SCCAForums.com

Hello, I just purchased an enclosed trailer, after pulling a 16ft open trailer for the past 7 yrs.  So finally made the leap to enclosed security, convenience, comfort, etc.  However, the larger trailer needs a weight distributing hitch, and I'd like to install one, along with a sway control (cam style).  My problem is that the trailer is a V-nose, and the amount of exposed framing in the front tongue area is limited due to the V-nose of the trailer.  Seems like the bracket the chains for the spring bars attach to will bit hitting the nose section of the trailer.  I wondered what others have done.  Enclosed trailers with a flat nose have lots of tongue frame to mount the sway control brackets and the spring bar chain hooks.  How have some of you done this?

Thanks.

 Don

Don, I have a 20 foot enclosed V-nose trailer.     My dealer installed  the weight distributing hitch and sway control.    Links below show a few pictures.

 First one was taken before the install.

http://www.fototime.com/0EEDC56AF8A3098/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/AA60A6752DCEA91/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/70A6488206727CE/standard.jpg

 

Joe

 

Thanks for the pics Joe.  Look like a nice install.  I notice the end of your spring bar (with the chain attached to the  trailer frame) doesn't seem to have any interference from the diamond plate and outside wall of v-nose.  I'm thinking my spring bars might extend into that area where the diamond plate is, making it difficult to mount the hook bracket on the trailer frame.  I'll double check.  Thanks for the info.

 Don

Don......this past weekend I was hooking up the trailer and noted that I do have a small dent in the diamond plate.  At sometime in the past while making a sharp turn.....the spring bar did make contact with the diamond plate on the front of the trailer.  

Thanks for pointing that problem out.....and I will be more careful when making close turns with my truck.     Usually this would only occur when I am putting my trailer back in storage......to back in,  have to do a 180 degree turn in a pretty tight place.

 Joe  

Hi Joe,

 That's surprising from the pics you have above.  Looks like no way the spring bar would contact your diamond plate, even in a sharp turn.  Mine should be worse.  I don't have as long of a tongue frame as yours, and he V-nose of the trailer on mine definitely goes farther forward on the front frame.  I found that Reese makes bolt-on chain brackets rather than the clamp on style most folks use.  Apparently for the clearance challenged situations like mine.  Little more difficult to hook up the spring bars with this style, gotta jack up the front of the trailer and rear of truck, hook on th chain link to the bolt-on chain bracket, then lower the trailer tongue and tension should be on the chains.  Not much choice for me.  Thanks for sharing your info.

 Don

 

I know... Holy Dead Thread Batman!

I need a recommendation of which WD hitch to purchase, and hopefully, where to purchase it from.

I was doing fine until research brought a basketful of variations, with equally varied pricing.  I don't mind paying good money for good parts and tools, especially when all of my parts and tools are in the trailer, but creeping elegance isn't high on my priority list either.

Is the Reese WD system worth the $600+?  Do the cheaper versions end up costing the same after adding in all the 'required accessories'?

Having never seen a WD hitch in use, I have an incredibly stupid question/assumption set.  Is this the method of actually attaching the trailer to the vehicle with a WD hitch?

1. Attach WD hitch to vehicle receiver.

2. Back WD ball under trailer tongue.

3. Lower tongue onto ball and secure.

4. Use tongue jack (or floor jack) to raise tongue/vehicle to just above "level"

5. Attach chains to bars or tongue as needed for that brand.

6. Release jack and hope everything is mostly level.

Just wondering.....

 

Dale - This photo shows my Weight Distribution Hitch that I use with my Nissan Titan and the 20' V-nose Enclosed Trailer.

The WDH was installed by by my dealer at the time I purchased the trailer and they performed the Initial Set-Up.    As shown in the picture, I first had the chain on the top link on the lifting hook.    Later, I increased this to the second hook and this set-up is working best now.   

 I happened to find a link to a PDF file that shows what you do during the initial set-up.

 http://assets.iqestores.com/hitch_instructions/N58167.pdf

Your list is pretty much what I do when hooking up to my trailer.     However, now I do not use the jack to raise to find the level point.   My set-up is working with the second link on the chain on the lifting hook - and I use the lifting hook bar to raise and lock the Lifting Hooks.   

I also have sway control - so I have this as part of my hook-up job.  

BTW - these hitches with WD are pretty heavy.    Unit with the shank and trunnion head that goes into the receiver on my truck, probably is about 40 lbs.    When I am not towing the trailer - the hitch is inside the trailer and not attached to my receiver.   

Cost - think this WD was around $400.    This one works great and I would not want to be towing any enclosed trailer without one.   

Joe

 

Hi Dale,

Joe summed it up nicely.  Here's a link to what I bought for my trailer:

http://www.hitchesonline.com/wd_round.htm

I got the Strait Line system, 10,000 lbs, with the dual cam sway control.  Only thing with my setup, due to the V-Nose trailer I have is that I couldn't use the snap up chain brackets.  My trailer tongue didn't have room for those style brackets.  I had to order bolt on style chain brackets.  For me to put tension on the chains, I first have to have the trailer attached to the hitch ball, jack up the whole rig with the trailer jack, this allowing me to attach the spring bar chains to the chain brackets, then lower the tongue via jack, and making sure the trailer is level, and the spring bars are tensioned (distributing weight).

It's all pretty hard to describe.  I knew nothing about WD hitches till I got my enclosed trailer, and wasn't till I installed the kit myself I saw and understood how everything worked.  I wouldn't pull an enclosed trailer without a WD hitch and sway controls.  I like the dual cam setup for sway control.  Can make turns without having to get out and unhook the sway control ( tight turns).  In straights the trailer and truck feel very much as one.  

hth.

Don

Joe and Don,

Thanks for the replies, the online setup sheet is going to be a great help.

 See you in Topeka,

Dale

Wow...  world of difference....

Putting weight back on the front wheels improves all sorts of aspects of towing the trailer.

 Only took about an hour to assemble, and hook-up is only about two minutes more than without the WD hitch.

Delivered from AdventureRV.com with additional sway control kit, for less than $300

 

See ya in Topeka,

Dale and Jesse Seeley

1st question I would ask for others reading this is what kind of truck you have?  I used to pull with a V10 F250 and the weight distributing setup was great on that truck.  I pull a 24 foot flat nose and just bought a 28 foot + vnose.  I now pull with a 2500HD diesel....single axle and I tried the weight dist setup on that and it was horrible.  The truck was much better left alone.  First off...this truck doesn't squat a bit even with the huge tongue weight of the 28 with my EVO and all my tools and cabinets.  The torsion setups of course, lift weight from the rear and put it on the front wheels where 70% of your braking is done.  The GM trucks however, have automatic proportioning brakes and this is not needed.  It helped my F250 tremendously, but on this Chevy it ruined what GM got right.

 

Best of luck!

---

08 Lancer Evolution X - STU

DRAG:

1st question I would ask for others reading this is what kind of truck you have?  I used to pull with a V10 F250 and the weight distributing setup was great on that truck.  I pull a 24 foot flat nose and just bought a 28 foot + vnose.  I now pull with a 2500HD diesel....single axle and I tried the weight dist setup on that and it was horrible.  The truck was much better left alone.  First off...this truck doesn't squat a bit even with the huge tongue weight of the 28 with my EVO and all my tools and cabinets.  The torsion setups of course, lift weight from the rear and put it on the front wheels where 70% of your braking is done.  The GM trucks however, have automatic proportioning brakes and this is not needed.  It helped my F250 tremendously, but on this Chevy it ruined what GM got right.

 

Best of luck!

Interesting.  You're towing probably 8000+ lbs with your 2500HD diesel (great truck, btw), and you feel it's better with no WD hitch and no sway control?  Perhaps you were using too much spring bar in transferring weight to your truck.  Some is good, maybe too much is detrimental?  It's not just the braking that I think is improved with a WD hitch (with sways), but wind stability, turning control, and less stress on the rear susp of the truck.  Maybe things work better for you w/o, but my guess is that plenty of HD drivers out there use WD hitches, and consider them usefull.  Anyway, hope to see ya all in the crowded paddock parking at Nats !

 

 

toy4speed:

DRAG:

1st question I would ask for others reading this is what kind of truck you have?  I used to pull with a V10 F250 and the weight distributing setup was great on that truck.  I pull a 24 foot flat nose and just bought a 28 foot + vnose.  I now pull with a 2500HD diesel....single axle and I tried the weight dist setup on that and it was horrible.  The truck was much better left alone.  First off...this truck doesn't squat a bit even with the huge tongue weight of the 28 with my EVO and all my tools and cabinets.  The torsion setups of course, lift weight from the rear and put it on the front wheels where 70% of your braking is done.  The GM trucks however, have automatic proportioning brakes and this is not needed.  It helped my F250 tremendously, but on this Chevy it ruined what GM got right.

 

Best of luck!

Interesting.  You're towing probably 8000+ lbs with your 2500HD diesel (great truck, btw), and you feel it's better with no WD hitch and no sway control?  Perhaps you were using too much spring bar in transferring weight to your truck.  Some is good, maybe too much is detrimental?  It's not just the braking that I think is improved with a WD hitch (with sways), but wind stability, turning control, and less stress on the rear susp of the truck.  Maybe things work better for you w/o, but my guess is that plenty of HD drivers out there use WD hitches, and consider them usefull.  Anyway, hope to see ya all in the crowded paddock parking at Nats !

 I was pulling my Honda to Atlanta in my 24 foot trailer and my dad saw the weight dist setup on there.  The first thing he said was to either take it off or run in real loose on the GM truck.  He has been pulling large boats for years with GM trucks.  I didn't take his advice and I headed out.  The truck drove horrible, so I loosened the tension and it was better but still not as good as just leaving it off.  It rides better, brakes better, and feels more natural without it.  Now I just bought the 28 and it has a lot more tongue weight.  My old EVO was 3100lbs, my new one is 3550.  I only have about 500 miles pulling with this new trailer and I'm not sure what it will be like loaded with tool boxes, compressor, generator, etc.  It will easily be 10K lbs and I can see be possibly needing it with all that tongue weight, but so far it just drives better without it.  The GM front suspension behaves completely different than my Ford.  Without the torsion bar on the Ford you would hit a bump or pothole on the highway and the steering would hop around and it was quite dangerous at times.  I will know more with some more miles pulling this much weight.

---

08 Lancer Evolution X - STU

FYI, some trailer manufacturers make an alternate tongue on the WDB application for proper mounting & clearance.  If you don't tell them this is your intention they may give you the wrong tongue.

There are also alternate spring bar rates.  Using the wrong bar rate will cause problems.

---

"Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car and oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car.
Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how far you take the wall with you." --Anonymous