Necessity of a WDH

[ElCamino Man]

Hey guys! I recently purchased a 31' Excella II. Its a good 7 hours from me and Im going to borrow a buddies weight distributing hitch to pick it up. My question is: how important is it to use a WDH? Are these trailers built good enough (as in "biased" correctly) to not need one on short trips or is it a good idea to use one everytime? Iv pulled a roll-back trailer with a race car on it 60 miles without a WDH and it did fine. I think my truck will "carry" it fine without sagging to the ground but Im more worried about sway than weight distribution...

And on a side note: what size ball do I need for my AS?

[noreen&sal]

On a scale of 1 to 10 in importance weight dist. is 10. 2 5/16 ball size. Good luck and be safe. Sal.

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by ElCamino Man

Hey guys! I recently purchased a 31' Excella II. Its a good 7 hours from me and Im going to borrow a buddies weight distributing hitch to pick it up. My question is: how important is it to use a WDH? Are these trailers built good enough (as in "biased" correctly) to not need one on short trips or is it a good idea to use one everytime? Iv pulled a roll-back trailer with a race car on it 60 miles without a WDH and it did fine. I think my truck will "carry" it fine without sagging to the ground but Im more worried about sway than weight distribution...

And on a side note: what size ball do I need for my AS?

I have a dodge 3/4 ton pick up. I brought my 31' trailer home from the dealer with just a ball hitch. However I live only 10 miles from the dealer. I personally would not tow it that way any further than that. I did that all at or less than 35 MPH. However I imagine my trailer is heavier than yours. I will let someone who knows more about that trailer tell you what size ball you need.

Ken

[HowieE]

With a 250 you will not need a WD hitch for that tow. I am not saying not to get one for future tows but the time it takes to correctly install a WD hitch is not something you are going to want to do on the road.

[Wazbro]

Check the weight rating of your receiver for tongue weight without WDH many factory hitches are only rated for 500lbs and an 81 31' Airstream probably is 600-800lbs empty.

[TG Twinkie]

If the receiver hitch, the part bolted to the frame is a Class III hitch. You need WD. Also check the rating of the ball and the ball mount (stinger). The latter (both the ball and stinger) needs to be rated for the tongue weight.

[richinny]

IMHO, 7 hours with a never-towed-by-you-before-trailer needs the WD.

a gust of wind or a blown tire sure can ruin a day.

[Ag&Au]

Since you are fairly new to Airforums, I will to make another comment.
Just about anytime the subjects of hitching, weight distribution, and sway control are brought up, you end up with a wide range of opinions. They range from always err on the side of caution, (that's where you will find me), to I've seen it done and nothing bad happened and/or it seems like it ought to work and just about everywhere in between. You will have to decide where your comfort level is on the wide range of opinions. There will never be a finite answer given to these questions. So evaluate everything presented and decide what you feel comfortable with.

This statement was probably not necessary, but sometimes I like to read myself write.

Ken

[Bill M.]

If there is a Airstream that will sway it is a 31 footer. My 32 foot (probably the same length) gets a little shaky with the WD is not set up right. And the WD will probably be needed to meet the hitch weight limits. WD generally doubles the tongue wt and tow weight ratings for a hitch. If you run without WD speed is your enemy. 45 or 50 gets to be awful slow after a few hours. Take some wrenches to fit it and take time to adjust the WD. Probably ought to take a pigtail for a 7 pin connector and time to splice it in for the brakes and lights. And you need a good battery for the breakway brakes. My 1988 32' was a 9 pin from the factory. Get a wiring diagram ahead of time. A blowout at speed sometimes does a lot of damage to these trailers, so check the tires. I had to go 600 miles with mine and it had been sitting a long, long time. The original tires, 22 years old or so. I found a guy from a tire shop to come with his mobile truck and grease the bearings and install new tires on site for an attractive price.

[JimGolden]

I towed my 34' triple axle over 700 miles home on just the ball, and that was also across the Great Smokey Mountains on 40 going from Kingston to Statesville. It towed just fine.

An F250 is heavy enough that you really won't need much weight distribution. It's the antisway that's nice. Plus, you only have two axles which will pivot better....with a triple axle they have to "scrub" a little to turn, and so they naturally track straighter.

If you do tow it home on the ball, make sure you've got it loaded nose heavy. In other words, a trailer will be more naturally stable if it's front heavy. If you get one tail heavy, that's when you're really asking for a crash.

I now use a 14,000lb capacity Equal-I-Zer, and can say that it does tow more solidly with the weight distribution and antisway (some would say the Eq has NO antisway but I'd argue with them) than just on the ball. But mine actually towed pretty nicely just on the ball.

If you can get the WD setup on there, I'd do it. If not, put something heavy in the front of the trailer (not sure where the fresh water tank is on that model, but if it's in front of the axles, fill it to the gills and put your blacksmith tools on the front couch) and take it easy and you should be OK.

Be careful,

[ElCamino Man]

I usually am on the side of caution... but Iv done some pretty stupid stuff in my days lol. My biggest problem is now this: If I borrow my buddies WDH, then Ill have to adjust it, correct? I am unsure on how to do this although Im sure I could figure it out. As for fine tuning... The finest tuning Iv ever done was sighting in a .22 lol. I have zero experience with anything more than the ol Reese hitch. I tow a lotta trailers, but Iv never used a WDH. And once the WDH is set-up to where I need it, wont it throw everything off for my buddy? I can see him (or anyone) getting pretty irritated about that...

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by ElCamino Man

I usually am on the side of caution... but Iv done some pretty stupid stuff in my days lol. My biggest problem is now this: If I borrow my buddies WDH, then Ill have to adjust it, correct? I am unsure on how to do this although Im sure I could figure it out. As for fine tuning... The finest tuning Iv ever done was sighting in a .22 lol. I have zero experience with anything more than the ol Reese hitch. I tow a lotta trailers, but Iv never used a WDH. And once the WDH is set-up to where I need it, wont it throw everything off for my buddy? I can see him (or anyone) getting pretty irritated about that...

I've got an idea. Talk your buddy into going with you.

Ken

[ElCamino Man]

Lol hes a genious when it comes to mechanical/electrical... anything! That might be an idea lol

[HowieE]

Originally Posted by TG Twinkie

Also check the rating of the ball and the ball mount (stinger). The latter (both the ball and stinger) needs to be rated for the tongue weight.

I believe you meant to say that the ball and stinger need to be rated in excess of the weight of the towed unit. Typical a 2 5/16 ball will be rate for 12,000 lbs and most stingers are rated at at least 10,000 lbs. A ball and stinger rated at tongue weight would last about 5 miles of slow traveling

[ElCamino Man]

I checked it all out and heres the verdict:

My truck can haul roughly 750 lbs on the hitch (couldnt find an exact answer)
My hitch itself says a max of 600 lbs
And the Airstream has a tongue weight of 580 lbs. Its right there together lol.

I also believe they underestimate the potential of hitches and stuff for safety reasons...

Im on the line about this. Id feel better about using a WDH but also feel like my stocker will pull it ok...

[TG Twinkie]

Howie; We are both saying the same thing. I have at least a couple of 2 5/16" balls that are only rated at 500 or 600 pounds. They fit the hole in the lighter rated stingers.
It's the size of the bolt on the ball that gives it the rating. As I'm sure you know.

[urnmor]

There is an old adage: It is better to be safe then sorry. If you have any doubts go with the WDH. It will give you piece of mind.

John

[dznf0g]

I am in the middle of sandblasting my Hensley and A frame. This necessitated me taking the AS, just towed by the ball, no WD, with a 2500HD Silverado. It had been decades since I towed anything of any size w/o WD. Try it once and you will understand the reason for WD....and I never approached any speed over 40mph on the move.

The trailer was definitely inclined to be more "in control" of the rig, instead of the other way around.