Weight Distribution Hitch for Ute + Car Trailer

[Citroënbender]

Simple enough question.

Have found a WDH kit to suit a Falcon at a happy price. Is it really going to make a difference when pulling a loaded car trailer behind a tray back BA?

[foxtrot3]

Hi. It will depend on how you can load the trailer. If you can shift the load back or put some of the load in the boot of the car on the trailer so that you can keep the ball weight down to about 10% of the total load it wont be a problem if you're not overweight. Cheers MD

[Itsme]

I've used wdh before and I will use them again if need to be, yes they can make a big difference in your favour if applied correctly.

[Citroënbender]

From memory it’s one of the nominal requirements to max out towing capacity on the utes (and also Territories). The shared tow pig has moved to a new home and Povo Ute is my next hauling option.

Hence the question, I suppose - do I fit one loosely, just to tick that box of “Yep, it’s fitted” or is it worth applying effort to actually gain further stability with the load? The communal loan trailer is quite stable once right, but you can feel when it’s mis-laden even by a few inches fore/aft. It nearly bested me nine years ago when I’d not carefully loaded it, the recovery was one of those events that come close to a miracle.

[prydey]

It's not a legal requirement so if you fit it just to tick a box it's a waste of time. Ford do recommend using one though so for me it would depend on the actual weight you are towing and the ball weight.

It will smooth out the ride. It basically just stiffens up the connection so will minimise the porpoising effect a high ball load can give.

Don't try to compensate by adding weight rearwards on the trailer. Keep the weight over and/or just forward of the axles.

A wdh is what it says on the box. Weight distribution. Takes some weight off the rear axle and transfers it to the front axle and a small amount back to the trailer axle/s. When tensioning is important not to overdo it. Only tension it so the front guard is at most only 50% returned to its unladen height.

[Citroënbender]

Still chewing over this one. Have linked a Ford brochure for the model.

http://australiancar.reviews/_pdfs/F...ons_200410.pdf

By my reading of this (P.3, “Vehicle Masses”) I have a GCM of 4245kg for my ute, unless a WDH is fitted, which then adds a further 630kg.

Obviously, that would be working a 20 year old ute pretty hard! What I’m mostly looking at, is ensuring that my towing is nominally compliant and therefore not voiding insurance. Likely errands include taking any of the project cars around the traps for glazing, welding or straightening; resulting ATMs should fall below that “2300kg” figure cited by Ford when using a WDH.

That said, it would look odd to see a Falcon ute towing another Falcon ute on a trailer.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Still chewing over this one. Have linked a Ford brochure for the model.

http://australiancar.reviews/_pdfs/F...ons_200410.pdf

By my reading of this (P.3, “Vehicle Masses”) I have a GCM of 4245kg for my ute, unless a WDH is fitted, which then adds a further 630kg.

Obviously, that would be working a 20 year old ute pretty hard! What I’m mostly looking at, is ensuring that my towing is nominally compliant and therefore not voiding insurance. Likely errands include taking any of the project cars around the traps for glazing, welding or straightening; resulting ATMs should fall below that “2300kg” figure cited by Ford when using a WDH.

That said, it would look odd to see a Falcon ute towing another Falcon ute on a trailer.

The 2.3t kit is a different towbar to the std 1.6t towbar. It's not the 1.6t bar plus wdh = 2.3t. WDH is not compatible with the 1.6t tow bar.

Not sure if that's what you meant but just to clear that up.

Many car carrying trailers are up around 700kg which does limit the payload somewhat.

[Citroënbender]

The “communal” car trailer is fairly light, it’s got old style strip floors and minimalist frame. Never thought to either photograph it unladen or take over a weighbridge to verify. Quite similar to this one, which gives its mass as 485kg.

My tow bar has a label indicating capacity as 2300kg (it’s a Carasel retrofit). So I’m fairly confident those two details are on the right track.

[Citroënbender]

The tow hitch, as it stands.

Towball is mostly used as a parking sensor and step into the tray.

[prydey]

If the wdh you found is still available I would buy it. Better to have it and not need it than not have it and wish you did.

I would aim to have a load in the ute, while keeping an eye on rear axle weight, bearing in mind tow ball weight adds about 45% more to the rear axle. I. E 200kg ball weight will be close to 290kg on the rear axle.

Good luck with it all. Common sense generally works.

[Citroënbender]

Super happy with the WDH just purchased from member smh00n.

[Citroënbender]

The punchline has been, paying a good bit more for a storage box than the hitch kit cost.

Due to length of the stabilising arms and total weight of the kit, it required a fairly large, heavy-duty toolbox. I plan to not keep this on the ute, mostly it isn’t needed and would either take up load capacity or tempt thieves. At least it will also have room for my chains and other towing/recovery gear.

Haven’t done any towing of note lately, either. But it’s nice to be safely prepared.