Properly Equipped
Some truck owners mistakenly think that changing to a military-syle pintle hitch, replacing the factory hitch with a heavier-duty version, or changing the drawbar and/or the hitch ball will increase their vehicle's towing capacity. Not. It's the vehicle manufacturer that sets the limits and equipment requirements on how much the vehicle can safely tow. Those limitations and requirements are based on the vehicle's ability to maintain control, brake, and maintain drivetrain integrity based on the chassis and other vehicle design elements-not on the class rating of the hitch itself.
Look in the owner's manual of the '07 Toyota Tundra Double Cab 4x4 equipped with the towing 5.7L V-8 and optional towing package, and you'll see the truck can tow a 10,300-pound trailer. But the Tundra owner's manual clearly states that any trailer weighing more than 2,000 pounds requires the use of a "sway control device," and trailers weighing more than 5,000 pounds require the use of a weight-distributing hitch.
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The center of the pole-tongue adapter should be about 25 inches from the center of the hit
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This special bracket has brake-type friction pads to provide sway control, yet the design
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Bolt the spring-bar brackets to the mounting plates using a 1/2-inch hex-head socket (not
GMC, Chevrolet, Dodge, and Nissan 1/2-ton pickups and SUVs have similar towing caveats noted in both the owner's manuals and on the factory websites related to tow ratings.
The reason for such devices is quite simple: A weight-distributing hitch maintains the vehicle's steering stability and body control when a trailer heavier than the towing vehicle tries to push the tow vehicle around during cornering, hard braking, through dips in the road, or in windy conditions. More importantly, the W-D hitch helps maintain driver control in the event of accident avoidance maneuvers.
Old Problem
Installing and using a W-D hitch isn't a big deal for conventional A-frame trailers like those used under travel-, car hauler-, and box-type trailers that use electric brakes. The dilemma with W-D hitches arises when they are used on trailers that have surge-brake-type systems.
Tighten all the bolts to spec on the pole-tongue adapter and spring-bar brackets.
In order for a surge-brake system to operate, the trailer-ball coupler has to move fore-and-aft an inch to activate the trailer-brake master cylinder enclosed in the coupler. Conventional W-D hitches that use the chains to adjust the load-leveling bars can interfere with that coupler movement.
Hence, makers of surge-brake-equipped trailers don't recommend those type of W-D hitches be used on their trailers. This is especially true of boat trailers, where surge-type brakes are the norm. This dilemma puts boat owners and anyone else who pulls a trailer weighing in excess of 5,000 pounds loaded, in a real legal bind.
On one side, the vehicle manufacturers require the use of a weight-distributing hitch. On the trailer-manufacturer side, such hitches are frowned upon because they can-and do-impede the reliable function of surge-type brakes. This has been an issue for decades.
New Technology
Now some new W-D hitch innovations provide solid solutions to this dilemma. The Equal-i-zer Sway Control Hitch from Progress Manufacturing, and the new Reese SC from Cequent Towing Products, are both designed and recommended for use on all trailers that use surge-type brakes.
The Equal-i-zer design allows the spring bars to be held in place with a clamp bracket, allowing the bars to slide in position so the surge-brake coupler can move back and forth, activating the trailer brakes.
The new Reese SC goes one step further by not only allowing the spring bars to float in position but also adding special brake-pad-like friction pads to provide automatic sway control without interfering with the surge-braking process. It's a very slick system and ideal for boat trailers.
Easy Installation
We installed the Reese SC W-D kit to see how it works on a big trailerable boat package, which are the types of trailers most prone to sway issues and not being towed with W-D hitches. We chose a Chaparral 270 Signature Series Cruiser with a dry weight of 7,450 pounds and a fully-rigged trailered weight of 9,200. That places the trailer well over the Tundra's-and most other brand's pickup's-"weight- carrying" towing capacity of 5,000 pounds, thus requiring the use of both a weight-distributing hitch and a sway-control device. (All Toyota pickups, SUVs, and crossovers "require" the use of a sway-control device on trailers that weigh more than 2,000 pounds.). Reese's SC hitch easily fulfills those requirements. The kit retails for $560 and is available in 600-, 800-, 1,200-, and 1,500-pound tongue-weight ratings.
We used the 800-pound tongue-weight version as the Sherline tongue-weight scale we used showed our test Chaparral was placing 795 pounds of downforce on the Tundra's hitch, which is also well-above both the vehicle manufacturer's weight-carrying tongue-weight limit and that of the factory hitch. Installation took about 30 minutes and required basic handtools with the exception of the 1/2-inch hex-head drive socket we had to track down to attach one bolt in the kit. (That bolt design may change with newer kits.)