Non-truck question - covering the bottom of a camper trailer

[Gary Lewis]

On the hitch I bought, the brackets that attach to the trailer assume that you have an "A" frame tongue, with a right and left frame rail both angling up to the coupler. In the instructions it says that there is an adapter available for trailers that have a single tube running straight to the coupler. I have no idea what that adapter looks like, but it is available.

Makes sense. I'm sure they've seen all kinds of trailers.

[FuzzFace2]

Makes sense. I'm sure they've seen all kinds of trailers.

I have pulled trailers of all types & sizes, some with and other with out WDH and different trucks.

I have never used air bags or air shocks for that matter to level off the power unit.

The thing I don't like about the bags is you are putting all the weight on the rear axle & tires vary little is moved to the front as the trucks & trailer frames are not 1 like with the WDH.

If you were to scale all axles you would see this, the front & rear axle weight would stay close if not the same with air bags because all you did was push the rear of the truck up on the rear axle.

As for WDH set up, once you have it set for that car / truck & trailer combo it stays the same, never changes. So the next time you go to hook up count the links and set the bars and done.

If you have more that 1 trailer that you tow with that car / truck just get another set of trailer brackets and again once set up with that combo the links on the bars stay the same but could be different than trailer #1.

With my car trailer and the 86 K5 diesel Blazer I did not need a WDH and it towed great.

A 8 person pop up hard side camper w/elect. brakes no WDH.

When I towed my 21' TT but did use the WDH, trailer was set up for it, but did not do a lot of towing of it.

Now the only thing I have towed with my 02 Durango is my car trailer and from the second I put the trailer on the ball I knew I needed the WDH as the hitch would drag pulling out of the drive and that was with out a car on the bed. It never crossed my mind to go with air bags with this truck as I have always used WDH and had different bars for the different trailer weights I might pull.

I also feel the WDH will slow sway as you have 3 points of contact with the trailer, ball and the 2 bars.

You can also add 1 or 2 sway control bars if you need them. Only the TT's did we use 1 sway control with as they have big flat sides that wind hits to cause sway.

My car trailer being a open deck the wind does not push it around as much so I don't run sway control on it with the WDH.

Oh I also pulled a 2 car open deck trailer, converted large boat trailer, with a 76 E350 (460/C6) and did not use WHD or sway control so a lot also has to do with what you are using to pull with and what is being pulled.

Dave ----

[Nothing Special]

I have pulled trailers of all types & sizes, some with and other with out WDH and different trucks.

I have never used air bags or air shocks for that matter to level off the power unit.

The thing I don't like about the bags is you are putting all the weight on the rear axle & tires vary little is moved to the front as the trucks & trailer frames are not 1 like with the WDH.

If you were to scale all axles you would see this, the front & rear axle weight would stay close if not the same with air bags because all you did was push the rear of the truck up on the rear axle.

As for WDH set up, once you have it set for that car / truck & trailer combo it stays the same, never changes. So the next time you go to hook up count the links and set the bars and done.

If you have more that 1 trailer that you tow with that car / truck just get another set of trailer brackets and again once set up with that combo the links on the bars stay the same but could be different than trailer #1.

With my car trailer and the 86 K5 diesel Blazer I did not need a WDH and it towed great.

A 8 person pop up hard side camper w/elect. brakes no WDH.

When I towed my 21' TT but did use the WDH, trailer was set up for it, but did not do a lot of towing of it.

Now the only thing I have towed with my 02 Durango is my car trailer and from the second I put the trailer on the ball I knew I needed the WDH as the hitch would drag pulling out of the drive and that was with out a car on the bed. It never crossed my mind to go with air bags with this truck as I have always used WDH and had different bars for the different trailer weights I might pull.

I also feel the WDH will slow sway as you have 3 points of contact with the trailer, ball and the 2 bars.

You can also add 1 or 2 sway control bars if you need them. Only the TT's did we use 1 sway control with as they have big flat sides that wind hits to cause sway.

My car trailer being a open deck the wind does not push it around as much so I don't run sway control on it with the WDH.

Oh I also pulled a 2 car open deck trailer, converted large boat trailer, with a 76 E350 (460/C6) and did not use WHD or sway control so a lot also has to do with what you are using to pull with and what is being pulled.

Dave ----

I don't disagree with any of that.

For what it's worth, my weight distributing hitch did come with one sway control. I didn't have time to get it installed (it required drilling a few holes in the trailer tongue) and hadn't had any trouble with sway using just the dead-weight hitch, so I didn't worry about it. I doubt I ever will install it on this trailer unless for some reason we decide to take the trailer on a long trip. But for to and from the dealer 10 miles from the cabin, or to and from my house 80 miles away I'll just use the weight distributing hitch.

I will say that I've never had any trouble with sway towing a travel trailer. That probably has more to do with how little I've towed a travel trailer than anything else, but the biggest contributor to sway is insufficient tongue weight. I've run into that once towing a tractor behind my F-150 and once towing my CJ5 behind an Explorer. But in my limited experience having plenty of tongue weight is the best way to prevent sway. And air bags are a way (but probably not the best way) to help a truck deal with "plenty of tongue weight."

I still think that in a case like Gary's, where the truck has safely towed the trailer with a dead-weight hitch and no air bags, adding air bags will help and will be good enough. But if the truck really was outmatched by the trailer it would be different.

[Nothing Special]

I don't disagree with any of that.

For what it's worth, my weight distributing hitch did come with one sway control. I didn't have time to get it installed (it required drilling a few holes in the trailer tongue) and hadn't had any trouble with sway using just the dead-weight hitch, so I didn't worry about it. I doubt I ever will install it on this trailer unless for some reason we decide to take the trailer on a long trip. But for to and from the dealer 10 miles from the cabin, or to and from my house 80 miles away I'll just use the weight distributing hitch.

I will say that I've never had any trouble with sway towing a travel trailer. That probably has more to do with how little I've towed a travel trailer than anything else, but the biggest contributor to sway is insufficient tongue weight. I've run into that once towing a tractor behind my F-150 and once towing my CJ5 behind an Explorer. But in my limited experience having plenty of tongue weight is the best way to prevent sway. And air bags are a way (but probably not the best way) to help a truck deal with "plenty of tongue weight."

I still think that in a case like Gary's, where the truck has safely towed the trailer with a dead-weight hitch and no air bags, adding air bags will help and will be good enough. But if the truck really was outmatched by the trailer it would be different.

And a little related...

I filled the truck up today. One tank was 10 miles of suburban driving (mixed freeway and city streets), 20 miles empty on country 2-lanes (45 - 55 mph) and 80 miles pulling that beast up to the cabin. The other tank was 30 miles of suburban driving and 80 miles coming back from the cabin empty. So only one tank each, and a little other driving to screw up the results a bit.

But I got 11.3 mpg empty (one of the best tanks I've ever had, so probably artificially high) and 8.0 mpg towing. About what I'd expect.

[Gary Lewis]

And a little related...

I filled the truck up today. One tank was 10 miles of suburban driving (mixed freeway and city streets), 20 miles empty on country 2-lanes (45 - 55 mph) and 80 miles pulling that beast up to the cabin. The other tank was 30 miles of suburban driving and 80 miles coming back from the cabin empty. So only one tank each, and a little other driving to screw up the results a bit.

But I got 11.3 mpg empty (one of the best tanks I've ever had, so probably artificially high) and 8.0 mpg towing. About what I'd expect.

That's not bad for towing something that long and heavy.

[grumpin]

That's not bad for towing something that long and heavy.

I like 460’s, 460’s like gas!

Off topic, I was driving the truck the other day and it just seemed nice. Road noise was down, it even seemed smoother. Then it dawned on me that it probably felt smoother because the road noise was down. The road noise was down because I didn’t have my hearing aids in!

[ArdWrknTrk]

I like 460’s, 460’s like gas!

Off topic, I was driving the truck the other day and it just seemed nice. Road noise was down, it even seemed smoother. Then it dawned on me that it probably felt smoother because the road noise was down. The road noise was down because I didn’t have my hearing aids in!

I'd always find myself going way too fast on my motorcycle when I had my earplugs in.

Now I know that I can look forward to that!

[Gary Lewis]

I'd always find myself going way too fast on my motorcycle when I had my earplugs in.

Now I know that I can look forward to that!

I'm not there yet on hearing aids, but will have to at some point in the not too-distant future, I'm sure.

As for not hearing what is going on, I'm amazed at folks who can ski or roller blade with ear phones in. I lose my sense of balance to some degree when I can't hear what is going on. So I, too, find myself going faster if I try to drive with headphones in - and it isn't legal.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I'm not there yet on hearing aids, but will have to at some point in the not too-distant future, I'm sure.

As for not hearing what is going on, I'm amazed at folks who can ski or roller blade with ear phones in. I lose my sense of balance to some degree when I can't hear what is going on. So I, too, find myself going faster if I try to drive with headphones in - and it isn't legal.

Here () hearing protection is fine, but you can't have active sound (like ear buds) in both ears while driving.

[Gary Lewis]

Here () hearing protection is fine, but you can't have active sound (like ear buds) in both ears while driving.

ISWYDT.

Yeah, in theory I could have my Worktunes on as hearing protectors, but not the Bluetooth part turned on. Or Air Pods Pros, assuming you can turn on the active noise cancellation w/o music.

Thanks, but I'll pass.