 lbs without a w/d hitch.

unless you have a receiver on the truck that is rated higher without w/d.

smaller trailers with bigger tow vehicles may not, but a 27 with a 1/2 ton sure seems like a combo for w/d...

cheers
2air'

[Fyrzowt]

Personally I wouldn't tow that trailer without W.D.
Dave

[Rebee]

There is an excellent article in Trailer Life issue February 2008. Helps to answer your question.

[Heirstreamer]

The air bag system does an excellent job of raising the rear of the vehicle to "look" level. However, It does nothing to transfer the added hitch weight to the front of the tow vehicle, as an equalizing hitch will do. My vote is NO.

[thecatsandi]

You should a have WD hitch for both. If you need to level your truck with airbags towing you may be overloading the rear axle.

[Kajtek1]

Than the most critical for weight distributing is rear overhang and suspension stiffness.
Car with 2' of overhang will take heavy tongue weight differently, than pickup with 5' overhang.
Our Mercedes drops about 1" under 500 lb tonque weight. Never used WD bars with several heavy trailer. Never experienced fishtailing or any other problems and I usually tow at 65 mph.

[2airishuman]

same question, same poster...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...-tv-39171.html

true hitch mass is magnified at the rear axle using this calculation...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...sis-19236.html

IF you aren't weighing the axles or using this formula, it's all guesstimation

cheers
2air'

[Tom Nugler]

You didn't mention what tow package, if any, you've got on the 150.
The Expedition I pull with has the HD tow package and the air suspension. (Go figure?) If I remember right the hitch has a max. tongue weight of 800#. The GT was already fitted with the WD hitch and I saw no reason to abandon it.
As a personal preference I like the extra margin of safety the WD hitch provides.
The owner’s manual describes the procedure for setting up the hitch and it only took a half-hour to adjust the hitch to the new rig. You could try turning off the air and seeing how far the rear end drops. This will give you the idea of how much the extra the system has to work.
Technically you may not need it, but after using one I wouldn’t go without.

Tom.

[safari 28]

I am no expert, but have over 10k miles of towing since oct ina 08 f150 4x4 with all the heavy dut packages including snow plow they offer.

Towing an a/s high speeds in all conditions including mountains I offer this advice. The f150 allows a good weight distribution system to work perfectly. You can load more weight to the front axle, and still have over 4 inches of suspension travel left in the rear. This give almost a glue like feeling on the road, and lets the a/s float on rough roads. If your truck is set up like ours then dump the air bags, get a reese dual cam and let it do its magic. I agree with Michelle, you should have the same set up on your boat. But then again I suspect your boat towing is probably local??

[moosetags]

I would not feel comfortable towing any trailer over 3500# without a WD hitch system of some sort.

[Silvertwinkie]

Yes, you do and should also have the horseshoes on the boat.

If your boat pushes the rear of your F150 enough to need airbags, your 27' Argosy will most likely be at or near 500lbs of hitch weight... yea, you need WD....period.

[Argy 78]

Thanks for all the information. As I am new to towing a travel traler, I just want to have as much information as possiable before spending the money for the W/D hitch. As for my boat, it weighs in at @9,500 lbs with a hitch weight of 800+. I haven't had any trouble, other than the tail drop with the HD suspention and as I have disc surge breaks on my boat trailer, I haven't found a W/D hitch that would work with this type of set up.
Now the $10 K question - Which hitch system work best with my situations & what are your thoughts on disc breaks on this trailer?
Thanks again to all of you for providing all of us such important information.
Regards,
Argy 78

[Fyrzowt]

That's a whole 'nuther can of worms ....and there are multiple threads on that subject.
I did a quick search and found several, here is a sample.
Dave

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...ion-38230.html