Another question on WD and sway control

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stepbill

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We just purchased our first travel trailer, a 2010 Forest River Flagstaff micro lite 18FBRS and I will be pulling it with a 2001 Chevy Silverado Z71 5.3l engine.  It has a 2 inch hitch on it and I just installed an electric brake control.  My question is that I really want to be safe while towing and would like to get a WD and sway control system but am unsure on what to buy.  I would like something that is easy to use, I can backup without disengaging anything but is good quality and will last.  I appreciate any help!

PS:  The GVWR for the camper is 4300lbs.
 
At about 4500 lbs GVW, you probably don't need a WD hitch for that trailer, but it certainly doesn't hurt to have one. Your Class III receiver with 2" ball should be good for up to 800 lbs of tongue weight and 8000 lb trailer gross weight (GVW), which easily covers the 18FBRS. If the trailer is properly balanced with 10-12% of the actual weight on the tongue (ball), it should tow nicely.

For a trailer that size, I think the Fastway E2 is an excellent choice in a WD hitch.  It is relatively inexpensive, has built-in sway control and can be backed up without disconnecting.
http://www.fastwaytrailer.com/e2-hitch
 
Welcome to the Forum!

Gary is our resident genius.  He has only been wrong once.  He thought he made a mistake.  He really had not!

To determine tongue wt, here are several methods.

https://www.etrailer.com/faq-how-to-determine-trailer-tongue-weight.aspx
 
while some people hate everything that comes from Harbor Freight I keep an open mind, they have endless items I would never buy but have many products that have proved themselves time and time again, the weight distribution hitch is one of those rare Harbor Freight gems and I can not recommend it enough, you can use the 20% or 25% off coupon on it and it does what it is designed to do, I have used them on multiple trailers and I will buy again if I sell our trailer and buy new

https://www.harborfreight.com/10000-lb-capacity-weight-distributing-hitch-system-67649.html
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
At about 4500 lbs GVW, you probably don't need a WD hitch for that trailer, but it certainly doesn't hurt to have one. Your Class III receiver with 2" ball should be good for up to 800 lbs of tongue weight and 8000 lb trailer gross weight (GVW), which easily covers the 18FBRS. If the trailer is properly balanced with 10-12% of the actual weight on the tongue (ball), it should tow nicely.

For a trailer that size, I think the Fastway E2 is an excellent choice in a WD hitch.  It is relatively inexpensive, has built-in sway control and can be backed up without disconnecting.
http://www.fastwaytrailer.com/e2-hitch
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help!  I've been reading some reviews about the E2 and they say that it can be noisy.  I saw where Equalizer sells a pad to mount on theirs to help with the noise from rubbing.  Not sure if those pads would work on the E2.  Is the Equalizer a good WD hitch?  I just don't want to mess with chains.  I do like the price of the Fastway though.
 
Well, I decided not to go with a weight control system since I thought it would be a waste of money and am just getting a sway control bar.  Thanks for all of your help!
 
I personally think that a friction-type sway "control bar" is a waste.  It has to be properly adjusted for friction pressure to have any effect at all, and that adjustment changes as the friction pad wears, gets dirty, etc.  How do you even know if you've set enough friction?  Or too much (it's not going to stop the trailer in a turn, so it just scrapes the friction pad more).

For what it's worth, ALL WD hitches are somewhat noisy - it's pretty inherent in the spring bar mechanism.
 
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