Towing. Anyone use WD bars?

[Hoojs12840]

I hooked up my camper tonight and it only brought the rear of the truck down 2-1/4 inches. Camper weights 5500-6000 loaded. The trucks damn near level without the bars hooked up. Is it necessary to use them? I know I can shift weight forward with them, but I haven't had a chance to run into the scale yet.

 

[DAVe3283]

I'm assuming it is a camp trailer, not an in-bed camper plus a trailer.

A 6,000lb trailer is not a big deal. I tow more than that and never use a weight distribution setup.

 

[coker6303]

air bags if you can, much better than weight distributing hitches.

Also, if it's a camper you might look at ta $50 sway bar. On my 10-11K bumper pull 28' toy hauler I just use the sway bar. Rolls out as fast as I want to pull it with no wagging/sway. Before the little sway bar you couldn't go over 55 with anything in the toy box at the rear.

 

[Chevy1925]

OP, just depends on how your trailer is weighted. if its pretty evenly distributed in weight, the bars wont do you much good. I agree with russ though, a sway bar is so nice in cross winds and just cruising down the highway.

On my toy hauler, i run the distribution bars pretty heavy when i have no load in the back and am going camping. there is alot of weight up front of the axles that really likes to load the rear of the truck. if i put my zuk in it or buggy, i load the bars pretty light as the trailer becomes much lighter on the tongue.

on a 6k trailer, i cant see you needing air bags.

 

[DetailsUnlimited]

I use both WD and sway bar and it's only 7-8k. Safety I guess

 

[Hoojs12840]

I have the sway bar, I usually attach it, and if it gets windy, I will tighten it up. Even with my Titan I never had any real issues with sway, but that's also mostly on the east coast also.

I'll hook them up just to be safe. It is nice when I just need to move the camper around the house I don't have to hook them up though.

 

[Hot COCOAL]

In some states I'm pretty sure you legally have to? In California I was told I had to by an RV center, but I'm a sucker and they may have been just trying to make a sale, since I was out of state I bought into their sale pitch. They help quite a bit and its really nice to have the sway control when it's windy on the interstate but you have to remember to release it when backing up I also run an aftermarket rear sway bar and air bags and when I tow it rides better than when it's solo. I think for the money it's a nice feature to have, even if only for a 6k trailer:thumb:

 

[Ne-max]

I use both WD and sway bar and it's only 7-8k. Safety I guess

I agree. Also rides a lot smoother in my opinion. Helps even out big bumps.

Should not need airbags.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

My trailer weighs about 7000 loaded out, and I use them. It is really nice to not have the back end get pushed down so far on bumps because the WD bars slow it down from pushing the back end down. REALLY helps to stop the sea saw effect when you hit big bumps. As for wether you NEED them or not, with that style hitch head you should use them, but if you had a hitch head without the bar hookups your fine without them. The hitch heads setup for WD bars normally use a screw to hold the hitch head up as they are adjusteable in most cases, and without the bars it puts a lot of faith in just an adjuster screw to hold all that tongue weight.

 

[duranut03]

My 35 footer weighs in at around 9k but doesn't really squat the truck much at all. I still run the wd bars because I think it adds to the stability. After 40 years of pulling a camper and being in all kinds of weather and traffic I say use anything that might give you an advantage and help you out of a bad situation. By all means use the sway bar if you are traveling much distance.

 

[crbonline]

you may not need them, but besides the price which ain't too bad especially second hand-under 100$ for hitch and WD and sway bars, but why would you not use them? Even if your truck is not sagging, the ride and control is sooo much better, even with light trailers I use them...and I have bags too. WD bars really help control the bouncing and bucking. Try them out and I think you'll see a significant improvement. But ultimately would agree, you probably don't need them with the weights you're working with.

 

[AKlowriderZ71]

The WD bars help transfer some of the weight to the front end. That really makes a big difference in handling, braking, ride quality, etc. I've towed without them(just added air to the Firestone bags), and it's much better using the WD bars and the bags with a little less air, working together.

 

[IronDX]

Id use the bars.

 

[panthercity]

Glad too find this thread. Have the WD setup for our trailer (8200 loaded out) whne we were towing with the 1/2 ton. It was GREAT!

Reading up on the new-to-us 2500, the tow rating goes DOWN with WD. That confused me.

 

[jevanb]

air bags if you can, much better than weight distributing hitches.

.

sorry but wrong, bags do nothing about weight transfer to the front, WD bars add weight to the front axle (if adjusted correctly), just bringing the ass up to level with bags does not add stability, the weight is still removed, towing a bumper pull is totally diff then a 5er and running bags, and weight transfer stability. I do both and bars are needed with all the weight hanging 3 feet behind the axle

 

[Ron Nielson]

Glad too find this thread. Have the WD setup for our trailer (8200 loaded out) whne we were towing with the 1/2 ton. It was GREAT!

Reading up on the new-to-us 2500, the tow rating goes DOWN with WD. That confused me.

I haven't seen or heard of that anywhere. I'm looking at the 2008 Silverado brochure and don't see anything that says tow rating is less with WD hitch. In looking at my hitch, the weight capy of the hitch itself goes UP if using WD.

Look here:

 

[panthercity]

Thanks, Ron, I'll have to find where I read that. Been reading so much, doing research before I bought it and justification now that I've got it, that I don't remember where I saw that.

 

[McRat]

Measure bumper height.

Put 10-15% of the trailer weight on the hitch.

Now measure the bumper height.

Adjust the bars so to get back to original height.

Any trailer over 8000 should have equalizers. Or you stand the risk of jacknifing if you slam on the brakes.

 

[McRat]

Glad too find this thread. Have the WD setup for our trailer (8200 loaded out) whne we were towing with the 1/2 ton. It was GREAT!

Reading up on the new-to-us 2500, the tow rating goes DOWN with WD. That confused me.

Not if the hitch is stout. The WD puts more stress on the hitch. If the hitch is overkill, WD improves weight handling.

I would NOT run without equalizers towing a Dmax.

 

[TheBac]

I have WD bars on our TT...same weight as the trailer you tow. Helps a lot with stability.