Just bought a 2018 179 - towing issue

Originally posted by lostagain Old, you seem to have a dog in this race.  Personally, I don't care whether one buys a WDH or not.   All I am saying is that the picture shows a midsize pickup truck with too much weight aft.  Weight needs to be moved forward.  A WDH can take care of that.  You could add weight to the rear of the trailer to lighten the relative tongue weight, but that may be at the expense of increasing the potential for sway, an unpleasant condition.   WDH's are not that expensive in the grand scheme of things.  For a little more than $300 you can solve the balance and weight transfer problem, have a lot more directional stability, sway protection, and comfort in cross-winds and other challenging driving conditions, especially on long trips.   When I look at our F-150 it is clear to me that this supposedly full sized pickup is more balanced with a WHD and it sure drives a lot nicer.  Certainly, I could do with out it, but I'm not into white knuckle driving.  Why bother?  When I connect up the WDH, everything looks more balanced, and the weighing of the trailer at the CAT scale proved that to be the case with more than 150 lbs. transferred to the front wheels.   It's clear that you are no fan of WDH's and that is your prerogative.  But others, by sharing their preferences are not trying to unduly influence the OP's request for information.  They're simply sharing their experiences.

Heck, you could have two r-Pods, one in front, the other in back.  It'd be just like pushing jets around on tarmac at the airport.  

Old, you seem to have a dog in this race.  Personally, I don't care whether one buys a WDH or not.  

olddogsrule, I can assure you that I need a wdh. I am at 11% on the tongue when my gray tank is full and my fwt empty. That is as low as I'm willing to go. When my fwt is full and gray tank empty I'm at 500 lbs. Without the wdh my rig looks like the op's and my front to rear TV axle imbalance is about 1000 lbs. I would not tow with my rig without the wdh.

The point us that you can't fully control how you load, water at least will start forward and move aft over time. There are other loads that are also hard to relocate, and good reasons, like sway risk, not to.

Although a wdh when set properly will not get the TV back to where it was without the trailer it will put the front axle back where it was and place some tongue load on the trailer axle, so the rear TV axle squat will be reduced dramatically.

Let me ask the question from the other direction, what is bad about having a wdh to improve load balance on a rig with a relatively light TV?You get additional ride improvement and loading flexibility. What's not to like?

Originally posted by lostagain From a lay person's perspective, if the loaded TV and trailer don't sit evenly in a straight line back to front, such as is depicted in H-B's foto where the front is noticeably lifted, you probably need a WDH.  It may be possible to get along without it, but what you gain in ease of driving will make it worth it.  You gain better control, better wind stability, and better sway resistance all wrapped in one device.