Quote:
Originally Posted by BigSur
Good info, thanks Jack. The Gross Axle Weight Rating on each of the 2 axles is 3500lbs. The dealer IS supplying a distribution hitch with the purchase, so I'm good there. Dry weight is "around" 4800 lbs....the GVWR is 7500. I really would be surprised I go much further than 5500 lbs.....we really don't carry all that much and I will likely always travel with empty water tanks. In any event, I do like your advice to have it weighed. I just need to figure out where the best place to do it is.....do most standard inspection stations have them? Also...off the cuff, do you know what the front/rear axle ratings are for an F150? Something tells me you know this by heart, but no biggie....I can easily pull my manual or find it online. Thanks again.
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I hardly know the axle ratings by heart!
It's different on every vehicle. The VIN sticker on your driver's side door tells you these figures (up near the top).
Once you get it all hooked up with the WD hitch, find a place that has a truck scale (it's called a CAT scale here) and my closest is at the TTT Truck Stop (so a truck stop is a good place to start). Possibly, you can find one online or, the trailer retailer should be able to point you to one.
I suspect you WILL be in the 5500# range - your 7000# figure really caught me by surprise.
With the WD hitch, and your trailer loaded in the normal manner, you'd like the
increased load on your truck's axles to be EQUAL. The common way to measure this is by "deflection" (how much the front and rear of the truck "settle"). But a weight reading is much more accurate. The CAT scales are incredibly accurate. The instructions with your WD hitch should tell you how to transfer more or less weight to the front axle.
Once you have the truck ball locked to your tongue receiver, you can crank the height of the assembly as required to hook the chains or position the bars to adjust the weight transfer.
And, you need to adjust the hitch ball height so that the trailer rides pretty close to "level". This equalizes the load on tandem axle trailers and is best for single axle trailers too. Instructions with the WD hitch should give you guidance here too. As you can see, there's a bit of "fiddling", and you can't expect it to be perfect right off the bat - and with different loadings, you're going to get some deviations from optimum. But, the goal is to get all of the various combinations
close to ideal.
We also travel with empty water tanks, and we usually "boondock camp". I have a recommendation here I'll post in a different thread.
And now, I think this really DOES belong in the towing section, so I'll move it there.
- Jack