How to Pick Out Weight Distribution System When Carrying Truck Bed Camper

Updated 04/05/2016 | Published 04/02/2016

Products Featured in This Question

Curt Round Bar Weight Distribution System w/ Friction Sway Control - 10K GTW, 1K TW

(459)

$401.44

Curt Short-Arm Weight Distribution System with Shank - Trunnion Bar - 15,000 lbs GTW, 1,500 lbs TW

(36)

$437.41

Question:

I read your article on how t a hitch and it states that in addition to the tongue weight you must also take into account any weight behind the rear axle of the truck. In my application I have a 4000 lb truck camper which of course has weight located behind the rear axle of the truck. The center of gravity is forward of the rear axle. Do I need to account for the weight behind the rear axle and if so, how would I go about measuring it? The rest of my setup is a 3500 RAM dually with a Torklift Superhitch and 48inch super truss extension. The info on the Torklift site says that the max tongue weight is 600lbs without a WD hitch. I havent measured the tongue weight yet but the total weight of the trailer is 6500 lbs which means the likely tongue weight using a 10 rule of thumb is around 650-700 lbs. I was originally thinking of getting a WD hitch rated for 800 lbs to be safe but the info you provided about having to account for the weight behind the rear axle truck camper and Torklift stuff has me scratching my head. What size WD hitch should I be looking at? Thanks....

asked by: Robert N

Expert Reply:

Your best solution for determine the loaded tongue weight is going to be to contact the manufacturer of your camper and ask them how much weight of the camper is going to end up behind the rear axle. If the camper weighs 4,000 lbs in the be of your truck you could be looking at a wide range of tongue weight to consider.

The tongue weight capacity of the SuperTruss Extension would not need to consider the tongue weight added by the camper, but when picking out a weight distribution system that would need to be considered.

Most likely you would need a Curt system part # C17333 instead of the part # C17062 as it has a range of 1,000 to 1,500 lbs.

expert reply by: Jameson C