Hitch help, weight dist. or not

[reo]

I recently purchased a 2008 19 foot Bambi SE. I tow with a 2007 Toyota Tacoma with the tow package. I pulled the trailer home, 700 miles mostly on the interstate with no problems at all. I do have a friction sway bar on a standard ball mount. I weighed the trailer,3920 lbs with 2 full lp tanks and empty fresh water, gray, and black water tanks. The hitch weight was 580 lbs. The unloaded truck weighs 4100 lbs.
The hitch ball drops 3" with the trailer attached.
1. Is a weight distribution hitch with sway control actually needed?
2. If it is not NEEDED would it still enhance my comfort and truck performance?
3. If I did use a W/D hitch, with approx. 600 lbs hitch weight on the light side and 700 lbs on the heavy side, what size bars would I need?
I looked on line and saw a reese duel cam #66073 which says it handles tongue weight between 400 and 800 lbs. Am I in the ball park with this??
Thanks for all help

[Frank McFee]

Reo,
I have a 2007 19ft Safari SE and tow with an E-150 Ford Van. The dealer installed my WDH with 1000# bars which I later found were much to stiff and was causing me to have popped rivets inside. I purchased 600# bars and everything is great now. I read the set up instructions carefully and set the ball height correctly. There seems to be varying opinions on what size bar is needed because the stiffness of the towing vehicle has some influence. The 600# bar works great with my E-150.
Frank

[2airishuman]

Originally Posted by reo

I recently purchased a 2008 19 foot Bambi SE. I tow with a 2007 Toyota Tacoma with the tow package.

hi reo

much of the info related to combos LIKE yours is here...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...-ii-21000.html

the ~600 lb tongue is more like 800 lbs at the drive axle...

and just GUESSING this unloads the front (steering) axle by 2-300 lbs...

which DOES affect steering control, safety and driver comfort.

one of the primary goals with w/d gear is to RESTORE the steering axle to normal loading.
__________

so using w/d AND sway control would be useful in calm towing...

and may be REALLY helpful when stuff happens (like a blow out).
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it would be useful NOW to get axle weights for the truck UNhitched and hitched and report those figures here...

this process is also useful to properly adjust whichever w/d sway control hitch u decide to try.

cheers
2air'