IrishIroamed wrote:Martha~ What Irmi said. The weight distribution system does exactly that, distributes the weight thru the truck frame so it's not all on the hitch. Also helps with keeping the trailer level for towing. If you see a trailer nose up or down, it's not adjusted correctly. Keeps the trailer from porposing and the trucks traction control auto adjusts to slow the truck and trailer if it starts to fish tail.
At the suggestion of many ladies on here (thanks again, Laura!) when I bought my wonderful little Jayco a couple of years ago, I went with the Andersen weight distribution hitch for my van. The Andersen is advertised as WD and anti-sway. Another reason I went with it was because it does not have those heavy metal "bars" on either side (which I doubt I could lift) as part of the system.
The hitch seemed to work really well during my solo trip to Yellowstone [sigh. . . Yellowstone. . . sigh] in 2018. The trailer barely moved, even when an 18 wheeler would blow by me probably at 70 mph going in the opposite direction from me on a couple of two-lane roads that were part of my trip. The Andersen made my trailer dead steady (plus it was very easy to install).
Anyway, on the way home, I began to get a bit concerned when I started to notice a bit of "sway". There had been no sway at all up until then. This was mild at first, but as the day wore on it became worrisome, because up until then there had been no sway from my trailer at all. After a hour or so, the sway was becoming worse, although not terrible. Just a bit of a worry.
LOL. Dopey, inexperienced, me. I was running a bit low on gas, the area I was travelling through was a bit short on actual towns, let alone gas stations, so when I saw a gas station up ahead, I pulled in. I figured I could try to see what was wrong with my hitch while I was stopped for gas.
When I opened my van's door to get out, the wind was so strong I think it might have damaged the door had I not still had a grip on the door handle, maybe even broken the door hinges. As it was, it was all I could do to keep the door from being jerked out of my hands.
To make a long story short, it was evident to me as (it might not have been before) that the Andersen hitch was doing it's anti-sway job remarkably well in the wind. In spades. I probably should have stayed stopped and waited for the wind to moderate, but I felt I was probably ok now that I knew what the problem was.
Later in the day, after the wind had calmed a bit, the sway vanished, and my Jayco was just as "steady as she goes" as before.
Dang, telling this story reminds me of how much I have missed getting my "Hope" out there on the road this year.
Stay safe, everyone.
Anne
