How to Pick Out a Weight Distribution System for a New Travel Trailer

Question:

Tow vehicle is a 2015 Ford F250 Crew Cab 6.2L V8 Travel Trailer is a Keystone Passport with the unloaded factory specs of: 3860 dry weight, 495 tongue weight, 1540 cargo weight, 5400 GVW. The trailer has not been purchased yet and I would like to have a WD hitch ready to install at the dealer but going off the factory specs is less than optimal. Obviously the tongue weight is only going to increase with fuel, batteries,and cargo but I do not know how much. My question is should I go up in weight to the 550-750 Blue Ox BXW0750 and assume that I will be over the minimum 550lbs when loaded?

asked by: Tad

Expert Reply:

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.

It would be a fair assumption that your loaded tongue weight would be over 550 lbs, I would be slightly concerned that it would end up being over the 750 max rating for the # BXW0750 though, but it's really hard to say. Then you would need part # BXW1000.

A system with a much wider range would be the Reese part # RP66542 that has a range of 600 to 1,200 lbs.

expert reply by: Jameson C