Scary towing experience

[awd.nv]

Seems others are already mentioning but seems the WDH needs proper adjustment. Read the instructions. No shortcuts. Ideally, make the adjustments with your trailer and truck loaded like you normally tow.

Try to check your tongue weight before adjusting the WDH as well. I use a Weigh Safe ball scale to measure it. I do not do it every trip but whenever I make decent changes I check the weight.....which I am due for since I just added a bike rack to the front of my trailer. Still tows fine but I want to double check things. I do not think the industry follows this "rule" often but they say about 10-15% of total weight. You can adjust this by moving your cargo around.

I have a 10k Equalizer WDH on my Geo Pro 19BH which is a single axle, similar weight it seems to yours. Even with everything as good as I could get it, there was some movement when a big rig passes me over 10mph or so than I am going.

THAT SAID, no joke, putting on 1" wheel spacers pretty much took care of all of that. I have a Tremor but the 1.5" wheel spacers on your FX2 package should put them about where mine are.

Lastly, I do not do this so much now since getting the wheel spacers but whenever I would see big rigs or F250 size trucks hauling by me I try to move to the far side of my lane. That helped a lot too.

Hope this helps.

(edit: before getting the 10k bars over the 6k one that Equal-i-zer makes, I called their tech support and they confirmed the 10k would be ok to use. I did not want a 6k one when the Ranger can do 7500lbs. BlueOx was awesome too, great tech support but supply was tricky. Loved my equalizer 4k kit on my old NoBo 10.6 so went with them again)

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[Jimmy07]

I have an E2 with 6,000 lb bars pulling an R-pod and it does a pretty good job. Considered getting 4,500 lb bars for a softer ride, since my TW is only around 325 lb, but factory rep said it was going to be OK. Suggest you do the TW adjustment and see how much it helps before getting a more suitable WDH for your Wolf Pup.

 

[Big Blue]

Don't listen to people or salesmen who say over size bars are OK. The bars have nothing to do with the tow capacity, they don't pull anything. As a matter of fact the bars for my Husky hitch are actually rated by tongue weight not trailer weight. As @Grumpaw said too stiff of bars do not allow the joint between your truck to flex properly and actually take weight off your rear wheels in some situations. You need to have the correct balance of flexure and stiffness in your hitch. The bar loading also affects the sway control capability of the hitch. When a truck passes my rig my truck and trailer act as a unit not two separate pieces, no sway.

 

[Groo]

Groo here
Take off the bars, if possible ,lose the wdh all together..
Set the hitch to level or slightly hitch down , loaded.
Then "TRY IT",,,
Ford says 7500 lb trailer, 750lb hitch weight. No WDH...
You are way under..
To many mod or add stuff before trying a setup...

 

[ATGC]

Just another point to consider about the size of the WD hitch and bars. While WD hitches rated for 8k or even 10K might work for your small trailer when properly adjusted, their bars are much heavier than say a pair of 6K or the 4.5K bars that I use to tow my ~4K lbs camper. Using far over-spec bars is going to make it more of a pain to hitch, unhitch, put the hitch away after arriving at camp or at home, etc. I really like the fact my WD hitch does its job really well and has a manageable size/weight (Fastway E2 4.5K). I would not like to have to deal with anything heavier than it actually needs to be.

 

[drvred]

Well this is interesting, I just went out and measured the front end with no trailer, and with it hooked up, no bars.
The front end only dropped 1/4 of in inch, the rear moved down about 3/4s. With the bars hooked up.

 

[Floyd]

You still need about 11 to 14% of the trailer's weight on the tongue.
Best to load the trailer within that range without the WDH, then adjust the WDH to spread a bit of the load.
Inflate your trailer tires to the max listed on the sidewall.
Drop your speed to under 65MPH.
You will get best economy anyway.
Your truck can tolerate 750 pounds of tongue weight without a WDH, but tongue weight does count as payload so watch your payload on the rear axle even though your WDH will somewhat compensate.

 

[docarter]

Having towed a tandem (dual axle) and single axle camper with the Ranger, my 16' Scamp wags and bounces way more than the loaded dual axle uhaul did.

I don't feel its unsafe or that it has swayed badly, just a characteristic of smaller single axle trailers.

 

[Fritz]

Don't listen to people or salesmen who say over size bars are OK. The bars have nothing to do with the tow capacity, they don't pull anything. As a matter of fact the bars for my Husky hitch are actually rated by tongue weight not trailer weight. As @Grumpaw said too stiff of bars do not allow the joint between your truck to flex properly and actually take weight off your rear wheels in some situations. You need to have the correct balance of flexure and stiffness in your hitch. The bar loading also affects the sway control capability of the hitch. When a truck passes my rig my truck and trailer act as a unit not two separate pieces, no sway.

That's the whole idea of a weight distributing hitch. It takes weight off of your rear axle and forces it onto your front axle.

 

[EJH]

Poor WDH setup.

I recently bought a 4,000 lb dry, 5,000 lb GVWR singlw axle travel trailer and have zero sway. In fact, I am reducing the tension on my E2 6,000 lb WDH setup before the next trip, as it feels slightly too stiff. Again, I have no sway at all with semis passing on two lane roads.

Like the above comment, my trailer and truck feel like one unit, not two. Like another comment, I don't feel a trailer is there, other than the reduced acceleration (slightly, lol) and my millage being 12-13 mpg.

I am new to towing and feel very comfortable with my setup of the same WDH. Well, I have the 6,000 lb, not 8,000 lb version. My trailer is a bit heavier. I wonder if you would be better with the 6,000 version.

 

[SkyLord]

Dang, just about every angle has been covered. A minor add would be the aerodynamics of towing. You will get sucked towards large vehicles at speed. It’s a change in dynamic and static pressure (Bernoulli’s Principle). All you can do is anticipate it. My full size truck did it too and it can either give you some sway or feel like it depending on your set up. The other sucky part that can happen is grooves get worn in for larger vehicles on the highway and the smaller mid size width of your Ranger might feel like it wanders in and out of them. I’d heed all the good stuff everyone else said, it’s good info. These are just weird things I’ve encountered. Nice camper and best of luck dialing in your setup!

 

[Big Blue]

That's the whole idea of a weight distributing hitch. It takes weight off of your rear axle and forces it onto your front axle.

True but not too much or all as too heavy of bars can do.

 

[WOADKIL]

I tow a 20' RPod single axle, about 3,400 lbs wet, I think, with my '21 screw Fx4. Since tow capacity is 7,500 lbs, and tongue weight capacity is 750 lbs, the load is no where near towing limits. Hence I see no need for a WDH with a Ranger with the tow package.

I did experience a little sway, so I installed a Reese sway bar, problem gone!

Maybe your trailer weight distribution is off for single axle?

The Ranger tows my trailer as good or better than my '05 Lariat F150 crew cab straight, uphill and down hill (especially uphill, 10 speed tranny) than the F150, just the shorter wheel base allows the small sway.

I did install air bags on the rear of my F150 to level better, but the Ranger has enough of a rake that it is level when hitched up.

Good luck!

 

[Jimmy07]

Poor WDH setup.

I recently bought a 4,000 lb dry, 5,000 lb GVWR singlw axle travel trailer and have zero sway. In fact, I am reducing the tension on my E2 6,000 lb WDH setup before the next trip, as it feels slightly too stiff. Again, I have no sway at all with semis passing on two lane roads.

Like the above comment, my trailer and truck feel like one unit, not two. Like another comment, I don't feel a trailer is there, other than the reduced acceleration (slightly, lol) and my millage being 12-13 mpg.

I am new to towing and feel very comfortable with my setup of the same WDH. Well, I have the 6,000 lb, not 8,000 lb version. My trailer is a bit heavier. I wonder if you would be better with the 6,000 version.

If you do go to the 4,500 lb WDH for a softer ride, please post again. Would like to know if it made any difference, since I'm thinking about the doing same with my R-pod.

 

[Floyd]

If you do go to the 4,500 lb WDH for a softer ride, please post again. Would like to know if it made any difference, since I'm thinking about the doing same with my R-pod.

You don't even need a WDH to pull an R-Pod with your Ranger.
Simply get it set-up right without it, then (as an option) consider adding a single friction anti sway device for a little added stability. (about $60)

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