Thanks again, everybody, for all of the replies/advice. I haven't disappeared, just been too busy to get any further into things. When I get a chance (probably this coming weekend) I'm going to hook up the trailer and get it on a smooth/even surface and measure ball height from the ground and verify level vs. not. I'm thinking it's pretty close to level with the current ball height, maybe sitting slightly lower in front, but we'll see.

Anyhow, I'll be back................

 

One other thing I just realized is how much your tongue weighs. I can't remember, off the top of my head, what the Receiver on your truck is rated for, I know it is class IV but what's the tongue weight W/O weight distribution. One more reason to weigh you trailer.

Hub

 

stezlaki - If you do want to weigh your trailer and you have a truck stop nearby, go to the CAT scales, push the button and tell them you want the $1 private weigh. Its worked every time for me. Generally its a ditsy girl who doesn't know pee from paint, so its always worked. Whether there really is a "$1 private weigh," I don't know. I just made it up and said it, and they always go along with it.

Put your front & rear axles centered as well as you can on different platforms (scales), and hopefully your trailer axles will be on the rear most platform. Works well for me. May have to weigh your truck by itself too (unless you know that already) to determine the tongue weight.

 

If you're out in the country, you can stop at any feed store with a scale and they'll usually weigh you for free.

 

I'm not sure about a newer truck,but Dodge used to only put a ClassIV hitch on the trucks,even the 3500's,it made a difference on Ma's 2500,she had the same trouble and got a Class Five Reese,not more sway.
Look and see what you got,does your truck have truck tires on it? Or those Bling Bling P.O.S. tires? I hate that crap.
A truck is for workin,those tires belong on lowriders.

 

OK, it took me a while, but I finally got some numbers.

Truck weight (no trailer):

Front = 4540#
Rear = 3260#
Gross truck wt. = 7800#

Weights with loaded trailer (loads change, but this is the most consistent load):

Front = 4400#
Rear = 4580#
Trailer = 6260#
Gross truck/trailer = 15240#

So, it would appear that my "guess" of trailer weight (6500-7500#) was pretty close, as actual weight would be 7440#.

Tongue weight appears to be 1180# (if I did the math right), which is about 15.9% of the gross trailer weight.

Oh yeah, and ball height:
before trailer = about 19"
after trailer = about 16 3/4" (trailer is very near level at this height as measured w/a 4' level along the roof............VERY slightly nose low).

Anybody know what weights the OEM receiver is supposed to be rated for?

Best I can tell my trailer weight is ok, my tongue weight is ok (as far as % of trailer weight), and my ball height is probably about as close to level as it's gonna get.

 

I have 2 bumper pull trailers made by the same manufacturer. One is a 4 horse stock and the other is a 2 horse with a large dressing room and tack area. They are the same length and steel trailers. The axles on the trailers are the same weight class,the frames and couplers are the same distance from the ground, the distance from the coupler at the ball centers to the first axles is the same, the distance between axles are the same, the tires are the same make and size. Interestingly enough, when I read the info from the trailer manufacturer, they suggest different ball heights for the 2 trailers, an inch difference. Does your trailer have a label regarding the manufacturer's suggested ball height? Some of the trailer manufacturers have done engineering regarding the 'axle set' and distribution over their axle placement/spacing and weight distribution, this is why they suggest a specific ball height. I have 2 different ball drops for when I am towing the 2 differently suggested heights. I too went from a Ford to a Dodge truck and was used to a different 'feel' of suspension and also had a rear sway bar. When I first got the Dodge I had one ball drop and my one trailer tended to sway a little so I first thought that I needed a sway bar or had a load distribution problem. I also thought that since I was habitual to loading everything the same the trucks should pull my trailers the same. I got a little frustrated with the whole thing too. I took the time to read the manufacturer labels on the trailers and much to my suprise the manufacturers suggested height was different. I called them to make sure that my trailers were labeled correctly because since they were basically the same trailer having 2 different ball heights did not make sense to me. They told me about the geometry stuff so I thought I'd give it a try and get a second ball drop. When I got the second drop right I solved my problem and have had no sway since. Sorry for the long explination but it's all in the details that makes the story. I did not think something as simple as this would solve the problem. In fact, I thought maybe I had some kind of axle to frame alignment problem with my trailer, but my rationale kept saying 'the Ford pulled them both just fine'. What I know now is that the Ford probably did not pull them both fine but since the Dodge suspension is a little softer it magnified my problem. I hope that helps in your consideration of all this.

CD

 

Stezlaki - I have a question, because I'm not sure. Aren't the hitches on our Dodge's (and probably the Ford you had too) a Class IV hitch? A Class IV hitch is rated at 10,000 lbs. maximum towing, and 1,000 lbs maximum tongue weight.

Basically that's 10%. Seems to me that "people" on here and other BB's say that 5th wheel hitches carry 15% - 20% (I can't remember the exact number)of the weight, and bumper pull trailers are 8% to 10%.

That being said, maybe you've got too much weight on your hitch. I think you should have about 750 lbs tongue weight (gross trailer weight 7,440#).

Maybe the Fords rear suspension / tires / chassis were more robust than the Mega cab's and could deal with the hitch heavy pin weight better than the Dodge.

This is just my $0.02 worth, but if I were you, I'd give it a try to reposition some things and see if you can lower the hitch weight and try towing it again.

The couple times I overloaded my trailer, I was concerned about my trailer tires so I front loaded the trailer as much as I could, to put as much weight on the truck as possible. Well, because I was worried, I towed very slow. So slow, that I might have had a sway issue if I sped up ... but I never did. I won't tow like that again ... if I can help it.

- JyRO

 

And back to the original question regarding the stock hitch - It is DESIGNED to be used with a weight distributing system to get it's MAX rating. You will overload it's capacity without the weight distribution. I took mine off and replaced it with a better hitch after reading all the posts here and on other sites regarding failures EVEN WITH a weight distributing system. There were lots and lots of complaints regarding sway with even light tongue weights.

CD

 

CD in NM - Please explain what you mean. A Class IV hitch is rated at 10,000# towing & 1,000# tongue weight. Are you saying that those weights are permissible with a weight distributing system ONLY? If so, I've never heard that, but I'm sure there are a lot of things I've never heard.

 

Did you get an actual tounge weight or did you calculate it?

 

charliez - I'm not sure what you're asking, but if you're asking stezlaki, he got all the info he needed to accurately calculate it. It is the loaded GVW minus the unloaded GVW. Which gives you a tongue weight of 1,180 lbs.

 

No, you cannot calcualte it, you need to actually weigh it. I've seen many folks calcualte it by doing just that, then weigh it and be surprised how wrong they are.

He should have set the jack leg only on the scale. There is a way to use a bath scale to weigh it. I'll see if I can find instructions.

 

So let's see, unloaded you weigh each truck at the axle and have a weight.

stezlaki did and he got:

Front = 4540#
Rear = 3260#
Gross truck wt. = 7800#

Then you add the trailer to the truck, put it on the same scale again, and measure the truck at each axle, and the trailer at its axle or pair of axles. He did this too and got:

Front = 4400#
Rear = 4580#
Trailer = 6260#
Gross truck/trailer = 15240#

You take the difference in the weight of the truck's 2 axles (unloaded versus loaded), and this difference is how much weight the trailer is putting on the truck ... the tongue weight.

Last time I checked, at our current gravitational constant, using predefined mathematical formulas, this method worked just fine.

I fail to see any short comings of stezlaki's methods. But, you're saying this doesn't work? Please explain why this would not work.

- JyRO

 

Your measuring weight spread over the axle of the truck and trailer, not specefic points.