Weight Dist Hitch

[RCE42342]

I have a Keystone Mini , Max weight of 4400#. Pulling it with a 2021 4wd Ford Ranger w/ max towing capacity of 7500#. I bought the Mini used and it came with a 10000* rated WDH. This WDH is rated far heavier than the camper. Will using this hitch damage the a-frame ?

[NH_Bulldog]

No, the hitch rating is a maximum. My Eaz-Lift Trekker WD hitch is rated for 14,000 lbs. which is twice the GVWR of my trailer. It is always better to have excess capacity than not enough.

I do have to mention the obvious here though; towing capacity means next to nothing, what is your cargo capacity on the driver’s door jamb yellow and white sticker?

[chuckster57]

Which WD did you get? It’s possible to change the bars on some.

[RCE42342]

My trucks payload capacity is 1650# . The hitch is rated 750# tounge wgt. The tounge wgt on the trailer is 450#.

[RCE42342]

It's a Haul Master. 10000 #

[sourdough]

Some observations and questions;

That hitch says it is rated for "up to" 10,000lbs. trailer weight and up to 1000lbs. tongue weight basically saying it will handle weights below. It is a chain weight distribution so the number of links you pull up the more weight it pushes to the front of the truck and off the back. Heck, I had one many years ago that I pulled up enough to make the back tires of the truck leave the pavement going over a street dip. Want to xfer less weight just pull up fewer links.

You did not say what model trailer you had. The only mini I can find with a gvwr of 4400lbs. is the 1750RD. It has a dry tongue weight of 520lbs. That is from a current model mini from the Keystone website. Rule of thumb for calculating tongue weight of the trailer is 13% of the gvwr of the trailer. In this case it would be 572lbs. If the hitch is rated for 750 that should be within range. Look at the hitch itself and it should be tagged or stamped to be sure.

You list the payload of the truck as 1650lbs. Is that from a brochure or the yellow/white sticker inside the driver door? The brochures are notoriously wrong and overly optimistic and have led many down the wrong path. Ford specs show the payload capacity of a 2021 Ford Ranger Supercab 4x4 as 1650 lbs. See link, 3rd page down under "capacities".

https://media.ford.com/content/dam/f...Tech-Specs.pdf

[RCE42342]

Yes my sticker inside door jam says 1623 #. The dry weight of camper is 3300# with max wgt of 4400#. Page 40 of Fords 2021 tow guide says WDH not required, but I dont know about that.

[GlasNav]

Benefit of a weight distribution hitch is that it does exactly that, it transfers some of the weight forward on your truck. This can or will keep your vehicle level and provide greater control of both steering and braking. It also gets rid of the dreaded searching for owls scenario at night with your headlights pointing up into the trees, and the windshields of oncoming traffic!

[jxnbbl]

Originally Posted by RCE42342

Yes my sticker inside door jam says 1623 #. The dry weight of camper is 3300# with max wgt of 4400#. Page 40 of Fords 2021 tow guide says WDH not required, but I dont know about that.

Spend the money...its worth it.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by RCE42342

Yes my sticker inside door jam says 1623 #. The dry weight of camper is 3300# with max wgt of 4400#. Page 40 of Fords 2021 tow guide says WDH not required, but I dont know about that.

A couple of things to remember;

The Ranger is not a full sized pickup....it's a mid size smaller pickup. The trailer gvwr is probably more than the truck weight. The trailer is almost 22' long and 10 1/2' high....a huge sail behind a small pickup. If everything was planted perfectly on each of the truck's wheels it would still have a hard time trying to control that trailer. For the tires to have weight equally distributed to them vs the front end wandering all over you have to use a wdh or have a real "fun" time trying to tow in traffic, wind, poor roads etc.

Next would be the lack of sway control on the weight distribution hitch you have. Sway control for your truck/trailer combo is imperative. I have watched 2 videos of that hitch and don't see any sway control, only weight distribution. I would highly recommend looking for a different hitch that provided weight distribution AND sway control.

[notanlines]

What Danny^^^^said. The small truck cries out for sway control, particularly with a single axle trailer!

[skids]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

No, the hitch rating is a maximum. My Eaz-Lift Trekker WD hitch is rated for 14,000 lbs. which is twice the GVWR of my trailer. It is always better to have excess capacity than not enough.

I do have to mention the obvious here though; towing capacity means next to nothing, what is your cargo capacity on the driver’s door jamb yellow and white sticker?

Look for "Maximum Conventional Trailer" specification on the yellow sticker. I don't think it has any bearing on ability to pull up hills however.