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Old 02-23-2015, 01:23 PM   #1
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What Rating for WDH bars

I've narrowed down my decision to either the equalizer 4pt or resse dual cam setup and now need to decide on the bar strength.
New trailer is a Coachmen 320bhds, GVWR is 10,700 so looking at 12% tongue weight puts me at 1,287lbs. Now in now way do I have 3600lbs of "stuff" and we travel with now water and empty tanks. Until we put it on the scale I won't know the exact weight of course but I'm figuring 9500lbs max which puts me at 1,140lbs. I figure get the 12k 1,200lb tongue weight bars, but I've heard go bigger than you need and have seen 14k 1,400lb bars.
Which ones do I get?
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Old 02-23-2015, 01:43 PM   #2
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I've always run the 1,200 pound bars on my trailers with 1,000 pound tongue weights, and was very happy with the way everything worked. Rather than guess, you can easily check your tongue weight with a bathroom scale and a 5' 4x4.
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Old 02-23-2015, 04:32 PM   #3
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What the heck kind of bathroom scale goes up to 1000lbs lol
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Old 02-23-2015, 05:23 PM   #4
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That's what the 4x4 is for. Setup a simple balance beam with a pivot at one end, the tongue at the 1' mark and the scale at the far end (5' mark). Now 1,000 pounds of tongue weight equals 250 pounds on the scale. Yours probably goes higher than that, right?
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Old 02-23-2015, 08:06 PM   #5
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Huh never heard of that. It goes to 350. I'll have to try that lol
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Old 02-24-2015, 06:07 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dcarver View Post
I've narrowed down my decision to either the equalizer 4pt or resse dual cam setup and now need to decide on the bar strength.
New trailer is a Coachmen 320bhds, GVWR is 10,700 so looking at 12% tongue weight puts me at 1,287lbs. Now in now way do I have 3600lbs of "stuff" and we travel with now water and empty tanks. Until we put it on the scale I won't know the exact weight of course but I'm figuring 9500lbs max which puts me at 1,140lbs. I figure get the 12k 1,200lb tongue weight bars, but I've heard go bigger than you need and have seen 14k 1,400lb bars.
Which ones do I get?
Our tongue weight has crept up to 1220# from 1130# the first time we weighed it. So I'm glad we got the 1400# Equal-I-Zer. IIRC you can't just upgrade the bars to get to 1400# from 1200#.

Equal-I-Zer has a little calculator on the their web site that was helpful. They include the weight in your truck behind the rear axle.
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Old 02-24-2015, 07:28 AM   #7
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My tt gvwr is 9950 and the tongue weight (sherline scale) is 1150, (11.6%) a little higher than I expected. My bars are 1200#. No problems. Btw, link for the bath scale method. http://www.etrailer.com/faq-how-to-d...ue-weight.aspx
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Old 02-24-2015, 07:54 AM   #8
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My tt gvwr is 9950 and the tongue weight (sherline scale) is 1150, (11.6%) a little higher than I expected.
...
Yes, tongue weight is really hard to guess-timate. For various reasons both my trailers have been over 15%. Makes for easy, no-sway towing, but can be hard on the truck's payload and Hitch Receiver rating.
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Old 02-25-2015, 10:04 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dcarver View Post
New trailer is a Coachmen 320bhds, GVWR is 10,700 so looking at 12% tongue weight puts me at 1,287lbs.

But many TTs have tongue weight of around 15%. With a loaded trailer and 15% tongue weight, you could have over 1,600 pounds of tongue weight.

Quote:
Now in now way do I have 3600lbs of "stuff" and we travel with now water and empty tanks. Until we put it on the scale I won't know the exact weight of course but I'm figuring 9500lbs max which puts me at 1,140lbs.
You're probably in for a shock during your third RV trip when you cross the CAT scale with your wet and loaded rig. Count on at least 10,000 pounds gross trailer weight with 14% tongue weight, which results in tongue weight of 1,400 pounds.


Quote:
I figure get the 12k 1,200lb tongue weight bars, but I've heard go bigger than you need and have seen 14k 1,400lb bars.
Which ones do I get?
ALWAYS have spring bars with more weight capacity that your tongue weight. In your case, I'd get the 1,500 pounds Reese Strait-Line hitch, then hope Darling Wife (DW) didn't load the trailer to result in more than 1,500 pounds tongue weight. You cannot always count on being able to dump the holding tanks before you head home. And if youir DW is like mine, she'll probably see some heavy rocks that would look good in your garden, so the weight goes up. Been there, done that. So have some slack in your numbers to account for more tongue weight than your estimated maximum.

Spring bar weight capacity cannot be changed on EquaL-I-Zer hitches. So if you insist on being a hard-head and ordering hitch with 1,200 pound spring bars, then be sure you order the Reese Strait-Line hitch and not the Equal-I-Zer. If you have the Strait-Line with 1,200 pound spring bars, then find out you should have ordered 1,500 pound spring bars, you can order just the spring bars for the Strait-Line hitch for less than $200 for the pair.
Replacement Trunnion Spring Bar for Reese Weight Distribution System - 1,500 lbs TW Reese Accessories and Parts RP58369
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Old 02-25-2015, 07:49 PM   #10
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Thanks for all the info! I found a great deal on some 14k bars from EQ. I will definitely check the tongue weight after we get loaded. If need be I will load the trailer more appropriately to keep it under the 1400lb tongue weight but still within the 10-15% of the GVWR
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Old 02-27-2015, 01:43 AM   #11
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Just ordered

I too was wracking my brain over the proper hitch. One look at the Blue Ox hitch was all it took! I ordered it with the 1000# bars. The good thing about the Blue Ox is that I can always order the 1500# bars if need be. My dry tongue weight is 625#, probably will get to about 1000# when loaded. Learn as we go! My last WD hitch had the old style cam-over chain binders, hated them! The Blue Ox hitch has an awesome chain cam and greaseless trunnion bars. Can't wait!
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