I was at a car event over the past weekend, and trailered my car, with my D-Max and an enclosed 24' trailer. Trailer weighed more than likely around 7,000 lbs. loaded. While I was in the lot, I parused the truck and trailers in the lot, many trucks were 2500 series, some D-Max, and other brands were there too, but I found it odd that my truck was the only one without wieght distribution. . . . Now I am fairly new to the trailering world, but is the weight distribution really "necesary" for a 2500 pulling a approximately 3,000 lb trailer with a load of 3,500 lb. ? Never did I feel unsafe while pulling, just wanted to pick your brains and educate my self.


THANKS!! http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Approve.gif

I'm no trailering expert, but I have pulled quite a few times with trailers up to about 9k on the OEM hitch with just a draw bar (rated for 13000 lbs). I never felt like the trailer was pushing the truck around. I loaded the trailers so there wasn't an excessive amount of tongue weight (back of truck only dropped a couple of inches) and all went well. These aren't short tows either. I'm going from my home to property we own and it is 450 miles one way at up to 70 MPH.


IMO, the WD hitches are needed more for long, tall trailers, with no real means of adjusting tongue weight.

If you run 10 to 15% of loaded weight on hitch and the vehical is stout enough to handle it, you will have no problems. Also DO NOT buy a 24 ft enclosed car hauler with only 3500 lb axles. This is foolish as you will have long term problems if you load it. Get 5200lb axles and you will never be sorry you did as you will get better brakes and tires too and can tow at more ease at higher speeds with tires and axles that have plenty of reserve capacity at any reasonable speed. As stated earlier a 24 foot enclosed car hauler with 3500lb axle is a joke with at best a 3500 lbs usable load capactiy and tires and axles will be maxed at that load. Same trailer with 5200's would have a usefull load of nearly 7000 lbs and "loaf" with a 4000 lbs load in it.

Also, after reading about all the hitch problems with GM on the RV forums and actually having hitch problems on my D/A I would not be pulling that type of weight without any type of WD equipment. My hitch is being replaced with a Putnam or Titan next week due to weld cracks and hitch pin hole trying to double in size. GM really needs to rethink the strength of their hitch platforms on the HD trucks.

I cannot speak for the ones used on the NBS trucks as my newest truck that I own is a 2000 K3500 OBS but I have had zero problems with it and on my 89 burb the factory hitch has be trouble free too.

If the gross is around 7,000 lbs the tongue weight should be from 700 to 1,200 lbs. At 700 lbs I do not use the weight distribution bars or consider my 500 lb set only.


For the 1,200 lb tongue weight I would use my 500 or 750 lb set. To use my 1,000 lb. set I want at least 1,400 lbs on the tongue. I have found that my rear tires wear quickly if I have too little weight on the hitch. My guess is that they slip or skip down the road under good pulling loads without extra weight on the hitch.


One time I used 1,000 lb. weight bars on a 12,000 lb. unit without knowing the tongue weight. Did not take the time to measure pre and post connection height. Hit some icy areas and spun like crazy. Darn trailer had a huge generating system built into a rear compartment. Only 500lbs. of tongue weight. Factory heard about that one. I removed the bars before finishing the tow.

I have only used equalizers bars but a few times in my life and only on light built vehicals too. I never cared much for them but I have always primarily towed with 3/4 or 1 tons with stiff rearends that handled tounge weights of a 1000lbs or more without much fuss. I know some people swear by them though.

Hmmm, intersting info, just found it odd to see all these 3/4 ton trucks with WD, when towing just a car in an enclosed trailer. Seemed overkill to me . . .

Hmmm, intersting info, just found it odd to see all these 3/4 ton trucks with WD, when towing just a car in an enclosed trailer. Seemed overkill to me . . .

Seems odd to me too! I really love it when a see a dually using them and I have a few times with trailers that were not that big. BTW a good friend of mine just bought a 11,000lbs GVW enclosed trailer for his window and door install bussiness and he pulls it fine with a 1 ton Cheve van with not a hint of stabilty problems and no bars. Edited by: snoman

As an avid tower of several decades, I can say that in most cases the WD bars add a level of rigidity that otherwise would not be there.

Additionally, some of the newer type weight bars have sway control incorporated into them. Now I know that some of the duallys have little use for WD, but I will tell you first hand towing a 6300lb RV with weight bars makes a difference on the equiv of a 1/2 ton. Others on RV forums that have 3/4 tons also use them.

I do not doubt at all that they are of value on a 1/2 type tow vehical but I have towed for many year with primarily 3/4 and 1 ton trucks DW with no bars and if your chassis/springs is stiff enough and tires are rated high enough you will have not problems. I never have and I even pulled a 4 horse stock trailer for many years on all kinds of roads too and a trailer with a "moving" load is more challenging than one with a stationary one. If the tow vehical is not up to the load to begin with, everything else is a compromize.

If your truck is not squatting excessively or experiencing any other handling problems you're probably okay. The WD bars keep the front end from getting too light which under some circumstances can cause handling problems. I'm not a fan of the OE receiver for heavy loads, but that's just me.

TC