Quick Question for all you experienced Towers

[JohninTexas]

I have a 2011 RAM 1500 Crew Cab and I have installed the Airlift 1000HD airbags to hopefully offset any squat.... and will be pulling a Keystone Passport Single Axle 20ft 10inches long total length with a dry weight of 3465lbs and a hitch weight off 395lbs. Now I will be full of water 43 gallons, and all the extra camping gear that includes a good size generator and gas cans ect.
I have pulled this setup with no Issues at all before using my 2016 Toyota Tundra with some aftermarket airbags installed and it only had the 4.7 engine. But the more I read on the forum about weight distribution hitches I started to second guess myself. This is a fairly small RV, would that just be overkill or what are any of your thoughts?

 

[csuder99]

I used to tow a single axle wolf pup camp trailer without a WDH no problem. The lighter trailers often have smaller tubing for the tongue and people have managed to bend the tongue when using 10k WDH.

 

[RLJ10X]

3465 with 395 is about 11.5%, which is nearly perfect.

I pull close to 7000lbs, no WDH, no problem.

Ive pulled doubles for UPS for 25+ years, So I've pulled a lot of trailers. I'm always really pleased how well my truck tows.

 

[b8ascrub]

I’m also pulling a 20ft Apex Nano with my ram 1500 quad cab. The airbags will help for sure! The rear coil springs caused a rear boating feeling on my setup and that was with and without the WDH. I am going to add air bags this season for sure! I miss the old leaf springs for towing. As the others mentioned about the WDH, if you’re using one don’t apply too much tension. There is some YouTube videos of lipert frames bending right below the Camper portion. Our lighter trailers are using thinner frames and some people are over cranking their WDH. I might not use mine this season since I don’t really feel a difference.

 

[Loudram]

I'll be honest I haven't towed a travel trailer that small so I don't know if you need a w/d hitch. But I know that Equalizer makes a 4000/400 model and a 6000/600 model if you want to get one. For you I'd say the 6000 would be the one you want. No larger for the reasons stated above.

 

[crash68]

It's been a while since this video has been posted and by reading some of these posts people need a refresher on the physics of what happens when hitching up a trailer:

The Difference Between Using Weight Distribution and Air Bags to Level Your Load

Fastway engineers Jason Harper and Matt Barnes investigate the difference between using either a rear axle air bag system, or a weight distribution hitch to ...

youtu.be

Just because the truck and/or trailer is level doesn't mean it's right. There can be forces working against you.

3465 with 395 is about 11.5%, which is nearly perfect.

I pull close to 7000lbs, no WDH, no problem.

Ive pulled doubles for UPS for 25+ years, So I've pulled a lot of trailers. I'm always really pleased how well my truck tows.

Those are the dry weights of that trailer set up, after the OP loads up it's probably well over 5K lbs and depending on where he puts the stuff the tongue weight is no longer 11.5%
You've pulled a lot of fivers and trailers with wheels on all four corners, about the only thing that has in common with the OP's trailer is they have wheels. The engine in the UPS tractor weighs more than the OPs truck and trailer combined and the physics of how the trailers effects the truck are entirely different.

 

[RLJ10X]

I just said my truck pulls well. I don't remember ever comparing the two.

Give me an accurate wet weight, and tongue weight, and I can then re-do the math for you.

On average, A semi's engine weighs aprox 3200 pounds, but as much as 4500 pounds. Nice try.