Determining if Higher Rated Bars Are Needed for Fastway e2 6,000 Pound WD System  

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Helpful Expert Reply:

The hitch weight of 485 pounds that you found listed for your new trailer refers to its tongue weight when empty. Trailer manufactures will almost always use the empty weight for this number and the 485 pounds also matches up to its 4,000 pound total weight when empty.

A trailer's tongue weight should be around 10 to 15 percent of its total weight. This means with the trailer fully loaded to its max (7,000 pounds) you are looking at a tongue weight of between 700 and 1,050 pounds.

It's possible that the trailer might still fall under the 600/6,000 pound capacities of your existing Fastway e2 Weight Distribution System if you really don't plan on adding much weight, but also keep in mind that any added cargo weight coming from behind the rear axle of your truck also needs to be accounted for when calculating your setup's total tongue weight.

With all of this in mind there is a much better chance that your total tongue weight with the new trailer is going to exceed 600 pounds than for it to still fall beneath it. Because of this I do recommend replacing the spring bars with 1,000/10,000 pound units. This will upgrade your system to a tongue weight capacity range of 600 to 1,000 pounds.

If you have the round bar system you will need 2 of the Replacement Round Spring Bar # FA94-02-1099 and if you have the trunnion bar system you will need a set of # FA92-01-1099 (both bars are included with this one).

expert reply by: Chris R

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