A weight distribution hitch is critical for safely towing trailers by redistributing weight between the tow vehicle and trailer, ensuring balance and preventing excessive strain. However, improper use can lead to structural damage, especially to the trailer’s front A-frame. This guide explains how these hitches work, when they’re necessary, and the risks of overloading or incorrect adjustments.
A lot of folks want to know what specifically a weight distribution hitch does. Basically, I’ve pointed out that a weight distribution hitch does exactly what it claims to do just in the title—weight distribution. It distributes weight from one area to another area. The weight doesn’t disappear—I mean, I think most people know that it doesn’t just vanish—but what you’re essentially doing is moving where that weight is or where it’s being applied. And the method of doing that can, in some ways, cause problems, so you have to be very careful.
Right now, the infanta is level from front to back, even though it’s not level side to side, which wasn’t a big deal for us. But it is level front to back, and you can tell by looking at the back tires that the ground is not completely level under the tires.
Now, why am I making this point? Whenever you look at the front A-frame section right here, which is this front section that looks like it’s in the letter “A,” the reason why it is so important to understand how to properly use a weight distribution hitch is because it can also help you understand under what circumstances you need one and also what type of damage you could potentially do if you’re not careful when using a weight distribution hitch.
So, if you imagine a pickup truck right here and the back of the trailer pressing down on the back of the pickup truck, causing the back of the pickup truck to squat, let’s say that that pickup truck has relatively soft suspension, kind of like that Ram 1500 over there. If we hitch this trailer up to that truck—which that truck does not have a tow hitch on the back, so we can’t do it—but if we did, you would see the back of that truck squat tremendously. It would probably squat 2 1/2 inches because that is a V6 Ram pickup truck that does not have a tremendous amount of payload capacity.
Even though I know some people think automatically that if you have a lower weight truck, then it’s going to have greater payload capacity, that’s not always the case. That truck right there is not designed to carry or tow a lot of stuff.
Anyway, if we hitched it up, it’s going to drop down significantly. You would absolutely see the front of the RV sloping down and the back of the truck sloping down, or up to the front.So, what do weight distribution bars do? They essentially connect the truck and trailer—it’s a hitch, right?—and you have these L brackets, or even with the BMW Continuum, and as you apply downward pressure on the bars like this by tightening them or adjusting them, and with the BMW Continuum, it’s using this little hydraulic pump mechanism right here. As you apply that pressure, that weight, that pressure is being applied directly to this section of the frame.
Why is that so important?Applying a small amount of weight distribution to a trailer that’s relatively level—let’s say when we hook this up to the truck, it only drops the suspension of the truck an inch and all we’re trying to do is compensate for roughly 1 inch of sag on the back of the truck—so we’re distributing weight.
And weight, of course, doesn’t always have to do with the angle of the vehicle whenever you’re hitched up. A lot of times, it has to do with how much weight is being moved around. But for the sake of most weight distribution hitches, you’re trying to get your truck and your trailer level.Well, if you don’t have much leveling to do, you’re not putting a tremendous amount of weight downward on this front A-frame section of your trailer. You’re still putting quite a bit—I’d probably say in the area of 200 to 300 pounds.
But let’s say if you have your trailer set up in a manner where your trailer is causing your truck to really, really squat—say 2 1/2 inches or 3 inches—the amount of downward pressure you’re going to be pushing on this A-frame section imagine pushing down right there or right here in the case of the BMW Continuum, and that amount of pressure that’s spanning across this entire piece of tubular steel is going to double, triple, quadruple. It can load up very, very quickly to upwards of 1,500 to 2,000 pounds worth of weight that you’re pressing down on this section right here to create this arching effect like this.
Essentially, you’re creating an arch from the back of your RV at the lowest point because as you add weight distribution here—even though you’re pushing weight down here—you’re actually lifting everything up together, and more weight is transferring to the back of your trailer and to the front of your truck.So, whenever you start applying weight distribution here, even though you’re pushing down a lot of weight on this section, you’re essentially trying to create an arching effect between the suspension of your truck and the RV itself. And that arching effect adds a lot of weight right there.
So, when people want to tow something that’s relatively heavy—and this is not a heavy travel trailer—but if you put a 30-foot, 35-foot travel trailer behind a half-ton truck, and I’m only using a half-ton truck as reference because they’re going to be the most common truck people will probably utilize to tow that type of trailer, and that trailer has a 1,200-pound tongue weight to it, and then you start loading things up—you start putting more stuff in the bed of your truck because you have an open bed, one of the perks of towing a travel trailer—and all of a sudden your truck is like this, your trailer is like this, it’s dipping down in the center because the trailer is adding so, so much tongue weight to the back of your truck.
And you’re like, you know what, let’s just fix this, let’s get our weight distribution dialed in, let’s level everything out.
You have to think about what you’re trying to counteract. You’re essentially saying the amount Here’s your formatted text with proper paragraph breaks:
This version is now easier to read, with proper paragraph breaks while keeping all original content intact Years and you start thinking about the fact that you may be one of those people who is loading your trailer up in this way. You may be one of those people who is towing a travel trailer with an excessive amount of weight distribution, and you haven’t had a problem yet.
That’s what I’m trying to C before you have a problem. That’s the reason why I’m making this video. This is not a video to say that it is anybody’s specific fault. This is a video to simply tell you that if you are one of those folks that has a 30 to 36t long travel trailer behind a relatively light-duty truck and you get a lot of sag, you get a lot of downward pressure on the back of your truck, and you try to compensate for that by using your weight distribution hitch to adjust this enormous amount of sag that you currently have to make everything level—when you’re making those adjustments, you are applying more pressure than you can imagine to the front section of your A-frame in a downward.
Now, couple that with a frame rail that might have rust inside of it. Couple that with a frame rail that maybe doesn’t have the best welds. Couple that with the front A-frame section that may not be the very best, let’s just put it that way. You do run the risk of possibly damaging the front A-frame section of your trailer.
So, I just wanted to point that out in this word, and I know I’ve repeated a lot of things here, but I think these are all really important things to try to understand so you can have a greater chance of avoiding being stuck on the side of the road, article being stuck at an RV park, being stuck somewhere where you don’t want to be stuck because the front section of your A-frame has failed.
So again, not to point and blame at anybody for this, because at the end of the day, when you buy an RV, you just want it to hold up. You want it to do what you want it to do. And if there’s things we can do as owners to prevent certain things from happening and keeping us stranded, that’s really what the message here is.
It’s how can we take a proactive approach to preventing issues that could potentially impact us when we’re out there on the road.
Understanding your weight distribution hitch’s limits and your trailer’s structural integrity is key to avoiding costly breakdowns. Regularly inspect your A-frame, avoid overcompensating for sag with excessive force, and prioritize proactive maintenance. By balancing load distribution and respecting your equipment’s design, you can tow safely and confidently.