What Can Go Wrong? See Photo.

[scloyd]

I saw this at a WM parking lot this morning.

Looks like all the weight is on the hitch, no WDH or anti-sway bars.

I use a WDH and anti-sway bars and my TT and TV never looks like this. I've owned our Jayco for about a year now...still a trailer newbie.

I've seen this before and thought I wonder what can go wrong with that set up?

What are the things that can go wrong? Sway? Bad for the frame of the TV? Hard to steer the TV? What kind of damage can this cause? Is this dangerous for everyone else on the highway?

Thanks in advance.

[TWP723]

Horrible sway, loss of control especially during braking, unnecessary wear on the suspension and an overall threat to everyone else on the road near them.

[Grumpy]

There used to be a rig that pulled into FT. WIlderness at least every other weekend for years that was being towed like that.

[OnTheGo]

... don't know any actual weights, but I would bet that front axle is overloaded. Give 'em plenty of room on the highway.

[Murff]

Maybe this?



Murff

[JFlightRisk]

Steering that truck on wet roads would be dangerous. Add hydroplaning to no WDH....no thank you!

[2naEagle]

Sometimes you can see some interesting things.

[DocBrown]

Many people are under the impression that if they can put a class III hitch on it they can tow anything. They hook it up and go.

A few years back on my way to work there was a traffic jam. Two left lanes were closed for a Kia Soul flipped on it's side. It was towing an old 16' travel trailer, also flipped on it's side. No WDH, just connected to the ball. I was driving by myself so I could not get a photo.

[scloyd]

Yeah, I knew something wasn't right when I saw it this morning. Along with them was a large U-Haul truck pulling a trailer with a Mini-Cooper on it. Hopefully they make their destination safely and along with everyone in their path.

[mass-hole]

No offense to anybody here with a Ram, but i spent a good amount of time on the Ram 1500 Ecodiesel forums and those guys just straight up didn’t care about overloading their trucks at all. They actively promoted it.

The typical excuse was that the GAWR’s added up to more than the GVWR so it was fine.

[mass-hole]

Originally Posted by 2naEagle

Sometimes you can see some interesting things.

I was coming back from West Yellowstone, MT on I-15 just south of Idaho Falls. It was really late at night and I was cruising along at 70 mph with no one on the road. Up in front of me I see these two red lights that looked stationary like they might have been stop lights at an intersection off the side of the freeway.

I keep getting closer and closer and suddenly realize its a trailer in the right lane so i make a pretty quick maneuver to the left lane and pass the dude, who is doing about 25 mph in a 70 or 75 zone.

As I go by the guy I realize it’s a Ford Escape towing a travel trailer bigger than mine(24’, 5500 lb gvwr). Back end basically dragging on the ground doing 25 mph at 1 AM on a major interstate.

[Jagiven]

10 years ago, saw a big boat on the shoulder of the road at the top of a long steep Minnesota grade, just south of Duluth MN, on I35. If you are not familiar with this stretch of road it is a steep grade for 5 miles or so. Shortly after we got to the top of the hill, we saw a huge cabin cruiser boat on the side of the road. Triple axle trailer, not sure I would wanted to pull with anything less than a F450, I think bigger would have been better. Hitched up to it, was a little SUV, maybe a Toyota RAV4, or something similar, fairly new, and tiny. Hood was up. Sure the engine and tranny had been damaged.

[jimmoore13]

There are several laws of physics to consider:

• Without a WDH, the entire tongue weight and that of any cargo behind the TV's rear axle are leveraging the front axle up off the road. At some point, there is precious little contact between the front tires and the pavement.
• The rear axle may also be overloaded...although it's not easy to know without weighing the tongue and the cargo in the TV. The sag at the rear is not unusual for a TV that is somewhat heavily loaded.
• Also hard to know is whether the TV's rear tires are overloaded.
• For sure, this will be somewhat evil handling, in particular wallowing badly through the whoops and over large bumps. The rear end will pogo up and down with little control.
• The headlights will be pointed at the sky.

I have a Ram 1500. I started with a 2000# PUP with about 250# of tongue weight. Rams, in particular, are softly sprung. Believe it or not, my Ram looked a bit like your illustration while towing the PUP!! I resolved this with air bags. Using a WDH on a 2000# trailer is foolish overkill. Currently, my truck with the same air bags handles 600# of tongue weight and a modest load of cargo with ease...and no WDH.

[alwalk63]

Originally Posted by scloyd

I saw this at a WM parking lot this morning.

Attachment 75773

Looks like all the weight is on the hitch, no WDH or anti-sway bars.



I use a WDH and anti-sway bars and my TT and TV never looks like this. I've owned our Jayco for about a year now...still a trailer newbie.



I've seen this before and thought I wonder what can go wrong with that set up?



What are the things that can go wrong? Sway? Bad for the frame of the TV? Hard to steer the TV? What kind of damage can this cause? Is this dangerous for everyone else on the highway?



Thanks in advance.

I wish I still had the picture of it but we used to see an old school caddy that they somehow mounted a 5th wheel hitch in the trunk and where pulling a small 5th wheel.

[Mad5581]

Also if you look at the owners manual of any travel trailer they all say the same thing. That is this vehicle must be towed with a weight distribution hitch. Not only is it damaging to the tow vehicle its also destructive to the trailer. They are designed to have multiple points of downward force. You can actually crack the trailer frame in extreme situations. I see rv transporters with 1 ton DRWs do it all the time without WD. Yes they are stupid too. It dosen't matter what truck you have the rv was designed to be towed with a WD hitch. Also in the case of the above picture it is so nose down the front Axl on that trailer is about 100% over loaded I'd bet on it. My 2nd rv is a 27 foot coleman and sure I'll move it about the yard with just a standard hitch but even with my 1 ton I use the WD hitch and my trailer doesn't squatt the truck at all without it. As a matter of fact the 1 time I took my rv to dump the tanks with out the WD hitch it actually drove better without the WD hitch. I still use it on road trips because in the owners manual it states the trailer requires it. My truck can tow 10k without WD and the rv is only 6500lbs so for the truck it's not necessary. My point is don't risk it use the proper tools.

[darlos]

Front end lift will undoubtedly occur. Worse case scenario The front tires of the TV will lift off the pavement resulting in loss of control.

[jimmoore13]

Originally Posted by Mad5581

Also if you look at the owners manual of any travel trailer they all say the same thing. That is this vehicle must be towed with a weight distribution hitch. Not only is it damaging to the tow vehicle its also destructive to the trailer. They are designed to have multiple points of downward force. You can actually crack the trailer frame in extreme situations. I see rv transporters with 1 ton DRWs do it all the time without WD. Yes they are stupid too. It dosen't matter what truck you have the rv was designed to be towed with a WD hitch. Also in the case of the above picture it is so nose down the front Axl on that trailer is about 100% over loaded I'd bet on it. My 2nd rv is a 27 foot coleman and sure I'll move it about the yard with just a standard hitch but even with my 1 ton I use the WD hitch and my trailer doesn't squatt the truck at all without it. As a matter of fact the 1 time I took my rv to dump the tanks with out the WD hitch it actually drove better without the WD hitch. I still use it on road trips because in the owners manual it states the trailer requires it. My truck can tow 10k without WD and the rv is only 6500lbs so for the truck it's not necessary. My point is don't risk it use the proper tools.

The physics of your comment don't sound correct. The spring bars of a WDH apply DOWNWARD pressure on the connection points, which, in turn, applies upwards leverage to the WDH hitch mount at the receiver on the TV. Why do I make this claim? In order to hook up the WDH, one usually hooks up to the TV, then uses the tongue jack to raise the hitch point between the TV and Trailer HIGHER than where it will sit on the road. Next, the person hooking up must LIFT on the spring bars to either hook them over an L-bracket on either side of the A-frame or attach chains to hooks on either side of the A-frame. Once the spring bars are attached, one lowers the tongue jack until the weight of the tongue is transferred to the TV.

So, if I'm understanding correctly, the WDH actually applies MORE pressure on the hitch ball and A-frame of the trailer as it transfers this leverage to the rear of the TV via the receiver end of the WDH to both level the connection and transfer tongue weight to the front axle of the TV.

As I think of the spring bars' application of force, it's down on either side of the A-frame, so the coupler is likely carrying more downward force against the ball than without the WDH. The spring bars do NOT LIFT the tongue, they lift the TV by leveraging against the trailer tongue, which, in turn, lifts the coupling between the TV and trailer by RAISING THE BALL.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not think doing without a WDH adds more stress to the A-frame or coupler. Instead, it seems to me that a WDH adds more stresses to the coupler and A-frame, but these components are designed to accommodate those stresses. Warnings to use a WDH are based on the need for stability, reducing sag at the rear of the TV, and so on...but NOT to share tongue weight between 3 point on the A-frame: coupler and two WDH spring bar attachment points.

Why this "rant"? When I purchased my new X-213, I was ready to pony up for a WDH and asked the salesman what he had to offer. He already knew about my air bags and suggested that I tow it home first and see how it handled. In other words, he walked away from a sure sale advising that I probably don't need it. As it turns out, my truck handles the tongue weight very well without a WDH...but with 50 PSI in each bag. The truck is level, doesn't wallow in the whoops, the lights are pointed correctly, and the only difference I notice is a very slight lightening of the steering...by no means enough to cause a concern about steering or braking capabilities.

Are RV sales staff experts on these issues? No. But to walk away from a sure sale of a WDH...and the related commission...suggests sincere advice.

So, I'm eager to know if the WDH actually takes weight off the coupler/ball combo and transfers it farther back on the A-frame.

[gymracer]

What is wrong with towing a trailer with a Mimi on it? I tow one on a trailer with my 36' Super C MH 10s of thousands of miles?