Question about weight distributing hitches

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Wed May 08, 2013 10:10 pm

I have a question about weight distributing hitches. I wanted to confirm that the receiver bar that comes with the factory tow package does indeed support a weight distributing hitch. Iv'e kind of always assumed it does as the manual says that for tongue weights over 300 lbs one should be used. The reason I ask is that I was looking online and read that the hitch should give it's weight rating as well as a weight distributing weight rating. It said that if it does not have a weight distributing weight rating that a WDH should not be used. I looked on mine and it does not say anything about it's weight distributing weight rating. So.....does the factory tow package receiver bar officially support a WDH?

Jim

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Wed May 08, 2013 11:09 pm

Have been towing 4000 pounds for 5 years. MUST use WDH for this kind of weight.

DOC

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Thu May 09, 2013 7:48 am

I have a "hidden hitch" on my 06 CRD and it does not specifically give WDH ratings either, just total ratings.

In my opinion it's more about what the receiver is bolted to (your jeep) then the receiver. I've gotten a new WDH and it lists the capacity of the stinger/drawbar both with and without using it as a wdh.

I've towed a 3500# trailer with a 400# tongue weight and WDH many miles with my CRD with problems at all.

You don't mention what you are towing. Also take what you read on the WWW with a grain of salt.

I have a 2006 Liberty sales brocher and in the section talking about the CRD it says "Hauls up to 5,000 lb when equipped with Liberty's optional Trailer Tow Group". That would indicate to most that a WDH would be needed assuming 10% of the trailer's weight (500#)is on the tongue.

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Thu May 09, 2013 9:51 am

Thanks for the replies. I tow a 7'x12' (without the tongue...16' with it) concession trailer that weighs anywhere from 4200-5000 pounds depending on how much product is loaded into it. Currently I don't have a WDH and have always tried to load it as smart as possible to keep the tongue weight down without having it too rear end heavy. I think it's definitely time for a a WDH though. I just wanted to be 100% sure that the stock receiver bar supported one being as it did not list weight distributing weight rating.

Jim

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Thu May 09, 2013 12:29 pm

I have the Curt and will be changing it out. Mine doesn't have a WDH rating but curt says I can use one. It has a tongue rating of 500 and I now I am over that. I am will be getting the drawtite.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Leeann · **Joined:** Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:19 pm **Posts:** 523

My Draw Tite has both ratings. Got it on eBay, shipped free.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Thu May 09, 2013 7:58 pm

Kiss,

VERY DANGEROUS what you are doing! You MUST have close to 10% tongue weight.

DOC

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Thu May 09, 2013 8:45 pm

Doc....
I definitely have between 10%-15% of the weight on the tongue. I was loading it so there wasn't more on the tongue. I have scouted out a WDH that I am going to buy tomorrow as I will be towing this trailer next weekend. I'm anxious to feel the difference it will make. Here are a couple of pics of the trailer latched up to the Jeep without a WDH. This was with the trailer moderately loaded....probably in the 4500 pound range:

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Thu May 09, 2013 9:50 pm

Unless you have airbags or stiffer rear springs, there is no way you have 450lbs of tongue weight from those pictures. Be sure to check your rear bump stops for damage.
Inadequate tongue weight leads to jackknife disasters.

DOC

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Fri May 10, 2013 2:35 pm

Doc,
First of all....thanks for your insight.....I do appreciate it. Second....I went ahead and did some weighing with a bathroom scale. AFAIK......I did this correctly. I had a scale with a pipe 2' from the center of the coupler on one side and a piece of wood with a pipe 1' on the other side of the coupler. I lowered the coupler onto the 2x3 intersecting the two so that the trailer was as level as I could get it. The weight on the scale was about 180lbs. Now....when I did it with a larger 2x6 as the connecting piece of wood I got about 170. So....split the difference and call it 175lbs. Now multiply that by 3 and that gives me 525lbs. Assuming I did this all correctly (I checked several sights like etrailer.com to make sure I had this correct) that is roughly 525lbs of tongue weight when my trailer is probably somewhere around 4000-4100lbs right now...maybe a tad more. That would put me around 12-13% tongue weight. Here are some pics.

Are there any errors that you can see in my calculations or processes? I did purchase that WDH today so I'll be setting it up in the next couple of days.

Thanks, Jim

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Sat May 11, 2013 6:39 am

I based my opinion on how your KJ looked in the pictures. Mine would be sticking its nose in the air with 400+ lbs on the ball.

DOC

jeepdan · **Posted:** Sun May 12, 2013 9:26 pm

kissfan79 wrote:

I have a question about weight distributing hitches. I wanted to confirm that the receiver bar that comes with the factory tow package does indeed support a weight distributing hitch. Iv'e kind of always assumed it does as the manual says that for tongue weights over 300 lbs one should be used. The reason I ask is that I was looking online and read that the hitch should give it's weight rating as well as a weight distributing weight rating. It said that if it does not have a weight distributing weight rating that a WDH should not be used. I looked on mine and it does not say anything about it's weight distributing weight rating. So.....does the factory tow package receiver bar officially support a WDH?

Jim

While buying my WDH, I asked a local Jeep dealer this very same question because there was not any decal or any info. stamped on the factory installed receiver hitch.
They said pretty much what Joe Romas wrote. If Jeep tells you to use a WDH under certain trailer weights, than the factory receiver is rated for one. Talk about blind faith! Why doesn't jeep mark their receivers to verify that?
Anyhow you will be quite pleased with the use of a WDH, I am.

naturist · **Posted:** Sun May 19, 2013 10:13 pm

The RV makers all say you should have 10-15% of the weight of the rig on the tongue, with optimal in the 12-13% range. The WDH makers all say you want to adjust the hitch height and weight transfer springs so that both the trailer and the TV sit level when hooked up.

I have a travel trailer with a 3680 lb empty weight, and 5,000 lb gross weight, and I've dragged it around since 2008, twice from coast to coast and back. I had an RV dealer I trust help me set it up with the WDH they sold me, and mine sits level and tows well enough that I don't use an anti-sway hitch. The receiver is the stock one.

You should be fine, although will probably find it is more directionally stable if you tow in full-time 4 WD. When you load it up, keep that tongue weight up there, lest it become directionally unstable.

CGman · **Posted:** Mon May 20, 2013 7:58 am

Kissfan,

I weigh airplanes for a living, and one thing I can tell you is that your setup looks technically correct, but you will almost always get an error from using a different sized footprint for what the scale was made to weigh. cheap bathroom scales can be very bad about this, and I've even seen $10k scales have these problems.

TheBlueKJ · **Posted:** Mon May 20, 2013 9:43 pm

Where are you getting the multiply by 3? You should be multiplying by 2 since there are only 2 areas where the weight is pushing downwards on, the wood and the scale. Hence forth there are only 2 areas pushing back on the force pushing down which seems to be in the center of the board, which means you have an even amount of reaction force pushing upwards now multiply the weight on the scale by 2 (which the scale seems to be reading 180# so you would get 360#)

Now if you have a third area where the weight of the trailer is resting on you can use the factor of 3 and disregard my engineering rant :jester:

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Mon May 20, 2013 11:27 pm

Now, that makes sense! The pictures fit with around 300 lbs on the ball. As previously stated, our KJ CRD would be pointing to the heavens with 525 lbs on the ball.

Hope he ONLY tows that load with a WDH in the future.

DOC

CATCRD · **Posted:** Mon May 20, 2013 11:52 pm

TheBlueKJ wrote:

Where are you getting the multiply by 3? You should be multiplying by 2 since there are only 2 areas where the weight is pushing downwards on, the wood and the scale. Hence forth there are only 2 areas pushing back on the force pushing down which seems to be in the center of the board, which means you have an even amount of reaction force pushing upwards now multiply the weight on the scale by 2 (which the scale seems to be reading 180# so you would get 360#)

Now if you have a third area where the weight of the trailer is resting on you can use the factor of 3 and disregard my engineering rant :jester:

But the tongue is not in the center of the board. He said there's 2 ft on one side and 1 on the other. 1+2=3. This coming from a mechanical engineer.

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 12:16 pm

Hey guys...
Thanks for the replies on the subject. I finally have a WDH and have it installed. I'll some pics further down in my post. First off....

TheBlueKJ wrote:

Where are you getting the multiply by 3? You should be multiplying by 2 since there are only 2 areas where the weight is pushing downwards on, the wood and the scale. Hence forth there are only 2 areas pushing back on the force pushing down which seems to be in the center of the board, which means you have an even amount of reaction force pushing upwards now multiply the weight on the scale by 2 (which the scale seems to be reading 180# so you would get 360#)

Now if you have a third area where the weight of the trailer is resting on you can use the factor of 3 and disregard my engineering rant :jester:

That is what I initially thought would be the case....multiply by 2 but I did several searches on how to correctly calculate tongue weight with a bathroom scale and they all said using this method you multiply by 3 because you have a 2' span between the scale and the tongue as well as a 1' span between the tongue and the support point for a total of 3'....hence you multiply y 3. This is were I found this info:
http://www.etrailer.com/faq-how-to-dete ... eight.aspx
"You can use a bathroom scale and a box to measure tongue weight of smaller trailers. Place the coupler of the loaded trailer on the scale at normal towing height (Figure A). For heavier tongue weights, use the second method (Figure B). Be sure to perform these measurements on a level surface and with a leveled trailer.

To use the method in Figure B, follow these guidelines:

Always place the trailer tongue 1 foot from the pipe on the support brick
Multiply the reading on the scale by the total distance between the 2 support pipes
Use a brick that is the same thickness as the scale so that the 2 x 4 is level when you weigh your trailer

For example, if the distance between the trailer tongue and the pipe on the scale is 2 feet and the distance between the trailer tongue and the pipe on the support brick is 1 foot, then you would multiply the reading on the scale by 3 to get the tongue weight. If the distance between the trailer tongue and the pipe on the scale is 3 feet and the distance between the trailer tongue and the pipe on the support brick is 1 foot, then you would multiply the reading on the scale by 4 to get the tongue weight."

There are some pics in that link to illustrate.

I confirmed this method and the multiply by 3 part with a couple of other sites who all said the same thing. As I said....I did finally get a WDH installed and here are some pics. I think it could be tweaked just a bit more for the optimum benefit but it definitely helped. These pics were taken while on a slight incline (never realized how hard it is to find a truly level surface when messing with a WDH :-)r

):

This trailer is 7.5' wide x 12' long (16' with the tongue) and weighs about 3900# empty. In this pic it was loaded with large marine coolers, sodas, tubs of Italian ice, etc for the festival we were at as a food vendor so the weight was probably in the 4400-4500# range. It may have been my imagination but it seemed like I actually got a tad better mileage with the WDH. I averaged about 16 mpg over 190 miles with this trailer (hand calculated using GPS miles) which is about a mile or two better than what I usually get. I also noticed that it didn't want to down shift as quickly/as much when I started a hill if the O/D wasn't locked out. All in all....I'm happy with the performance of it although I almost couldn't get out of my driveway because of the bars and the steep dip down at the edge of my driveway where it meets the road but we made it.

Thanks again for all of the input and the long read with this post.

Jim

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 1:38 pm

You can tweak the bars a little and get the OEM rake back to the Jeep.

DOC

kissfan79 · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 2:00 pm

Doc....
When you say adjust bars a little....are you referring to adjusting the number of links in the chain or adjusting the angle of the bars coming out of the hitch (it did come with washers to adjust the angle of the bars up or down coming out of the hitch)?

Thanks, Jim

Question about weight distributing hitches

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