Weight Distribution and Sway Control for 2010 Nissan Frontier SE Towing 2015 KZ Spree Escape  

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Generally a weight distribution system (or WD with sway control) is called for if your towing set-up has your Frontier's headlights pointing upward, if it sags in the rear end, or if it's steering and/or braking performance suffer when hitched to your trailer. A good rule of thumb is that if your loaded trailer weighs 50-percent or more of the gross weight of the tow vehicle, then WD and SC are called for. The linked article will give you good background on the considerations for choosing a system.

The key to choosing a WD/SC system is to know your trailer's actual fully-loaded tongue weight (TW). To this measured TW you need to add the weight of anything that sits in the truck behind the rear axle, such as a loaded cooler or generator. With this total TW figure known you can choose a system rated high enough to shift some TW forward to the Frontier's front axle but without being so stiff that it results in weird handling from the trailer. Ideally your total TW figure will fall right in the middle of the system's operating range.

There's several ways to measure TW. The linked article explains ways to measure TW, the easiest being use of a simple scale from etrailer, part # e99044. With your TW figure known you can use the linked page to review systems rated appropriately.

Your Spree's rated dry hitch weight is 350-lbs, so by the time you load your supplies and gear, fill your 20-gallon water tank and 6-gallon water heater you're likely to be at around 500-lbs loaded TW. We'll use that figure for our example.

If you click on the 500-lb TW figure you'll see system suited to that TW. The best option for this one-time investment is the Reese Strait-Line system # RP66083 which works for TW ranging from 400- to 800-lbs. This trunnion bar system provides better ground clearance than round bar systems like the Blue Ox # BLU45FR and it actually prevents sway from starting, instead of trying to stop it once it starts. The is widely considered to be the premier system on the market.

expert reply by: Adam R

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