Weight Distributing

[spike]

At what point would you go from a ball and hitch to a weight distributing hitch for a sled trailer?
Any rules or rules of thumb?
Thanks

 

[summitx]

Not a pro by any stretch but have towed a lot of trailers and I would look at tongue weight of the trailer and then check the max load allowed for your hitch set up on the truck. It's usually stamped on the bumper or the hitch itself. Keep in mind that's the max so go with a weight distribution if you are getting close, just for piece of mind. If you are running air bags as well, they may help as long as your receiver and ball is rated high enough.

I was towing a hybrid trailer, 300# tongue weight and 3500# dry trailer weight with my F150 with just a receiver and ball rated for 5000# no problems . New trailer = 700# tongue weight and just shy of 6000# dry weight I went to the weight distribution, no air bags and it works great as well but I may put the air bags in just to take some of the weight off of the springs.

 

[Snort]

We have a 4 place enclosed trailer. Plenty heavy but we are running F350s so they can handle the tongue weight. Had a weight distribution hitch, so decided to try it. It makes the whole outfit sit more level but the real advantage is in the way it handles the cross winds. Seems to pull a lot straighter and not push the truck around so much.

 

[700WFO]

Also don't forget that when the weight gets up there, you'll need a braking system on the trailer.