Need Hitch Advice for New Owner

[khollister]

"if your truck has the factory-installed hitch, it is not rated for a tongue weight of more than 500 pounds unless a weight-distributing hitch is used"

The owners manual for the truck is quite clear on the factory hitch being a class iV rated for 10,000 with the tongue weight not to exceed 15% of that. There is absolutely no qualifications about weight distributing equipment, nor is the actual hitch marked with any ratings. I believe Dodge used some funky hitches in the past that were not really Class IV's, but the newer stuff seems to be up to snuff. The window sticker also spelled it out as a class IV hitch.

[2airishuman]

on the superduty ford it says 500/5000 for the bumper mounted ball and 1250/12500 for a w.d. hitch....class/iv or v. but doesn't make clear if using the receiver (not bumper) without a w.d. is the same as with......

below is the info for the 1 ton dodge dually, taken from their website:

"
While it's not listed in the charts, tongue weight [i] is also an important consideration. The recommended tongue weight is between 10 & 15% of the trailer weight. However, the maximum tongue weight on Class III (The bumper ball) is limited to 500 lbs, and Class IV (The receiver hitch) to 1200 lbs.
This requirement overrides any recommended GTW rating, between 10% and 15% of gross trailer weight (GTW). Additionally, the GAWRs and GVWRs should never be exceeded. "

so the one issue i'd want to be clear about is rear axle load/weight rating. if you don't use the w.d. system all of the tongue wt is on the rear axle...along with any payload in the truck bed and part of the cabin payload and fuel. so if might be useful to do this calculation/measurement for the rear axle. i'm not sure about the dodges, but it seems that i recall the dually 1 ton ford has a lower netcc than the 1ton srw, because of the added weight of the dually set up.....i think?

so how has the towing been so far? with all of that power and great brakes you must me pulling that can without much effort.

cheers
2air'

[Loren]

Keith,

I didn't see a signature with any information about your truck. I assume that it's basically brand new. I own two Dodge diesels, a 1995 and a 2000. Both came with the tow package and both require a weight distributing hitch for tongue weights above 500 pounds. This information is stamped on the hitch. If your hitch doesn't have something like that stamped on it, I would assume that you don't have to worry about it.



2air,

Actually, without a weight distributing hitch you will increase the rear axle load by MORE than the tongue weight. This is because when you drop something behind the rear axle, some of the weight from the front axle (which gets lighter) is also transferred to the rear axle.

Loren

[2airishuman]

hi loren

sure that weight shift makes sense and probably depends on spring ratings, truck length, load placement and 10 other variables i have yet to understand. also during movement/braking the loads shift some too, but i'm not clear how much this matters or adds to instability.

that's why i'll be following the advice what's often suggested here and finding a certified scale to do the full variety of measurements, as soon as i pick up the tincan.

btw i looked at a front galley 34 with a real wood floor just before ordering new. i really liked that layout as the kitchen took on the feel of a separate room. what's the tongue weight on those babies anyway? maybe they'll try that layout again some time.

cheers
2air'

[Minnie's Mate]

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

hi loren

btw i looked at a front galley 34 with a real wood floor just before ordering new. i really liked that layout as the kitchen took on the feel of a separate room. what's the tongue weight on those babies anyway? maybe they'll try that layout again some time.

cheers
2air'

Too much, that's why they quit making them. They more than negated the positive handling characteristics of the Airstream's inherent design from what I have read. No experience personally, though. But I agree, the layout looks nice.