Help with hitch advise please

[TravelTommy]

I just bought a Flying Cloud 30FB bunk with a Chevy hd2500. We are about to start a 10k mile trip out west in about one week. This 1000lb hitch/10000 gvrw equa-l-izer hitch is the hitch that came with the combo. It looks like the airstream has an 8800gvrw and 875 with LP and Batteries from the factory. Is this hitch sufficient and safe for my trailer? It doesn’t seem like there is much room to add much more weight. Is my hitch too small? All advice is welcome and appreciated! Please help on where to research further.

[overlander64]

Greetings TravelTommy!

Originally Posted by TravelTommy

I just bought a Flying Cloud 30FB bunk with a Chevy hd2500. We are about to start a 10k mile trip out west in about one week. This 1000lb hitch/10000 gvrw equa-l-izer hitch is the hitch that came with the combo. It looks like the airstream has an 8800gvrw and 875 with LP and Batteries from the factory. Is this hitch sufficient and safe for my trailer? It doesn’t seem like there is much room to add much more weight. Is my hitch too small? All advice is welcome and appreciated! Please help on where to research further.

I think that you may be misunderstanding the various terms that are bandied about regarding various weights for trailers and tow vehicles. First of all, GVWR is Gross Vehicle Weight Rating -- this is the weight that your trailer should not exceed under any circumstances. You should also have an Empty or Unladen weight which is the weight of the trailer without options, fluids, batteries, personal possessions, etc. The hitch weight is usually an empty hitch weight and that is typically to only hitch weight given as a loaded hitch weight would only be a guess as each person loads their trailer a bit differently and each travel with slightly more or less in the trailer.

I suspect that the empty or unladen weight of your trailer is probably around 7,000 to 7,200 pounds (it should be on metal tag attached to the front of the trailer). As it turns out, the empty weight of a 30-Foot Flying Cloud FB Bunk is 6,672 pounds according to the brochure on the Airstream website. I also suspect that the 875 is an empty hitch weight. I suspect that your loaded hitch weight will easily approach 975 pounds and possibly significantly more as it seems Airstreams almost always carry a bit more than 15% on the hitch.

I am not as familiar with the Equal-I-Zer as I am with the Reese Strait Line with Dual Cam Sway Control. What you describe is what would have been recommended by my hitch specialist when equipping a heavy duty tow vehicle to tow an Airstream -- he always favored lighter duty spring bars to ease the ride for the Airstream while still providing good sway control. Whether the same theory works with your brand of hitch, I cannot say.

Good luck with your investigation!

Kevin

[TravelTommy]

Originally Posted by overlander64

Greetings TravelTommy!



I think that you may be misunderstanding the various terms that are bandied about regarding various weights for trailers and tow vehicles. First of all, GVWR is Gross Vehicle Weight Rating -- this is the weight that your trailer should not exceed under any circumstances. You should also have an Empty or Unladen weight which is the weight of the trailer without options, fluids, batteries, personal possessions, etc. The hitch weight is usually an empty hitch weight and that is typically to only hitch weight given as a loaded hitch weight would only be a guess as each person loads their trailer a bit differently and each travel with slightly more or less in the trailer.

I suspect that the empty or unladen weight of your trailer is probably around 7,000 to 7,200 pounds (it should be on metal tag attached to the front of the trailer). As it turns out, the empty weight of a 30-Foot Flying Cloud FB Bunk is 6,672 pounds according to the brochure on the Airstream website. I also suspect that the 875 is an empty hitch weight. I suspect that your loaded hitch weight will easily approach 975 pounds and possibly significantly more as it seems Airstreams almost always carry a bit more than 15% on the hitch.

I am not as familiar with the Equal-I-Zer as I am with the Reese Strait Line with Dual Cam Sway Control. What you describe is what would have been recommended by my hitch specialist when equipping a heavy duty tow vehicle to tow an Airstream -- he always favored lighter duty spring bars to ease the ride for the Airstream while still providing good sway control. Whether the same theory works with your brand of hitch, I cannot say.

Good luck with your investigation!

Kevin

Thank you Kevin! I appreciate your thoughtful response! My main concern is that I only have 125lbs of usable tongue weight once I load the trailer. I wish I had a reliable way to weigh the tongue.

[overlander64]

Greetings TravelTommy!

Originally Posted by TravelTommy

Thank you Kevin! I appreciate your thoughtful response! My main concern is that I only have 125lbs of usable tongue weight once I load the trailer. I wish I had a reliable way to weigh the tongue.

The dealer may be persuaded to swap out the hitch head for a similar model with higher rating. The unknown is what would happen to the receiver if it is exposed to trailer tongue weights in excess of its designed 1,000 pound maximum.

They do make scales that the jack pole sits on to measure the hitch weight -- see: Sherline Trailer Tongue Weight Scale

Good luck with your investigation.

Kevin

[Wazbro]

Originally Posted by TravelTommy

Thank you Kevin! I appreciate your thoughtful response! My main concern is that I only have 125lbs of usable tongue weight once I load the trailer. I wish I had a reliable way to weigh the tongue.

That rating on the hitch is for the bars and how much tongue weight they can distribute. Check you trucks manual it probably says you should only try for 50% restoration which would mean they are actually good for well over 1000lb tongue weight with your truck.

[Al and Missy]

As Kevin said, the 8800# GVWR is the most your trailer should weigh. A rule of thumb for tongue weight and stability is 10%-15% of gross weight. So that would say tongue weight should be between 880# and 1320#, but only if you are loaded to the max. I try to shoot for 12%. At your GVWR that would be 1056#. I used a 1000/10,000 Equalizer with my Safari 25. When I traded it for my Classic (9100#) the dealer recommended I go up to the 1200/12,000 model. I would say you are close to the limit for your 1000/10,000 hitch but a lot depends on what you put in the trailer.

I have read members who say their vehicle manual says to not use a WD hitch. Some have said they don't need sway control because the tow vehicle has anti-sway built in to the ABS system. You will have to do some research and make up your own mind as to what you need.

If you decide you need weight distribution, the best thing is to weigh your setup at a CAT Scale. Google for one near you. They have three weight tables - one for the truck front axle aka the steer axle, one for the truck rear axle aka the drive axle, and one for the trailer axles. You need to weigh three times:
1. In normal tow configuration
2. One with the trailer hitched up, but weight distribution not activated
3. Finally with the truck only

Then you do some math:
Tongue weight = Drive axle 1 + Steer axle 1 + the weight of your WD hitch head - Drive axle 3 - Steer axle 3. This should be less than the tongue weight rating of your truck's receiver.

All axle weights should be less than the rating of the axle.

The sum of all the axle weights should be less than the GCWR, if there is one for your tow vehicle.

Steer axle restoration = Steer axle 1 should be somewhere between halfway between Steer axle 2 and Steer axle 3 up to all the way back to steer axle 3. Exactly where depends on if your truck manual gives you a recommendation and if not the characteristics of your truck. It is hard to get much, if any restoration with diesels due to the heavy engine.

Another consideration for the Equalizer hitch is that you cannot get sway control without significant weight distribution as the friction of the WD bars sliding on their supports is what gives the anti-sway.

What I have described is what I do - you'll have to make up your own mind as to what is right for your particular situation.


Al

[Andy543]

Originally Posted by TravelTommy

I just bought a Flying Cloud 30FB bunk with a Chevy hd2500. We are about to start a 10k mile trip out west in about one week. This 1000lb hitch/10000 gvrw equa-l-izer hitch is the hitch that came with the combo. It looks like the airstream has an 8800gvrw and 875 with LP and Batteries from the factory. Is this hitch sufficient and safe for my trailer? It doesn’t seem like there is much room to add much more weight. Is my hitch too small? All advice is welcome and appreciated! Please help on where to research further.

You should not require a weight distribution hitch for your setup. I suggest that you take the rig to a truck scale using a simple ball mount. You will see that the truck's front and rear axles are about equally loaded with the trailer attached. That's pretty close to perfect.

Your tongue weight of 875 lbs. come's to about 10%. This is the amount recommended nowadays. The old recommendation of up to 15% is obsolete. Too much tongue weight can cause your truck to oversteer when going around turns.

[majorairhead]

lt looks like you might have a 2 inch stinger slid in to a 2.5 inch (maybe a 3") receiver on the truck, without a sleeve reducer. If so, I'd rectify that situation.

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by TravelTommy

This 1000lb hitch/10000 gvrw equa-l-izer hitch is the hitch that came with the combo. It looks like the airstream has an 8800gvrw and 875 with LP and Batteries from the factory. Is this hitch sufficient and safe for my trailer?

First I'd weigh the tongue. On mine, the Airstream specs say 903, but I weigh it at 1125! And I don't load a lot on the front. I also have an Equalizer 1000 and have the same concern. Here's my dilemma (and yours) I'm running 7 washers in the rivet (tilt). I can go one more. Obviously, I'm over on the hitch tongue weight although under on the gross. I also have a Blue Ox Sway Pro with 1500# bars.
I've towed cross country twice with the Equalizer and it tows great! I'm afraid the Blue Ox bars will be too stiff and overload the frame? FES?
With the Equalizer, I've never popped a rivet. I can't decide if a small Equalizer set up stiff is better/worse/ or the same as a stiffer Blue Ox set up soft.
So I've done what I always do when facing a dilemma...nothing.

[sfranklin]

Originally Posted by TravelTommy

I just bought a Flying Cloud 30FB bunk with a Chevy hd2500. We are about to start a 10k mile trip out west in about one week. This 1000lb hitch/10000 gvrw equa-l-izer hitch is the hitch that came with the combo. It looks like the airstream has an 8800gvrw and 875 with LP and Batteries from the factory. Is this hitch sufficient and safe for my trailer? It doesn’t seem like there is much room to add much more weight. Is my hitch too small? All advice is welcome and appreciated! Please help on where to research further.

I have this same trailer, same model year with the front queen and two wooden floor to ceiling side closets on both sides of that queen..... and I will tell you lightly loaded, the hitch weight is closer to 1200lbs. Airstream's published hitch weight for this trailer, this model year is 903lbs.

https://www.airstream.com/wp-content...t-Brochure.pdf

3/4 ton or not, you will want some weight distribution, not that your 2500 cannot handle that weight, but because without it, if your hitch weight is near that 1100lbs I describe, it will stop the proposing that can happen and provided a bit more stable experience.

You can use between 800 and 1000lb bars. I use 800lb bars.

Below is my 21' 30' FB on a scale.

[BikeCamper]

Originally Posted by majorairhead

lt looks like you might have a 2 inch stinger slid in to a 2.5 inch (maybe a 3") receiver on the truck, without a sleeve reducer. If so, I'd rectify that situation.

Hear hear. This is a very bad arrangement. Rather than using a reducer, it would be best to swap the shank out for one that is properly sized to the tow vehicle’s receiver.

In addition to being the wrong size for the receiver, the shank is sticking out far too much behind the receiver. It needs to be slid farther into the receiver to reduce overhang - - probably 3-4”. This is another reason to purchase a correctly-sized shank and make sure it has a pin location that will allow the shank to be inserted far enough to reduce overhang.

[PaulinVA]

If you do need to go to a new WD hitch, i recommend a Weigh Safe with the integrated scale and WD adjustment. Makes life much easier and with the app you put in trailer weight and some measurements and it tells you how to adjust the hitch with the adjustment bolt (no disassembly) to get the distribution right. Pretty dummy proof, so it attracted me.

[Rich Jenkins]

Originally Posted by BikeCamper

Hear hear. This is a very bad arrangement. Rather than using a reducer, it would be best to swap the shank out for one that is properly sized to the tow vehicle’s receiver.

In addition to being the wrong size for the receiver, the shank is sticking out far too much behind the receiver. It needs to be slid farther into the receiver to reduce overhang - - probably 3-4”. This is another reason to purchase a correctly-sized shank and make sure it has a pin location that will allow the shank to be inserted far enough to reduce overhang.

Do you own an EQ hitch? I ask because to be honest the hitch head/shank inserted position shown in the OP's photo looks correct to me. This based on owning two Equal-i-zer hitches for our 2018 FC and 2022 GT. I have a partial photo of the GT, but I have a pretty good one of the FC, added below. It may be an optical illusion, but it's kinda how they are. There was plenty of shank inserted into the receiver on mine.

Agree on the shank opening though. I'd guess the HD has a Class V hitch receiver a 2.5" opening. While you can use a reducer/adapter, I'd be very nervous about using that on a 30 footer. The ProPride PPP hitch I had on my 2016 FC was 2.5" square, and slid in pretty snugly.

First pic is the GT, second is the FC. Both were 23'.

[slofoks]

I second the recommendation for the weigh safe hitch if you decide to purchase another hitch. I recently changed tow vehicles and also changed to the weigh safe. I love the fact I can see exactly what my tongue weight is each time I hook up and then set up the hitch accordingly. Takes all the guess work out of it

[hikingcamera]

Originally Posted by Andy543

Your tongue weight of 875 lbs. come's to about 10%. This is the amount recommended nowadays. The old recommendation of up to 15% is obsolete. Too much tongue weight can cause your truck to oversteer when going around turns.

There is only one currently made Airstream trailer I’m aware of that has a 10% tongue weight, and that’s the 23FB. 875 lbs is the unloaded tongue weight with an unloaded weight somewhere in the 7000s. Most Airstream trailers have 12–15% tongue weight. The news that 10–15% is out is certainly news to me, and clearly Airstream never got the memo on that.

[Life is a Highway]

I have had two equalizer hitches and unfortunately Equalizer has failed the Airstream crowds with product selection. Now I love the company but they have been bought out from the original owner who would listen to feedback.

You need a stronger Hitch head but you do not need the 1400 bars that come with it as they tear up the Airstream front ends on hard roads.

I have experience on two Airstream trailers with this. After stopping and talking with Vinnie at his place I was educated on this. I looked at his Service vehicle and saw a Shocker Hitch on his 3/4 ton truck with NO weigh distribution bars

I would buy a Shocker Hitch and install a set of sway control arms vs Weight distribution bars. As I already have the Equalizer paid for I bough a Shocker Hitch model that uses my existing WD hitch and bars but the bars are set very very light just for sway control vs weight distribution. Our 3/4 ton truck can handle the Trailer. !/2 tons are no so lucky.

The Shocker Air Bag is adjustable for proper height and it takes up so much road shocks from dips bridges etc.

So bottom line many of us have trucks with to light a ball hitch strength and bars with way to much Weight Distribution adjustment.

https://shockerhitch.com/product/sho...y-control-kit/


https://shockerhitch.com/product/air-equalizer/

[gypsydad]

this is but "one" of the most argued topics on the Forum! (and other RV Travel Trailer sites!) People will give you "their" opinion as you have no doubt read already here on this post. Each, proclaiming to "know" more than the other person. Comes down to "you" doing some research and making the decision. There are several articles and videos on this topic on line, many with good logic and physics as to why a WDH makes sense when towing a larger travel trailer like an Airstream. Is it not safe to go without a WDH? Depends on where your towing, how fast your going, your tow vehicle size/capacity/braking capability.

Many of us here can attest to situations towing our AS's where the WDH with Anti Sway helped us in emergency situations, avoiding potential serious accidents, by bringing/keeping the trailer back in line after a dangerous swerve. I have had 2 such examples towing my 25' AS several years ago with an F150 at the time, and again with my 27' AS with my F250. I would not tow my 27' AS on the highway without my Blue Ox with Sway Control.

As for your Equalizer hitch, I had one that came with my second 2008 model 25' AS; the bars at that time were square and one of them twisted when I was backing up not in a parking lot, long after I had gotten it, so I moved to a Blue Ox the dealer had in stock, where I was traveling at the time, and I have never regretted it. I have had 3 Airstreams since then, and used the Blue Ox system on each. Very happy; but there are other options out there now folks like. Do some research on line. The Shocker and AirSafe systems have some good reviews, and some not so good reviews, including price...think the jury is still out on this as primary WDH system.

[Dan and Liz]

Not noted above: I wouldn't attach my breakaway cable to the hitch. An eyebolt replacing a license plate bolt works great.

[majorairhead]

Originally Posted by BikeCamper

Hear hear. This is a very bad arrangement. Rather than using a reducer, it would be best to swap the shank out for one that is properly sized to the tow vehicle’s receiver.

I agree. Best thing is shank size to meet receiver size. I have the equalizer, and have a 2.5 inch shank for the 2.5 inch receiver in the Ford.

Another thing I noticed in the picture....grease those sockets

[Bobbo]

Originally Posted by Andy543

The old recommendation of up to 15% is obsolete.

Actually 12% to 15% is ideal. Please provide professional documentation that 15% is obsolete.

Originally Posted by Andy543

Too much tongue weight can cause your truck to oversteer when going around turns.

You have that backwards. Too much tongue weight takes weight off the front wheels, causing UNDERSTEER. OVERSTEER is caused by too much tension on a WD hitch putting too much weight on the front wheels.