weight distr. & air bags

[ragen]

Is it a bad idea to use both air bags & a weight distr. hitch.
Dind't like how much the rear end dropped or felt while towing. Installed air bags, felt & looked much better. Don't know if safe though.
looking at the 3p hitch, $ 2400.00 lots of money.
Old reese hitch head is wore, where the bars engage, previous ower of toy hauler & hitch never heard of grease, needs replaced or rebuilt.
Any replies would be great

Thank Ragen

 

[Ozzie]

I towed a 37' travel trailer for a couple seasons with just the heavy duty equalizer hitch (brand name) and thought it did a terrific job. It has the 12k bars and I tried the best I could to push the front end down to level it.
Well, the front suspension is so stout with the Duramax that the front end wouldn't budge. I damn near had the back wheels off the ground and it still wouldn't drop the front end. I ended up with the Firestone Air Bags and lower hitch shank so I could keep both the truck and trailer level.
This is really something to pay attention to setting up trailer geometry, but once you get it right you won't believe how easy things run down the road. I catch myself speeding up when I turn the stereo up...
I usually run about 70-75 lbs in the bags with the trailer on and around 5-10 lbs empty.

The 3p hitch from what I hear is a great unit. I just don't have that kind of coin to spend when my equalizer does such a good job for me. I've been running it for probably 5 seasons now. I did go through it and replace all the bolts with grade 8...the stockers started fatiguing on me and breaking after a couple years. I just hookup and go...no fuss, little sway, and no unhooking to back.

 

[ragen]

Ozzie

So you do run both equalizer hitch & bags at the same time,
I did that last year, didn't know if that was a good idea.
Sure wish GM would have built stiffer rear springs, I think I will go with a new Equalizer hitch, dose it have grease zerks for the pivot points?
The Reese dose ok but wore out and slapping grease on the bars is messy at camp.

 

[Ozzie]

For sure I do - they work in harmony and I have a better ride. I did run a couple years without the airbags, so I knew how hard to run the bars. That gave me a real heads up when setting up the truck I have now.
The accepted tension with the EQ is close to level with the trailer frame. That can change though depending on the heights of things. It took me a while to get it just right.
I would level the trailer to get the ball height, and check the receiver height on your truck. Then call the EQ store and ask them about the drop you would need. My truck hitch was too high so I needed a larger drop shank to get the trailer level.

The EQ hitch does not have grease zerks and I would have to say greasing the pivot point or the bracketts the bars rest on will nullify your antisway. It runs on friction, and actually is a wear point, but like I said before- 5 yrs and all I've done is grade 8 bolts.

EDIT: My truck drops about 2-3 inches before using the bars to bring it up. If I raise the bars above level I can get pretty close, but you are really putting too much torque to it doing that. I level the bars and finish it off with the airbags.

Hope that helps...

 

[1999gmc]

I ended up adding air bags also. I have a 25 FT toyhauler and I tilted the angle of the head down all the way with all the washers that came with the hitch, and I would put the wd bars so tight they were bowing. I installed air bags and it was night and day. Road nicer, pulled nicer, and just felt more solid. Since then I have 2 buddies with F350's and they both installed them and really like them.