Just bought a 2018 179 - towing issue

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.  

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.

My point is different. I’m not interested in leveling my tow vehicle, it doesn’t end up level. I’m interested in counteracting the teeter totter and getting the weight on the front axle back where it was without the trailer. That is how it is designed to operate and will handle the best. The only practical way to do that is by using a Wdh. You can move stuff around in the trailer all day and it wouldn’t accomplish that, not and still have at least 11% (400 lbs in my case) on the tongue. I guess I could hang some lead in the front bumper instead or gain a couple hundred pounds but I think I’ll pass on those options . As LA says, it’s not a big deal for me to connect and tension it.

Someone someday is going to have to explain in detail what this giant resistance to using a WDH is all about. It solves several real problems, and you move on.

There is some fundamental physics going on here you just can't getlko around.

Say your trailer weighs 3500 lbs. You need your tongue weight to be 11 percent of that to be stable enough to avoid sway. That's 385 lbs. When you hang that 385 lbs on the hitch the TV is a teeter totter with the fulcrum being the rear axle. So there is a moment (torque) created. If the ball is 5 ft from the rear axle that moment is 385 x 5 = 1925 ft-lbs.   If the wheel base is 10 feet then to counteract that 1925 ft-lbs you need 1925/10= 192.5 lbs, so the front axle is going to have almost 200 lbs less weight on it in order to balance the teeter.

There's no way around that. Unless you use a weight distribution hitch with which puts a countering moment (torque) on the tow vehicle and pushes the front axle back down. That's in a nutshell is what a weight distribution hitch does.

If your wheelbase is long enough and your vehicle is heavy enough then it odoesn't matter and you don't need a weight distribution hitch. But if you have a lighter tow vehicle with a shortish wheelbase it really helps put some load back on the front axle which is after all what steers the vehicle and has the best brakes.

So if you have an F250 don't worry about it. If you're an F150 driver it's probably personal choice but if you have a Highlander or a Taco or some other lighter tow vehicle, especially one with a short wheelbase it really helps.