ducnut

Nowhere did I say there wouldn’t be ANY transfer of weight. You act like using a WD hitch makes everything perfect. It doesn’t. A WD hitch creates a bridge between the steer axle and trailer axle(s). It doesn’t makeup for the fact the tow vehicle’s factory suspension isn’t capable of supporting the tongue weight, at a level ride height. When you use a WD hitch to correct that, by attempting to take weight off the drive axle, you unweight the drive axle of necessary weight needed for stability and puts an incredible amount of stress on the coupler/hitch, trailer chassis, and tow vehicle chassis. Ideally one would want all the axles carrying similar weights. Manufacturers promote a WD hitch as a way to “tow level”. When one adds say 500lbs of hitch weight and the vehicle sags, the only way to get it back to level is to completely remove the weight from that suspension, so it can return to “normal” ride height. That 500lbs doesn’t magically disappear; it gets distributed elsewhere, through leverage on the tow vehicle’s chassis and trailer’s chassis, through tremendous forces at the coupler/hitch. What you end up with is a combination vehicle that is loaded at each end, but, not in the middle. During a panic maneuver or on a compromised surface, such as snow, ice, or wet pavement, you’re setting up the combination for a jackknife, because the ends have traction, but, the middle doesn’t. You want your tongue weight to be carried by the drive axle. The brilliance of the Andersen hitch is that the tongue weight driving the ball down in the taper creates anti-sway. The more tongue weight, the more effective it is. If one uses the airbags to support the weight, the Andersen takes care of the sway. That’s why I’m a firm believer in the product. Years ago, I took a trip up to Lake Superior, with a friend, to go snowmobiling. We took his 3/4T Suburban and tri-axle snowmobile trailer. He hooked up the trailer, raised the tongue as far as possible to preload his WD hitch, hooked up the torsion bars, and lowered it all down. The combination was pretty level. We get up into inclement weather and the rear of the tow vehicle is skating around. We pull into a poorly plowed fuel station and we were stuck. He had to engage 4wd, to pull our way through. Why? Because he had the weight “bridged”. I can’t tell you how many combination vehicles with WD hitches I’ve seen jackknifed in poor weather, even rain. Heavily preloading the WD hitch to do as many claim one should, simply isn’t safe. Ideally, one would want all the axles to be carrying similar weights, so each tire has equal weight and traction potential. The trucking industry has started pushing for drivers to run the trailer tandems as far forward as possible, to better shroud the trailer tires from airflow coming off the side skirts. Steer axles weights only vary 1000lbs, loaded or empty. The huge variations come at the drives and trailer tandems, depending on where the tandems are set. If we do what mgmt tells us and slide the tandems forward, that takes weight off the drives. Also, it puts more weight behind the tandems, which creates a pendulum effect. Have you heard the heard the expression “The tail wags the dog.”?. That’s exactly what happens. The towed axles are carrying more than the drive axles, which is a surefire way to a jackknife. If one looks at crash footage of European semi-trucks, the second thing that happens after applying the brakes is a jackknife. Why is that? Because they run a single-axle tractor with a 3-5 axle trailer. There’s very little total weight on the towing vehicle, compared to the towed vehicle. North American configurations are much safer, IMO. But, it illustrates why a combination vehicle needs balance. I always adjust the tandems to carry equal weight, so everything is balanced, regardless of what the industry is pushing for. Further, the stability and ABS systems are designed to operate with the load being balanced. I’m not going to change your mind. I know that. You’re going to continue to throw in anyone’s face those links, as you did me. But, the fact remains, a heavily torsioned WD hitch unweights the drive axle, while loading the end axles, and creates weight imbalances that can contribute to a jackknife. That is why a 5th wheel setup is always recommended as the safest way to tow any kind of trailer; they carry nearly ALL the tongue weight on the drive axle. Now, I know that’s not always practical, but, it is the fact. Just as it is fact for a vehicle to be able to ride at an unladen level, with a trailer in tow and a WD hitch being used, the drive axle can only be seeing close to unladen weight to not sag. All I tried to do is bring a common-sense, real-world view to the topic, free of industry propaganda, using 27yrs of traveling the country, all my years of towing every kind of trailer imaginable, and approaching 3M miles of accident-free driving. You all can tow your stuff how you like. Peace.

You’re never going to transfer weight onto the steer tires, as you’re trying to do, pulling a bumper pull trailer. It’s simply not possible, unless you “bridge” the weight, as I explained. Then, you’re unweighting the drives. That’s the whole purpose of a 5th wheel design, as one can set the kingpin forward of the drive axle and get weight on the steers. Your assertion that simply using a WD hitch on a bumper pull will transfer what you feel to be adequate weight onto the steers is never going to work. You’re trying to leverage weight through the whole length of the chassis by binding the hitch. All that does is create an enormous and excess amount of stress on the coupler. But, you go with it. I agree. An Andersen does place load onto the trailer coupler. But, use airbags to support the weight and the hitch to stop porpoising (which actually does transfer some weight on the steers), then, you’re not placing undue stress on the coupler. My current setup has 40K miles on it, so quite a few miles compared to what most will have with their occasional use activities. I do grease the ball, because the ball/coupler interface does get dry and can squeak. But, that’s not the fault of the hitch. In my experience, I’ve not had any issues with the coupler. I’ve had at least 1K pounds of tongue weight on this truck (extended cab with 6-1/2’ bed), using airbags. The most I’ve grossed is 22,500lbs, coming out of a quarry. The most I’ve had in the bed is 2200lbs. The frontend rises a bit, but, nothing objectionable. Even with 500lbs of tongue weight (about what I normally run), the frontend looks normal height. Keeping the rear at proper ride height, using airbags, is part of that. The further the rear suspension is mashed down, the more weight is transferred to the rear and the more the frontend will rise. I’ve used this setup for work, every single day, during season; not the occasional recreational use. Your assertions are of ideal scenarios portrayed by marketers and that’s just not reality. All you can expect is the best you can do with what you have (hopefully the right equipment). Buy a semi-tractor and trailer, with adjustable fifth wheel and trailer tandems, if you seek perfect weight distribution (I have 27yrs experience in trucking). Even then, they don’t always pull perfect in every scenario.

Airlift can probably help you with an airbag setup. Most of their kits are pretty generic, based on leaf width and distance from the leaf to a suitable mounting point on the framerail. If you measure leaf width and the distance from the top of the leaf to top and bottom of the framerail for a mounting bracket range, a tech should be able to come up with something. Airlift’s auto-level kits come with everything you need for a user-friendly system. The compressor kicks on and fills the system, as needed. If you hardwire it into switched power, it’ll always maintain a minimum pressure in the bags, so they’re not wrinkled. I wired mine through a relay, so I can switch the system on/off, as needed. I tired of the system making sometimes unnecessary adjustments, like sitting in a drive-thru and on uneven pavement. The kit includes a ride-height sensor that is easily adjusted for how you want the vehicle to sit. I’ve found my truck actually rides better with the system raising the rear ~1/4”, so the truck’s weight is being carried by the bags. The airbags do not make the ride harsher, in any way. In fact, under any load, my truck actually rides better than having the factory leaves mashed down. The bags keep the suspension up and off the harshness of the thicker, shorter leaf springs. Like any system that uses quick-connect fittings and plastic lines, there is some leakdown. But, it’s no worse than semi-trucks that use the same components. Andersen make the absolute best, weight distribution hitch in the business. I have ~40K miles on mine and it’s as quiet and smooth as the day I installed it. I use the airbags to support the weight on the hitch and use the Andersen to stop the porpoising, which is the way a properly set up vehicle/trailer combo should be. Trying to use a WD hitch to compensate for inadequate suspension is incorrect. That creates a “bridge” between the steering and trailer axles, with the drive axle not having as much weight on it as it should, for the gross combined weight of the combination. I can tension my Andersen to the point where I can smoke my rear tires from stoplights, pulling a loaded trailer. Using a WD hitch like that in snow or rain is a jackknife looking for a place and time. Maxxis offer the best of non-commercial trailer tires and are well known for their durability. They offer “D” and “E” load ranges in the two common trailer sizes and are inexpensive. Be sure your trailer tires are balanced, as that’ll help reduce fatigue on the tires, suspension, and trailer. Keep them inflated to their maximum, so as to reduce the amount of sidewalk flex and pressure gain. If you can fit a 225/75-15 on your trailer, it’s worth it to upgrade to a load range “E” tire that can run 80psi. If you have any further questions, just let me know and I’ll try to answer them.

A “smart” alternator is one that can detect battery health. For instance, if the battery is slowly dying, the alternator can detect that and will trigger the battery light. If the alternator is failing, it’ll trigger a separate alternator light, because it’s not producing adequate voltage. My Silverado has a smart alternator. Even though the truck had no issues starting, the battery was failing, as indicated by the battery light. If it were me, to keep things simple, I’d just do what motorhome manufactures do in their lower-end units. I’d use a Ford-style starter solenoid in a positive cable from the chassis battery to the house battery/batteries. Then, anytime the engine is running, just flip on the switch for the solenoid. This eliminates any electronic wizardy and keeps things simple to diagnose. Whenever you turn off the ignition, just turn off the switch. It’ll become habit, in time.

That’s a REALLY nice setup.

Here's a link to a pretty cool, in-the-process build of a Sprinter.