Bought a Weigh Safe True Tow hitch.

[Loudram]

Just got off the phone with Weigh Safe. They confused my order with someone else's when they said it was shipped. It's shipping today. It'll be here early next week. I'm a little bummed but I'm glad I still have a hitch to use.

 

[RLJ10X]

I will take full responsibility. I jinxed your order by bragging on them.

 

[Loudram]

I got 3 out of 4 boxes today. The last one will come tomorrow according to FedEx. I'll get around to installing it later in the week. I'll give you guys an update then.

 

[jejb]

Hope it works well for you. Just looked at the specs. 133lbs to 146lbs, depending on configuration. Heavy bugger, and it looks it. That's a lot of weight to add into your calculations, especially for a 1500.

 

[Loudram]

Hope it works well for you. Just looked at the specs. 133lbs to 146lbs, depending on configuration. Heavy bugger, and it looks it. That's a lot of weight to add into your calculations, especially for a 1500.

The Equalizer I use now weighs around 110lbs. I bought the smaller one so it'll be about another 20lbs or so.

 

[GsRAM]

Looking forward to pics and your observations bro

 

[Loudram]

I assembled and installed the hitch. No pictures yet, I'll take them tomorrow. I still have to take measurements and set up the weight distribution part.

First impressions... It's beefy and heavy. Heavier than my Equalizer without a doubt. Set up was pretty easy so far. Very similar to the EQ. Setting up wd part tomorrow will be easier than the EQ. No guessing the tongue weight. Also it's much longer. When I get it coupled to the trailer I'll check out the safety chains. I think they'll reach but they won't have enough slack. We will find out.

Overall I'm happy with it. I won't be towing with it for a few weeks. Next trip will be in mid July, another local one. After that All Truck Nationals at Carlisle. I'll start a separate thread for that.

 

[GsRAM]

Glad to hear that LR. Good stuff. I'll be following for updates.

 

[Loudram]

It's done. The beauty of this hitch is that you can adjust the distributed tongue weight (DTW) each time you tow. The tongue weight does fluctuate with each trip. Like now, one of my lp tanks is just about empty. Obviously it'll change a little when I fill it. It's also not loaded for camping. That just involves a few days worth of clothes and food in the fridge. But the fridge is over top the front axle so that won't affect the tongue weight to much. But if it does I can adjust it.

Taking measurement was easy. They have an app you plug the numbers into and it tells you the DTW that you need to be at for proper weight distribution. All you do then is adjust the top nut until you reach it. That weight has a min and max range and the app tells you all that.

They ask for the estimated trailer weight. I went with 7000lbs. My last trailer had a dry weight of 6500 and a scale confirmed camping weight of 7500. This trailer has a dry weight of 6000 and we have pretty much the same stuff in it so I think this estimate is pretty close to camping weight. According to the tongue scale the trailer tongue weight is 700lbs. That will go up slightly when loaded for camping but you get the actual weight each time you hook up so if it goes up I adjust accordingly. But the beautiful thing is I'm at 10%. It'll go up slightly which means I'll be in the sweet spot of about 12%.

The entire set up feels like quality so I have to no reason to doubt the accuracy of the scale. The draw bar and hitch head assembly weighs 75 lbs. In comparison my EQ only weighs 50lbs. I do have room to drop my tailgate when hitched up and my safety chains are a few inches short.

I'm happy with this so far. I'll see how it performs in a few weeks.

 

[GsRAM]

Definitely looks like high quality components LR. I like that a lot. It's nice seeing the tongue weight right there all the time...very cool

 

[tron67j]

It's done. The beauty of this hitch is that you can adjust the distributed tongue weight (DTW) each time you tow. The tongue weight does fluctuate with each trip. Like now, one of my lp tanks is just about empty. Obviously it'll change a little when I fill it. It's also not loaded for camping. That just involves a few days worth of clothes and food in the fridge. But the fridge is over top the front axle so that won't affect the tongue weight to much. But if it does I can adjust it.

Taking measurement was easy. They have an app you plug the numbers into and it tells you the DTW that you need to be at for proper weight distribution. All you do then is adjust the top nut until you reach it. That weight has a min and max range and the app tells you all that.

They ask for the estimated trailer weight. I went with 7000lbs. My last trailer had a dry weight of 6500 and a scale confirmed camping weight of 7500. This trailer has a dry weight of 6000 and we have pretty much the same stuff in it so I think this estimate is pretty close to camping weight. According to the tongue scale the trailer tongue weight is 700lbs. That will go up slightly when loaded for camping but you get the actual weight each time you hook up so if it goes up I adjust accordingly. But the beautiful thing is I'm at 10%. It'll go up slightly which means I'll be in the sweet spot of about 12%.

The entire set up feels like quality so I have to no reason to doubt the accuracy of the scale. The draw bar and hitch head assembly weighs 75 lbs. In comparison my EQ only weighs 50lbs. I do have room to drop my tailgate when hitched up and my safety chains are a few inches short.

I'm happy with this so far. I'll see how it performs in a few weeks.

Thanks for info. Looks nice with that tailgate open. Enjoy!

 

[Loudram]

I finally had a chance to tow with my new hitch. It's great. Only went on country roads 50-55 mph. I felt very confident with it. The app did lose the measurements I had to input for the calculations but I remeasured them and took a screen shot. I should have done that the first time.

My tongue weight went up. When I weighed it before I was partially loaded with 1 empty propane tank. This time I was loaded and both tanks are full. It went from 700 lbs to 850 lbs. (It's so nice having that information.)

I compared it with the Better Weigh app I bought last year. The Better Weigh had me at 1000 lbs. I always thought it weighed heavy and I was right. I trust the True Tow more the the BW. I've seen some reviews that said the BW wasn't that accurate but I couldn't find any complaints about the accuracy of anything Weigh Safe made.

The next test will be All Truck Nationals in Carlisle PA. That is next month. lt'll be mostly highway.

 

[aces-n-eights]

Hey Loudram, i've got a dumb question about your Weigh Safe hitch... The scale on the hitch tells you the tongue weight, right? You said you are in the 700-850 range. Then the app tells you the Distributed Tongue Weight range - the image you posted earlier was 1,750. You then crank the nut on top of the hitch until the scale is at that target weight.

My dumb question is this: does this weight - 1,750 lbs - count as tongue weight? Does it count as payload? Is there a way to calculate where that weight is going? Front axle? Rear axle?

I'm looking for a travel trailer and i don't want to overload my 1500. My GVWR is 6900 and i scaled my truck empty with a full tank of gas - 5,720 - so my pay load is only 1,180 lbs...

Thanks much for your insight!

 

[Loudram]

My tongue weight is 850 lbs according to the scale. That's the tongue sitting on the hitch without the bars attached. The other weight is the distributed weight. With 850 lb tongue it's 2100 lbs distributed. That number is with the bars on.

The 2100lb number on the scale comes from the weight of the tongue pressing down onto the scale and the pressure of the bars pushing the hitch up against the trailer tongue. I'm this case the only number you would be concerned with is the actual tongue weight. The 2100 lbs has nothing to do with payload capacity.

I hope this better explains it.

 

[aces-n-eights]

Excellent, thanks LR, that helps a lot!

 

[Dan Topp]

Just put one on but haven’t tried it yet.Its a beauty though.Got the keyed alike mounting pin.Its keys look similar to my proven trailer locks key