Weigh-Safe, first impressions (not towed yet)

first let me get off my chest that this was my first experience with E-trailer and it was a pain in the A$$ to deal with. my order did come in a reasonable amount of time, exactly 1 week, but that is because I got them to "expedite it" because of the issues.

anyway...this thing truly is a piece of art...

THE GOOD
I have not used it yet as I just got it last night so this is just a first impression on fit and finish, appearance and what not. the excellent news is if your truck has the storage boxes in the floor of the cab under the back seat floor mats, the 8" drop for the 2,5" receiver with 3 different balls and a locking pin fit in their perfectly. if you get anything longer than an 8" drop it wont fit.

the machining finishes on it are very smooth were parts are sliding on each other so there is no binding of any kind. the is absolutely no alignment issues with anything making it easy to operate quickly. all the exterior edges are radiused and look to be somewhat polished to a smooth corner. All the unfinished surfaces are in a raw state with what looks to be maybe a slight polish to remove scratches. there was not a single scratch in the thing. the weight is substantial and gives you confidence in the 6061 aluminum's strength. I really like how the capacities are stamped into the side of the ball mount for reference as well as stamped on the top of the different sized balls. All pins fit perfectly with a very very slight amount of play. the other good thing is they are no longer using the scale that maxes out at 1500 (numbers displayed) at the top of the gauge and then a big read bar after it. mine will read all the way up to 3000lbs. more than enough. When its on my truck I have just over 13" from the bottom of the ball mount to the ground. that is perfect for me. The Stainless Steel balls themselves have a very nice finish and done well. the raw finish looks nice and the hole that they drop into on the mount is a nice fit for them.

THE NOT SO GOOD.. (it doesn't hurt anything though)
the only thing about it I don't like is the somewhat loose fitment of the ball mount itself ( the up and down slidey thing)that houses the hydraulic scale, to the 8" drop. It has a little more play between the 2 parts than I was hoping for but it is still better than the other aluminum and steel adjustable ones out there. To play devils advocate, I completely understand why they did it though. If dirt/road grime gets in their it still needs to be able to slide up and down without binding. it could get stuck pretty good if enough dirt got in between them, say from a dirt road. If you are a gun guy you will understand me when i say that everything else fits like an Ed Brown 1911. but the scale ball mount itself is closer to the fitment of an AK....if that makes any scene to you. I can live with it no problem though as I know it was intentional and not because of poor quality.

JMO. I can post pic late tonight.

I've got their 2.5 10 inch drop for my 3500. I love this thing, I use it to tow my tractor on a flatbed utility trailer. Tongue weight is typically between 700 and 1000 pounds, I love the built in scale, allows me to load my trailer the first time and have it tow properly.

The only negative I have, and I live on dirt roads, is the lack of a dust cover on the round lock. I've contacted Weight Safe about this last year and they told me they had a solution coming out this spring, so far nothing. I use a piece of black tape to cover it, cleaning dirt out of a round lock isn't fun.

BossHogg said:

I've got their 2.5 10 inch drop for my 3500. I love this thing, I use it to tow my tractor on a flatbed utility trailer. Tongue weight is typically between 700 and 1000 pounds, I love the built in scale, allows me to load my trailer the first time and have it tow properly.

The only negative I have, and I live on dirt roads, is the lack of a dust cover on the round lock. I've contacted Weight Safe about this last year and they told me they had a solution coming out this spring, so far nothing. I use a piece of black tape to cover it, cleaning dirt out of a round lock isn't fun.

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never thought of that issue. I look at it tonight and probably throw some tap on it like you when needed. kinda hard to wash out a cylinder lock unless you use an ultra sonic cleaner. and im not sure if that is safe.

I've used e-trailer many times with zero issues....those hitches look nice but ive never understood the weighing thing. I tow everyday and havnt found a need for a scale on my hitch.

derag2 said:

I've used e-trailer many times with zero issues....those hitches look nice but ive never understood the weighing thing. I tow everyday and havnt found a need for a scale on my hitch.

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I see it as a VERY helpful tool. I don't see how it ISN'T convenient to know your exact tongue weight. Its kinda important, and the weigh-safe is the fastest easiest solution.

piece of mind.

derag2 said:

I've used e-trailer many times with zero issues....those hitches look nice but ive never understood the weighing thing. I tow everyday and havnt found a need for a scale on my hitch.

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There is a weight ratio between the trailer weight on the axles and the tongue weight. For a bumper pull, if my memory serves me correctly, the tongue weight should be around 10 to 12 percent of the trailer's weight. On a fifth wheel, 18 to 22 percent.

This weight balance makes trailing easy, you almost don't know it is back there. The trailer stays in line with the tow vehicle, none of that fish-tailing. This assumes you are pulling weight and length, not a small single axle jet-ski trailer or a like trailer.

I know there is a ratio... I just look at the truck when I'm loading... I pulled 14k all the time, heaviest across scale truck and trailer I've been in 30k..... For the money I just don't know that it's worth it. But to each his own I spose..

derag2 said:

I know there is a ratio... I just look at the truck when I'm loading... I pulled 14k all the time, heaviest across scale truck and trailer I've been in 30k..... For the money I just don't know that it's worth it. But to each his own I spose..

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so you tow EVERY day and it still isnt worth it even though other adjustable ones are very close in price or even more?

Id say its worth it EVEN MORE to you and your situation that it is me. I guess im confused.

price is very reasonable comparatively

there is NO guessing or "just looking at the truck"

even if the scale happens to brake ( it wont) the ball mount functions perfectly without it

so IF someone is looking for an adjustable ball mount, I guess I want to know why this is not a good option? how is having the scale bad?

I have one and stopped using it. It's built well and certainly is fancy.

I stopped using it because it doesn't utilize the full depth of the receiver. I'm sure it's a non issue, I just didn't like it.

If anyone wants it......

My dealings with etrailer.com have been seamless. Other than when I ordered a cargoglide from them. They don't stock them and are 3 weeks out on getting them shipped. They should note that on their site.

Sent from a field

opie said:

I have one and stopped using it. It's built well and certainly is fancy.

I stopped using it because it doesn't utilize the full depth of the receiver. I'm sure it's a non issue, I just didn't like it.

If anyone wants it......

My dealings with etrailer.com have been seamless. Other than when I ordered a cargoglide from them. They don't stock them and are 3 weeks out on getting them shipped. They should note that on their site.

Sent from a field

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Ill have to look at that now that im aware of it. that would bother me too but as long as it goes just past the back of the round tubes that are bolted to your frame ( the front side of the truck) any more is useless.

or another way to picture it is the "hinge point" on the receiver itself is dead center on the round tubes it is welded to. if it reaches that (reaches the radius) your good.

I'm sure you're right from a physics standpoint. I was noticing what I would consider to be accelerated wear on the insert where it rides in the receiver. I can take a picture to illustrate this evening.

It works great as a drop hitch for light duty and I use it when I pull my 5x10 utility trailer. But for my dump trailer it didn't give me warm and fuzzies. I use a Reese Titan 2.5" insert with a 30,000 pound ball.

I've been pulling some type of trailer from a small welding trailer to 53' box trailers and everything in between since I was 17. I haven't lost one yet and I attribute that to me being extremely **** retentive about what I use for hitches.

Sent from a field

opie said:

I'm sure you're right from a physics standpoint. I was noticing what I would consider to be accelerated wear on the insert where it rides in the receiver. I can take a picture to illustrate this evening.

It works great as a drop hitch for light duty and I use it when I pull my 5x10 utility trailer. But for my dump trailer it didn't give me warm and fuzzies. I use a Reese Titan 2.5" insert with a 30,000 pound ball.

I've been pulling some type of trailer from a small welding trailer to 53' box trailers and everything in between since I was 17. I haven't lost one yet and I attribute that to me being extremely **** retentive about what I use for hitches.

Sent from a field

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that is interesting. i would be interested in seeing pics. no hurry on it. just wondering is all.

did you contact them? that seems like it would be a problem they should fix or a problem that others are probably having too.

U&A said:

that is interesting. i would be interested in seeing pics. no hurry on it. just wondering is all.

did you contact them? that seems like it would be a problem they should fix or a problem that others are probably having too.

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I did not. I think it's simply a byproduct of design and materials used.

I also want to iterate I'm not bashing it, at all. It just isn't my cup of tea. I do like the functionality of it that it eliminates multiple inserts. But when I pull something, I'm usually at the upper ends of the rated limits of the truck. If all I had was a 10,000 car hauler or 7000 landscape trailer, I'd be more comfortable with it.

Sent from a field

wait what was the insert made of?

U&A said:

wait what was the insert made of?

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just wondering because iv seen aluminum and steel ones. I assume it was a reducer to go down to a 2"?

When I say insert I'm talking about the piece that gets "inserted" in the receiver. In this case it would be the weigh safe hitch.

It's aluminum.

Sent from a field

opie said:

When I say insert I'm talking about the piece that gets "inserted" in the receiver. In this case it would be the weigh safe hitch.

It's aluminum.

Sent from a field

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I misunderstood. Got it now.

opie said:

It works great as a drop hitch for light duty and I use it when I pull my 5x10 utility trailer. But for my dump trailer it didn't give me warm and fuzzies. I use a Reese Titan 2.5" insert with a 30,000 pound ball.

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Realize the Weight Safe does have published ratings of
14,500 LBS Max GTW (2-5/16” ball)
8000 LBS GTW (2” ball)
2200 LBS Max Tongue

Don't know what you definition of "light duty " is.

Even a CLass V receiver has limits, are you implying your dump trailer is 30K pounds?

BossHogg said:

Realize the Weight Safe does have published ratings of
14,500 LBS Max GTW (2-5/16” ball)
8000 LBS GTW (2” ball)
2200 LBS Max Tongue

Don't know what you definition of "light duty " is.

Even a CLass V receiver has limits, are you implying your dump trailer is 30K pounds?

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IIRC my weigh safe has a 12,500 max rating on the 2 5/16 ball. That's what's stamped on the ball so that's the limit I go with.

Admittedly my definition of light duty is probably a bit on the extreme side. I used the weigh safe to pull my empty dump trailer home when I bought the trailer. I personally wouldn't use it for more than a 10,000 pound trailer load and the trailer weighs just shy of 4000 empty.

I wasn't implying anything by stating I use a 30,000 ball. I simply over built my 2 5/16 insert.

Sent from a field

Looks like they increased their ratings since I purchased mine.

Sent from a field