Airbags vs Weight Distribution Hitch

livetorun

livetorun

Mammary Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Location
Louisburg, NC
What are the pros and cons of air bags vs a weight distribution hitch to level a truck? Are they basically the same or are there situations where one is preferred over the other?
 
I have a set of Firestones on the Dodge. Love them. They're versatile, for one thing. Pulling a little trailer, little bit of air. Getting compost, little bit more air. Pulling the gooseneck, a lot of air. I have never needed to go higher than about 40psi loaded.

Everybody I know that's had a WD hitch says they're the bees knees. But the only opportunity I had to do any long-range towing, it was pouring when I hitched the trailer, and I decided I wasn't screwing around with all that in the rain. It towed fine enough without the WD or sway control.
 
bags live on the truck

hitch goes on any truck your pulling with



I have bags, slide-in camper, and bumper pull the rig.
Nice being able to adjust for load
 
It all about tongue weight. I had a van (G3500) and a regular trailer, but long. The trailer outweigh the van by a good 1500#. Now it easy with a gooses-neck, put the load to the truck, all done.
The van only weighs 5500#. Sure i could have increased the tough weight and that would have worked great. I do that all the time for shoat trips.
but you have to figure is where is a TW going. It is NOT at the rear axle, (gosseneck) it is behind it, by a good 36".
I drove a lot of highway and the factor is, do I want it to 'handle' the weight ? or do i want it, to work well, with the weight.
With the WD hitch the van AND the trailer ACT as one.
Ya it that a little time to install it. But it only takes an extra minute or two, but if that important to you... well
Have to run a WD hitch all the time, it become very quick to hoke up.
But it will cost you a bit up front.
Shawn there is the thing call a 'rain coat' :flipoff2:
 
So for handling characteristics, is either superior over the other? If it matters, I'll be carrying a 1500 lb bed camper and a 7000 lb trailer.
 
They serve two different purposes:

1. The W/D hitch uses leverage to force more weight towards the front of the vehicle applying it over the front suspension (it basically uses the hitch ball as the fulcrum to twist your truck down in front), this helps for stability, steering, braking, etc. Most decent systems incorporate some sort of sway control as well.

2. The air bags keep your suspension from bottoming out, reducing shock loads to the hard parts of your suspension and axles. Sure, it will also keep the rear of the truck higher with a tongue load but does not fix the leverage issue that the trailer has over your tow vehicle.

It sounds to me like you need both in this case.
 
WD hitch is better because you are distributing the weight over both axles. On a standard hitch, with enough tongue weight, you could lift the front end off the ground. Airbags help the rear suspension handle the weight, but do nothing to redistribute the weight to the front of the vehicle. For really heavy loads, you need the WD hitch to keep the front end well planted. Airbags are good for keeping the truck level and preventing it from sagging and wallowing around.
 
Thanks for all the input. It'll be a couple months before I use the camper with trailer so I have some time before doing anything.
 
I have been watching this tread also I have a truck camper and tow a buggy behind it but I'm much lighter all I have us helper springs and it dose ok i think I will be adding some air bags soon thanks for all the I'mput and knowledge
 
Mine is 1095 empty same setup as yours but my trailer and buggy are very light I towed to ure to test it out with the helwig helpers and it was not to bad I could tell the camper was there not so much from the weight but just from being top heavy but the helpers where 90 bucks and it works and it feels safe I will probly add air bags over the winter
 
I've got bags on my 4Runner to handle the tongue weight of the camper ( 400-450 lbs ) camper weighs ~3480 give or take. appox 15psi keeps everything level and it rides well.

recently got a short bed Tacoma Double Cab, these have pretty soft suspensions.

it not recommended on the 3rd Gen Runners to use a WDH, Tacoma has a 6500 capacity 600lb tongue and WDH is ok.

First question, would you use a weight distributing hitch with a single axle trailer ( it is capable of using one, frame is made for it ), tires are approx 3885 total capacity ( upgraded from OEM under spec'd tires )

I'm kinda leary of using WDH on single axle as it will load the camper tires as well as the truck.

can get a set of Firestone air bags for about the same money as a WDH.

would you ?
 
Bags.

Did you check Adventure RV? Their website is horrible, but got a good price on Firestone bags from them.
 
A weight distribution hitch uses the hitch ball as a fulcrum to apply some of the tongue weight of the trailer forward on the truck chassis. It does not increase the load on the trailer tires, in fact it effectively lowers the load on the rear tires of the truck. You need to read the owner's manual. Most of them have weight thresholds where electric brakes are required and where weight distribution is necessary. Without a W/D hitch you need to look at the "weight carrying" towing rating, which will be less than the towing capacity with weight distribution (that 6500 you cited above).

Yes, I would personally run it.
 
OnlyOneDR said:
A weight distribution hitch uses the hitch ball as a fulcrum to apply some of the tongue weight of the trailer forward on the truck chassis. It does not increase the load on the trailer tires, in fact it effectively lowers the load on the rear tires of the truck. You need to read the owner's manual. Most of them have weight thresholds where electric brakes are required and where weight distribution is necessary. Without a W/D hitch you need to look at the "weight carrying" towing rating, which will be less than the towing capacity with weight distribution (that 6500 you cited above).

Yes, I would personally run it.
Click to expand...

the leverage is divided between the trailer and the front wheels, you're pulling down on the frame of the trailer as you're transferring the load forward. YES the trailer tires get loaded. yes the ball is the fulcrum, yes weight gets transferred forward unloading the rear axle/tires. You can effectively pull the rear tires off and split the weight between the trailer axle(s) and front axle.

YES the trailer axle gets loaded.

shawn said:
Bags.

Did you check Adventure RV? Their website is horrible, but got a good price on Firestone bags from them.
Click to expand...

Adventures site does suck, and it also doesn't list 2nd gen Tacos, only first gen. (95-04), scrolled thru their 161 options and the part number isn't listed. (Firestone 2407)

Amazon non prime $330 plus tax.

should have asked for this for my birthday, getting Scan Gauge 2 instead ( trans temp monitor and other goodies )
 
I was a couple beers in last night. And to think that I went to school for that. What I was trying to say is all you are doing is transferring the tongue load. Done right, a majority goes towards the front of the tow vehicle. I didn't look at your weights closely either last night, can I assume the trailer is darn near fully loaded now? What is the axle rating, tires don't mean anything if the axle cannot handle it (and it would be odd for the original pair of tires to be rated less than the axle). I think that will answer your question.
 
Patience, been looking for a good price on Firestone bags, average price has been $340ish with shipping. Missed a couple deals on used set ups. Then looked on Amazon again, hmm, one option of "used" for $250. Says new in open box.
image.jpg
Arrived today, everything there parts bags unopened, brackets paint chipped. I have spray paint.
Awesome !
 
To bring this back from the dead, I made my first trip with the camper and trailer a few weeks ago. With no distribution hitch or airbags, the entire setup was actually very stable. I still think I'm gonna go with airbags just for added adjust-ability in the future but I wouldn't hesitate to run this load again as setup. Overall weight was 14,680. I was only about 700 lbs heavier than the trip I made to CA back in April with a shell on the truck and the bed full of camping supplies. One thing that helps me is the short bed camper in a long bed truck so the center of gravity is further forward than it normally would be.

It doesnt sag as it looks, I was parked in a dip.


camper.jpg
 
I use a cheap bathroom rug on my floor and wash it after the trip also I put a heated blanket under my sheets and it's awsome I barely use the heat when I sleep now
 
I didn't read the whole thread. Just wanted to add that I put some airlift 2500lb bags on my 1500 sierra. Really like them. I don't have any fancy OBA but I just air it up when I need to. They have really come in handy.
 
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