Who tows without WD or sway control?

[tuffr2]

I have a 2017 F-250 and wondering if I can tow a 6,000lb Rockwood 2511s without W/D or sway control. I have not bought this trailer yet but plan to this late spring.

The only other time I towed without a W/D hitch I used a dually truck which work great towing a 6,500lb travel trailer.

I am thinking I will be ok.

Let me know what you guys think.

Do I need a F-350 with a heavy duty tow hitch or is my normal F-250 good enough?

[Tcounty1]

Truck will handle it but I’d still want sway control at a minimum.

[nanonewb]

I'm pretty sure you don't need an f350 to haul a 6000lb trailer. I can't answer about wd or sway control for you or your vehicle but they sure won't hurt and cost a lot less than a new bigger truck.

[tuffr2]

I think I will try it and if ok - good. If I don't like it I can then buy a WD hitch.

But would like to know for sure or else I will try to work a WD hitch into my trailer deal.

[aether_one]

6000 # is not a problem for a 3/4 ton truck, but depending on the tongue weight you may want a WDH and depending on the length you may want sway control. My BIL tows a 6500 lb, 30' long TT and he uses both WD and sway control. He didn't need either on his previous smaller TT.

[Redapple]

Your truck easily handles that trailer, however, with wind even a 5k or less can be affected and result in unwanted sway. I wouldn't tow without sway control. You can get minimal for a few hundred. I would get one.

[Reevesfamily]

Can you? Sure. Would I? Nope. Been towing heavy and light for 40 years, been there and done that, and at this age it isn't about whether or not I can get by with the bare minimums, it's about safety. Once you gain some experience with and I guess without a proper WD and sway set up, you'll opt for the WD and sway.

[mtofell]

If I had to pick one I'd get sway control for sure. I've towed without it but got sick of keeping my hand on the trailer brake to straighten things out if the trailer started swaying. I'm sure all the armchair lawyers will chime in soon scolding anyone even considering towing anything more than a popup with a DRW.

[mokurt]

Are you just trying to save money buy not buying one?

I feel safer having one.

[Cumminsfan]

Per Forest River the dry brochure tongue weight is 714 lbs. Guessing all loaded up you're near 950+ lbs on the tongue. That will raise the front of the truck enough that I would want at the min and EAZ-Lift WDH. Sway may or may not matter.
BTDT with my 12 2500 CTD and a 31' TT @7300 lbs with a 950 lb TW.
Went from an F150 that needed help in the sway department to the Ram that didn't get phased by the TT.
I'm thinking a standard WDH would make it a more solid ride with out all that floaty bouncy stuff.

[keymastr]

Yeah, that is about what my trailer has for weight, usually around 7000 loaded and 900 tongue weight and a 2016 F250 and without the WD hitch it is noticeably nose high. I drive to storage and back without the bars hooked up sometimes since it's only a couple miles and during the day it's fine. At night every car is flashing the brights at me. Handles OK but definitely not as solid as with the bars. You will want the WD hitch.

I love my Equalizer 4 point. You do not need to grease the crap out of it and with the pads that go on the perches the bars ride on it is dead silent.

The pads cost $20 and solve 2 problems, squeaks and pops and attempting to stop the squeaks and pops with lots of grease that is super messy. Now I just grease the wear points and wipe off all the excess after moving the bars in and out a couple times.

It takes a new hitch a couple hundred miles to wear the paint off the bars so the sway control has the proper amount of friction and when I put the pads on it also was about 100 miles before the surface wore into the bars and gave the same grip. I have seen others post that the pads decreased the sway control and that was true at first but after a hundred miles they wore in and performed like before but without any creaking, popping or groaning. Not sure why Equalizer does not just include them with the hitch.

In any event you will want a WD hitch and in fact your tongue weight may be at or over the weight carrying limit of the receiver.

[tuffr2]

I am trying to save the hassle of a WD hitch. I would really like to not need one. The Rockwood is just under 26' total length. Agree that the tongue weight is kinda high at around 800 plus pounds.

My thought of a Ford with the super duper towing package with the 2,000lb receiver capacity is why I am thinking of that truck. 800 - 900 pounds would be 45% of the hitch capability.

Also agree that a WD hitch is way less $$$ than a different truck...not new, but different. But the hassle of storing and hooking/unhooking is what I want to avoid.

I would go back to a Draw Tite WD hitch like I had with the F-150 if I need one.

The Rockwood 2511S is, I think, as small as I want. But let me see if maybe even a smaller trailer will do.

If I need a WD hitch with the Rockwood Mini Lite 2511S I might as well get the Rockwood Ultra Lite 2906RS which is a way bigger trailer at 35' 2" long and I like more...unless I can tow the Rockwood 2511S with just hook to the ball and go.

[Redapple]

I get the convenience factor. I am currently moving from a motorhome of 14 years to a trailer. But even the trailers you are talking about are affected by sway. In my opinion you owe it to yourself to protect your family with some type of sway control. Most hitches now have sway control and weight distribution built into one product. Take the 10 minutes to add that safety factor.

Good Luck,
Bill

[petrel]

You can always add it if you find out you need it. We had a 31' ~9000lb travel trailer that required all the rigging (Firestone air bags, WD hitch and double anti-sway bars) to tow comfortably behind our Ford Excursion. However, I could tow it very comfortably on a straight hitch on my F350 long bed crew cab.

I agree that coupling up all that stuff is a pain, but when you need it, you need it.