Weight Distribution and Sway Control Recommendation for Towing a 10k Travel Trailer

Question:

Hi there I am going to get into hauling campers up to 10.000lbs with a 1 ton truck. Either Chevy Ford or Dodge. My dispatcher requires me to have Travel trailer hitch with sway bars. What can you recommend. Also I noticed that you cannot back up with some of them? Am I reading this right? Thanks,

asked by: Michael D

Expert Reply:

Sounds like you are looking for a weight distribution system with sway control for your travel trailer.

The best way to pick out a weight distribution system is to base it off of the loaded tongue weight of the setup when it is loaded and ready to tow. This figure also includes the weight of any cargo behind the rear axle of the tow vehicle. I attached a help article on determining tongue weight for you to check out as well. You will want the loaded tongue weight of your setup to fall right in the middle of the tongue weight range of the system you use.

With any weight distribution system you don't want to jack knife your trailer while backing up. This can cause the bars to slip out of the hangers. When you use a friction sway control the risk is increased as they can get damaged before the bars come out in a jack knife situation.

The best setup I can recommend would be the Strait Line systems like the part # RP66130 that use a dual cam system that works to prevent sway before it starts. It doesn't have friction sway control so you can back up with this system. This system has a tongue weight range of 800 lbs - 1,500 lbs which should work well for you but you still want to verify the loaded tongue weights of your setup.

expert reply by: Jameson C