New to Towing

Mine is about the same size as yours - UVW is 6845 bls, GVRW is 8495 lbs and I am running about 7800 lbs. My static tongue weight (detached from truck) is approaching 1,000 lbs. When I do the weighing hitched up with the WDH tow bars in place, it is about 700 lbs. I have installed Roadmaster Active Suspension, run the Tundra tires at 45psi and trailer tires at max (80 psi), keep my trailer brakes adjusted properly and monitor transmission fluid temperatures. I always have Tow/Haul engaged and trans in S4 when towing.....maybe S5 if the terrain is very flat.

 

Check out the Sticky thread on "Tow Rating Guide, How to be safe". A lot of good info in there that will prob answer a lot of your questions and maybe some you hadn't even thought of yet.

 

Think about it like speeding. You probably won’t have any problems being a few hundred lbs over payload, but if you do get into an accident and it’s found out, you may pay fines, and you’re likely to lose out on insurance covering any damage.

The difference between speeding and being over payload is this—most people here readily admit they drive their 6,000 lb truck 80-85 mph or higher in 70mph zones, but man they will shame the living daylights out of you for being a bit over the door jamb rating in the name of “safety”.

I’m kidding, but only kind of.

 

Your gas mileage goes even lower.

Your camper and truck combo is fine. The only issue right now is the driver. You just need experience. If you go over the payload by a couple hundred pounds...nothing is going to happen. If say you got in an accident..they are not going to deny because you were over by a couple of hundred pounds. They have no idea what the trailer tongue weight was before the crash. You could have had every thing loaded in the rear of the trailer and the tongue weight almost nothing. Maybe there is a law that says the tongue weight is 10-15%...but I have never seen it. Congrats on the camper and I hope you enjoy it.

 

Thanks again guys, so I will do some practice runs once I actually pick it up before planning a trip. I will be keeping it around 60mph. I have seen those cushions on the rear of the suspension (black donuts? airbags?) Are they highly recommended? Tough to install?

 

Do a search for airbags on here in the towing section. There’s a lot of info. Some guys like them for preventing the rear end from squatting while towing or hauling, but others say they make your ride pretty bouncy because they bounce the rear end back up after they compress on bigger bumps, which could be a safety issue.

 

Air bags. They can help to correct the sag, and cushion the ride, but a WDH will do more for stability. You can do both, but remember to set your air bags first, and then hook up the WDH. Otherwise, your airbag adjustments will mess with the work the WDH has done for you.

 

Wouldn't it be the other way around? You want the WDH to be acting upon the truck and frame without any external forces involved so you can dial in the correct ball height and bar tension. Your fender measurements will be off if you have some airbags or sumo springs in there.

I'd set the WDH first, then pump up the airbags. IMO aids like that should be relied up on only for stability and comfort, not weight distribution.

 

The height of the rear comes into play when adjusting a wdh. Anything that affects rear height should be done before adjusting the hitch. This includes inflating airbags.

think about how raising the tongue jack to ease the installation of bars or chains, the angle between the truck and trailer connection is where the torsion comes into play.
If you change the rear ride height after installing the hitch it will affect the amount of weight transfer the hitch will move to the front axle and trailer axles.

If you were to lower the rear end of the truck, the hitch will be putting more torque in to attempt to lift the rear end, if you raise the rear of the truck the hitch will exert less torque.

 

If you do airbags first then you'll be transferring more weight to the rear axle than you think. You're achieving a cosmetic result rather than truly distributing the weight.

 

Ok, so I just called a place that sells the equalizer wdh. I asked for 1,000/10,000 which they have. He added so much more I didnt realize I would be asked. Deep shank vs standard and 6" frame vs 8" or wider? I have a 2016 tundra crewmax with the trd package so I guess it's lifted a little higher, but does this throw anything off? A little bit of a loss right now unless because it's a salesman he's asking so much more than needed? Anyone have this tundra and wdh and have an idea of what Im talking about? Lol sorry guys but Im new and trying to research but this is more than expected. They have the standard setup in stock is that what would be needed? Thanks in advance. But I dont even want to pick this trailer up without the proper equipment.

 

When doing your initial WDH setup, you would need to pick an airbag PSI you want to constantly use. Inflate your airbags then dial in the WDH based on the front wheel well height. Any other PSI would throw off your WDH settings. I have a 32’ trailer with a good WDH that is correctly adjusted, really don’t see the need for airbags anyways.

A WDH is actually for weight distribution, the stability and comfort come with it when properly adjusted.

 

I am going to be using the truck for now without airbags.

 

he knows what he’s talking about. Hes asking about the frame size of your trailer. This determines the bracket size.

I’m assuming by deep or standard shank he is talking about the hitch shank height. You would measure the height to the top of the trailers hitch from the ground when level, and the height from the ground to the top of the truck hitch receiver when parked on level ground. The difference is the drop or rise you need to create a level situation between the truck and trailer.

the standard shank will most likely allow + or - 4”, extended could do 8 or something.
I’m not familiar with equalizer though so these numbers may be off.

 

You base weight distribution setup by going to a scale and determining how much weight to transfer to the front axle by adjusting the hitch to a corresponding front fender height and weighing. At this point you know that fender height corresponds to a certain weight on the front axle. Your goal will be to adjust the wdh to get that fender height back.

if you add air after adjusting the wdh hitch you will unload the front axle which will raise the front fender height from the ground.

 

But wouldn't adjusting the airbags after mess up the weight distributing that the hitch had done? I could totally be wrong. I've never run both together, but that's just how my brain logic-ed it out.

 

In my opinion, 28' is a pretty big TT to tow with any halfton. 24-27' is a more comfortable range.

My buddy was towing a 29' Bullet with his 2009 Sierra Max, getting 7 mpg, and a big wind blew him over and totaled his truck and trailer.

 

I would go the Equalizer website and under the "Support" tab, you will find calculators to help you. You can also chat/call them and I'm sure they would help you spec the hitch.
https://www.equalizerhitch.com/

You can also go to Etrailer and call/chat with them - they are very helpful. Lots of good info here.....
https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution-Hitch/Equal-i-zer/EQ37100ET.html

I don't have my paperwork with me so can't tell you exactly what I bought. It would be preferred if the folks you are buying it from could set it up for you with your trailer and truck (you need both there to set-up/adjust the hitch) BUT if they don't have experience setting up WDH's, I would go elsewhere or do it myself.

 

Thanks guys!

 

Thank you!

I rest my case. Those who wish to continue 'leveling' their load with airbags and _then_ balancing out their WDH may go ahead and do so, but you're shooting yourself in the foot.

If were to run both I'd first set up the WDH correctly and then put some minimal air in the bags just to have them function as comfy bump stops. (But I'm not going to waste my money on them, be assured.)

 

Nobody said to ‘level’ it. I believe everyone simply said you should not add air after adjusting the weight distribution hitch.

 

How is this “resting your case”? If you add air to your airbags after initially setting up your WDH it would then transfer the weight back to your rear axel and undo everything you just did. If anything this video shows that you shouldn’t even need airbags at all if your WDH is correctly adjusted.

 

adding air to the bags before setting your WDH is not shooting yourself in the foot. Its no different than installing a thicker leaf pack before setting your hitch. The wdh just shifts weight. Your springs determine ride height

 

It is different than a thicker pack. Watch the video.

Now you understand it.

 

They compared air bags VS wdh. Not their effects when combined. There was no mention of bag psi when they did the wdh measurement

 

Not really needing airbags is a different topic altogether. I had made this point in my original reply in post #43.

The OP had asked about also adding airbags for his truck. You then incorrectly advised him to inflate the airbags after setting up his WDH. I’m not sure how familiar you are with WDH’s and their involved initial setup, I can explain in more detail if needed.

 

Very familiar, been using them for 10 years.

You think I'm incorrect, I think you're incorrect. Best advice for OP would be to not use airbags at all and only run the WDH.

Oddly enough this other thread has the exact same discussion taking place (and whaddya know - they can't agree either!)
https://www.tundras.com/threads/airbags-vs-sumo-vs-active-suspension-ride-quality.81434/page-2

 

Yes, we can agree that airbags would not be needed. Honestly if this wasn't a safety issue I would have dropped this topic a long time ago. The reality is there are a lot of people that use this forum as a resource. In situations such as the OP's you have someone hauling a trailer that would realistically be outside of the rated capacities. It is very important for the safety of everyone on the road to have everything properly setup.

Based on your previous comments it appears you are just winging it. If you do your initial WDH setup without accounting for the airbags, then add air it will disrupt your WDH setup. Are you saying that adding air to the airbags will not transfer more weight back to the rear axel? It will, and where do you think that weight is transferring from? It will take weight back off the front axel and the trailer, nullifying some, if not all the the weight distribution effect of the WDH. At that point your WDH would just be for sway control. If you don't agree with this, feel free to come back with a breakdown of your logic.