Hitch install questions

[Quint]

I am going to have a hitch installed on my minivan (3500 lb. tow capacity) for when I am ready to buy a small 13ft. fiberglass travel trailer. I have a few questions please.

1. Should I get a 2" hitch receiver class III or is a 1 1/4" class II ok?

2. Is 7 pin wiring standard for trailers if not what wiring scheme should I tell them to do?

3. How many inches off the ground should the ball be (the installation place says they will put it at 18" is this right?)

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance, Quint.

[jack maloney]

A Class II hitch is rated for 3500 lbs., and so is your tug.

The Class III hitch is rated for 5000 lbs., but your tug is not, so the only advantage to going to a Class III is that there is a greater variety of tow bars and accessories available. There is a possible downside - a Class III hitch is generally larger and heavier, and may give you a bit less ground clearance.

In any case, your minivan's manufacturer should have a recommendation for hitch class and ball height. It's usually worth following it. I had the dealer install the recommended hitch when I bought my Mazda minivan - it is a Class II, and perfectly satisfactory.

[MKohlman]

A Class II hitch is rated for 3500 lbs., and so is your tug.

The Class III hitch is rated for 5000 lbs.,

Our Ford Escape came with a factory Class II hitch and wiring and has been just fine for towing our 13' Burro. The biggest issue is that it seems like everything is designed around a 2" stinger instead of a 1 1/4. I had to look extensively to find a 1 1/4" stinger with a 6" drop (which gives me a very level tow with the Burro) and ended up ordering on-line. 2" products I can get at the local Pep-Boys or Wally World. On the plus side I like the fact that our hitch is factory designed and tested and is tucked completely out of the way when not being used.

Personally if I were going to have an after-market hitch installed, I'd go for the Class III just to make life easier when it comes to accessories. Just keep in mind that because your hitch is rated for 5,000lbs, your vehicle still is not.

- Michael

[Gina D.]

I actually tow with a class I. It does fine and I am well within it's 2k lb tow/200 tongue rating.

What I did NOT think about when installing it was sway and weight distribution devices. I cannot get those for a I. I am thinking of swapping to a 2.

Now, if I can find such devices that are safe to use on an aluminium framed trailer...

Get the 7 pin wiring and adapt down if you need to. Better to have more than not enough. (See above!!)

[Gina D.]

ps...

If you want it, and it's made.. these folks got it, and are a pleasure to deal with.

Etrailer

[jack maloney]

What I did NOT think about when installing it was sway and weight distribution devices. I cannot get those for a I. I am thinking of swapping to a 2.

Why? Does your rig really have a sway/weight distribution problem? My take on those devices is that unless you actually have a problem, they're too much hassle (expense, adjusting, disconnecting for reversing, etc.). And besides, they're usually designed for longer, heavier tows, and Class III hitches and larger - do they even make anything for Class II?

If it ain't broke...

[Gina D.]

Weight Distribution:

1. Preservation of my rear end (We all know how important THAT is to all of us!)
2. FWD car, some spots I could get into with my pop ups that I could lift with my left arm are now inaccessible to the Burro because there is just an ilk of traction loss in slightly sandy surfaces. A tad more oomph on my drive wheels would help. Maybe I should get more overweight friends to sit on my hood.

Sway Control:

1. Like brakes, ya don't need 'em til you really need em, but if they are not there, it will be broke!

2. I had minor sway issues on interstates involving large trucks doing 147 in the fast lane when I was in the slow doing 55. I can't control the trucks, but I can minimized the potential.

Safety first.. camping later.

All safety items combined are still cheaper than a new rig, rigs or medical bills. To each his own, but I see no problem with adding them.

[Donna D.]

2. Is 7 pin wiring standard for trailers if not what wiring scheme should I tell them to do?

3. How many inches off the ground should the ball be (the installation place says they will put it at 18" is this right?)

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance, Quint.

Seven pin, if you are using trailer brakes. I'd go with seven pin at any rate, then if necessary purchase an adaptor to take it down to four pin.

Hitch height is determined by the trailer. 18" could be a start. You can purchase a drop for the receiver in various amounts.

[John & Sandy M]

I would recommend the class III hitch and the 7-pin receiver. The class III may actually be less expensive than the class II and certainly offers many more options at more places. The 7-pin Bargman is pretty much a standard and, as mentioned previously, can be adapted (as I do for my boat towing) to a 4-pin for about $4 for the adapter. Hitch height depends on the trailer...it should be approx. level when hitched to the tow.

[Roger H]

I'm in the Class III option group, if you can get it for your minivan. I had a Class III installed on a Toyota pickup with a 3500 lb tow rating, not for the capacity, but for the easy availability of options for the 2" reciever hitches. I'd also vote for the 7 pole Bargman connector for the same reasons.

Roger

[Pete Dumbleton]

Gina, a WDH by itsownself doesn't add sway control (but it helps prevent sway by properly distributing the weight). WDH like EqualIZer and Reese Dual Cam do have sway control built in.

Problem is, the two inch receiver and WDH are going to add a significant amount of dead weight right out there on the TV bumper (presuming you can find a WDH small enuf for the job).

[jack maloney]

Sometimes I think we get carried away festooning our eggs with every gadget imaginable. Folks, the beauty of our FGRVs is their simplicity. A 13 foot egg should tow easily behind almost any vehicle. Reasonable loading, good tires and a properly functioning suspension on both tug and tow should make a WDH unnecessary, and as Pete points out, perhaps even detrimental.

[Donna D.]

A 13 foot egg should tow easily behind almost any vehicle.

Could be Jack...but there are over 4,000 different combinations of tug and tow on this forum alone. I'm assuming no two trailers are [b]exactly alike in weight and tug combination. Add in the "where," as in "where" the member will likely tow the trailer...across windy plains or up/down a curvy high mountain roads. Based on that, what works for one member may NOT work for another.

Sway control is relatively inexpensive, easy to mount, easy to hookup/unhook and use. The downside, is you wouldn't know if sway makes a difference until you try it...and I don't think there's a rental available. In all the time I've been on the forums, I've only heard of one member who bought/mounted sway control and took it off, saying it didn't help. Everyone else mentioned it's made a (big) difference.

WDH is a different animal. I don't need WDH when tugging with my Ford F-150. However, my new (old) tug will benefit from WDH and I intend to make the purchase prior to first hooking up.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Problem is, the two inch receiver and WDH are going to add a significant amount of dead weight right out there on the TV bumper ([b]presuming you can find a WDH small enuf for the job).

With Honda being front-wheel drive, I believe Gina would get some benefit from WDH.

When I bought my Fiber Stream, it came equipped with the trailer components of WDH, but was missing the WDH ball mount. I bought the only model ball mount in Camping World's catalog, but it is rated for [b]1,200 pounds hitch weight! It's massive! But Southern California has a huge market for big "Toy Box" trailers.

However, when I visited [b]Roger H last July, he commented that I have the lightest capacity WDH spring arms he has ever seen.

[Brian B-P]

Hitch Class versus WDH Availability

I went though a similar decision process with my Sienna+Boler1700, and concluded that in my case I did not want a WDH, so my Class II factory hitch is fine. I did discover during the research that there are no longer any WDH systems for hitches smaller than Class III, so I believe that Gina would need to go all the way to Class III (not just Class II) for weight distribution.

As for the light WDH system, there is a single-bar Reese product (search in http://www.resseprod.com for "Single Spring Bar" or PN 66069) which was previously discussed in this forum. I believe that it is fundamentally incapable of the cam-action spring-centering of the Cequent (Reese or Draw-Tite) "Dual Cam" system (which is an add-on to their WD systems), but it would be much lighter than a typical WD setup.

I agree that the loss of traction in a front-drive vehicle due to load transfer to the rear as a result of trailer load can be a problem; however, in my case using a WDH to increase front axle load would just overload that axle. I encourage anyone considering a WDH setup to determine what their actual axle loads will be, and to check them on a scale if they go ahead with the installation.

[Brian B-P]

Since essentially all modern hitch systems use a reciever into which a ball mount is inserted, I don't think that there is really a ball height issue when supplying and mounting the receiver. As mentioned above, the correct ball mount (or an adjustable one) is used to match the particular trailer.

I would not buy a ball mount which placed the top of the ball specifically at 18" unless I knew that my specific trailer needed that height. My 1979 Boler B1700 has a ball height of only 16"; many people in this forum have reported raising their trailers, and so even the same model might need a higher mount, and newer trailers are routinely higher than mine - maybe 18" has become very common.

I found that while ball mounts are trivial to change, they can be hard to find in the right combination of rise (or drop) and extension (length outward from pin to ball), especially in the less common 1.25" square size used with Class II hitch receivers. The challenge for me is keeping the ball as far forward as possible (to reduce adverse load transfer, etc) without running out of margin for error between coupler and (plastic) bumper. If I raise the trailer and go thus need to go with a higher ball, I will need more extension to avoid hitting the van hatch on the trailer jack when opening the hatch.

[jack maloney]

Gina: Just ran across this useful website: http://www.title-3.com/Sway.htm Good information on the causes of sway. But this item in http://www.title-3.com/FAQ.htm#WDH is what caught my eye:

"Check with your vehicle manufacturer as some tow vehicles (mostly unibody) can not handle a WDH due to the torque placed on the vehicle frame/body. Additionally, check with the trailer manufacturer because many light trailers don't have a strong enough frame for the high leverages and forces involved in a WDH."


The Honda Element has a unibody. Your Burro has a very light frame. Food for thought.

[Roger H]

We'd covered this territory in the pre-hack forums pretty thoroughly, but since it's gone...

Unibody construction is stamped steel to give directional torsional regidity. The forces a unibody are expected to handle are accounted for in the directional stamping. A WDH may stress a unibody in directions it wasn't designed for.

A WDH also distributes (at least in theory) some of the weight of the tow vehicle back across the trailer's axle. It would not be a good idea then, for example, for me to try using a WDH with my 7000 lb Excursion and put 500 lbs additional weight from the tow vehicle back onto my Scamp's axle.

When the tow vehicle and the trailer are fairly equally matched weight-wise, and all of the compontents are capable of accepting the weight and the hitch components, a WDH may make a huge difference in the capability and handling of the entire unit when assembled. The Honda Odyessy, I believe someone has said, requires a WDH for tongue weights over a certain number, or for a towed load over a certain weight.

The Reese Dual Cam with 600 lb bars was an ideal setup with my Toyota Compact truck and my Burro 17'. It dealt with the tongue weight as well as potential sway issues and was solid as a rock. I wouldn't consider using WDH towing a FGRV with my Excursion as it's neither necessary nor appropriate. I wouldn't think of towing my Airstream 34' with the Excursion without WDH/sway control. I am currently not using either WDH or sway control with my Tundra/Scamp 16 combo and so far it's doing fine.

The use of both WDH and sway control are entirely rig-dependent. One trailer may tow wonderfully behind a specific tow vehicle, and the same trailer could be so squirrelly behind another as to make it a white knuckle drive every time you're out.

Sway can be induced by a number of factors, some of which involve inherent design flaws in the tow vehicle that are entirely independent of the trailer. Some have to do with tires, some with tongue weight, and some with trailer loading and balance. Some can be overcome by judicious loading and attention to tire pressures. Some must be addressed with WDH and sway control in some tow vehicle/trailer combinations.

There are some vehicles that should just not be used as tow vehicles, particularly lightweight 4WDs with short wheelbases (and I've done it...), but if you must use a marginal tow vehicle, then give yourself every advantage possible (without damaging either the tow vehicle or the trailer.) Know your options. Know the limitations of your tow vehicle. Load your trailer appropriately and balanced. Employ those aids that you need, but don't overburden either the tow vehicle or the trailer with stuff you don't.

Roger

[Brian B-P]

As Roger mentioned, some tow vehicles require the use of a WDH for trailers over a specified hitch weight. In the specific case of my 2004 Toyota Sienna, I recall (sorry, no owner's manual at hand at the moment) that weight-carrying hitch weight limit as 350 lbs. I stay under that and do not use a WDH.

The factory requirement for a WDH hitch in this specific case confirms to me that the vehicle structure is intended to take the loads of that type of hitch, within its allowable limits. Unfortunately, there is no specification of the forces applied by the WDH (how much tension on how long a spring bars), so there is no way to know if too much torque is being applied by the WDH. Anything can be overdone...

(Edit: I corrected a typo in the year of my van)

[Steven F]

Quint, Steve again with the 2002 Mercury Villager and Scamp 16'. We tow with a Class II hitch and a sway control, no WDH. It works very well, so you should have no problem with the Quest and a 13' Scamp. The tongue weight isn't that heavy and is well within the specifications for the Class II hitch.