F150 pulling a 21. Do I need a WD hitch? And other questions.

[grump]

We just got back October 7 from picking up our 21, coming home thru South Dakota we had 35 - 40 mph winds blowing diagonally, hitting the front passenger side, a diagonal cross wind I guess. I was glad to have the WDH for the stability it provided. That wasn't a fun day. You might be okay most of the time without but when you need it it's nice that it's there

[Losangeles]

Originally Posted by grump

We just got back October 7 from picking up our 21, coming home thru South Dakota we had 35 - 40 mph winds blowing diagonally, hitting the front passenger side, a diagonal cross wind I guess. I was glad to have the WDH for the stability it provided. That wasn't a fun day. You might be okay most of the time without but when you need it it's nice that it's there

"You might be okay most of the time without but when you need it it's nice that it's there"

Exactly.

Glad you were ok..... congrats on your 21.... and be sure to change your profile here, as you now have your 21'

(by your name it says "21 on order")

[thumper-tx]

A WDH is very different from a sway bar. [yes, some are designed to do both] Many of the problems listed on this thread are solved primarily by a sway bar. I put air bags on my F-150 to be able to assure the correct "level" towing. At the factory, Escape indicated that measuring up to the trailer "parting ling" with the front measurement 1/2" higer than the rear was what Dexter recommended on that axle configuration. Very easy to do with air bags. Cost is some less than a WDH and use is far easier.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Kountrykamper

Bottom line is they help 95% of the time with trailers of this size and also make it safer for people with very little towing experience.

I don't question that (although others in this forum who have tried with and without might), but in my experience with trailer the length and weight of an Escape 21' there was no need for WD.

Originally Posted by Kountrykamper

You may not like them because of the expense and they are a more work but giving advise not to use them is just your opinion and not based on facts.

I have not advised anyone to not use WD, and I am only concerned with fact. I have advised people

• to understand what the WD hardware is for
• to understand the consquences of mis-use
• to learn to adjust it properly
• to understand the tradeoffs in the hitch decision

[gbaglo]

I'm thinking that all air bags do is make it harder to compress the rear suspension, whereas a WDH transfers weight to the front of the tow vehicle and to the trailer axle.
That may be OK if you have a rear wheel drive vehicle, but not helpful if your tow vehicle is primarily front wheel drive.
Towing my tent trailer with a Subaru in front drive, I had to back the rig down a gravel hill, put it in 4X4 and try again. Had the same issue going up a boat ramp.

[Losangeles]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I'm thinking that all air bags do is make it harder to compress the rear suspension, whereas a WDH transfers weight to the front of the tow vehicle and to the trailer axle.
That may be OK if you have a rear wheel drive vehicle, but not helpful if your tow vehicle is primarily front wheel drive.
Towing my tent trailer with a Subaru in front drive, I had to back the rig down a gravel hill, put it in 4X4 and try again. Had the same issue going up a boat ramp.

Great point.... because.... as you know.... physics!

Distributing the downward forces forward can be good in many setups.

[Losangeles]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

I don't question that (although others in this forum who have tried with and without might), but in my experience with trailer the length and weight of an Escape 21' there was no need for WD.


I have not advised anyone to not use WD, and I am only concerned with fact. I have advised people

• to understand what the WD hardware is for
• to understand the consquences of mis-use
• to learn to adjust it properly
• to understand the tradeoffs in the hitch decision

Well knowing our AWD 5000 lb / 500 lb capacity SUV tug (Acura MDX with factory tow package) I can assure you that for towing our 17' Casita..... towing without it made the MDX's rear squat down quite a bit, (with correct tongue weight) and somewhat "unload" the front wheels... and I myself would NEVER want to tow our 17' Casita without a WDH.

The WDH changed it, night and day, and make it sooooo stable, restored handling, and most importantly it re-loaded the weight back onto the front wheels, for handling and braking.

So with our tug, Brian, I'd respectfully disagree and say... to be safe... our tug DOES "need" a WDH. It was bad any time I towed a short distance without it. Night and day.

and we'll need it also with the 21'.... I'm pretty confident.

[Brian B-P]

If there's any question whether or not the truck has the factory-installed brake controller, a couple minutes with the owners manual should resolve that. The controller is illustrated and its operation described in detail, starting on page 271 of the manual for the 2016 F-150.

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

This is what mine is like in my 2015 F-150, except black on black. It is similar in my 2012 F-350 too.

It still looks like that.
This is the manual application lever and gain control. The does-everything computer screen is also needed to see the status of the controller, and if the driver wants to adjust the initial braking effort (like the Tekonsha Prodigy's "boost" setting).

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Losangeles

So with our tug, Brian, I'd respectfully disagree and say... to be safe... our tug DOES "need" a WDH. It was bad any time I towed a short distance without it. Night and day.

and we'll need it also with the 21'.... I'm pretty confident.

Sure - your tug, your experience, not my place to question your decision. But the original poster is asking about towing with an F-150 pickup truck, not a much shorter-wheelbase and more softly sprung SUV.

My experience with 21'-sized trailers has been with full-sized vans (very similar to an F-150 in towing characteristics), not a mid-sized SUV.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I'm thinking that all air bags do is make it harder to compress the rear suspension, whereas a WDH transfers weight to the front of the tow vehicle and to the trailer axle.
That may be OK if you have a rear wheel drive vehicle, but not helpful if your tow vehicle is primarily front wheel drive.

It's also more than okay with my front-wheel-drive van, because it has much longer wheelbase (and so less adverse load transfer than Glenn's RAV4). Much more importantly, a Ford F-150 pickup truck is not a front-wheel-drive car.

[GregandTeresa]

And the same goes for our tug, a 2013 Pathfinder...same towing specs, same results with and without WDH.

Originally Posted by Losangeles

Well knowing our AWD 5000 lb / 500 lb capacity SUV tug (Acura MDX with factory tow package) I can assure you that for towing our 17' Casita..... towing without it made the MDX's rear squat down quite a bit, (with correct tongue weight) and somewhat "unload" the front wheels... and I myself would NEVER want to tow our 17' Casita without a WDH.

The WDH changed it, night and day, and make it sooooo stable, restored handling, and most importantly it re-loaded the weight back onto the front wheels, for handling and braking.

So with our tug, Brian, I'd respectfully disagree and say... to be safe... our tug DOES "need" a WDH. It was bad any time I towed a short distance without it. Night and day.

and we'll need it also with the 21'.... I'm pretty confident.

[Losangeles]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Sure - your tug, your experience, not my place to question your decision. But the original poster is asking about towing with an F-150 pickup truck, not a much shorter-wheelbase and more softly sprung SUV.

My experience with 21'-sized trailers has been with full-sized vans (very similar to an F-150 in towing characteristics), not a mid-sized SUV.

Absolutely.

I'm just sharing our experiences with, as you correctly say, a much shorter-wheelbase and more softly sprung SUV.

Just so for anyone else reading this thread knows how tugs can vary wildly.

I just wanted to clarify, for readers who dont understand the differences in tugs.

[Kountrykamper]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

I don't question that (although others in this forum who have tried with and without might), but in my experience with trailer the length and weight of an Escape 21' there was no need for WD.


I have not advised anyone to not use WD, and I am only concerned with fact. I have advised people

• to understand what the WD hardware is for
• to understand the consquences of mis-use
• to learn to adjust it properly
• to understand the tradeoffs in the hitch decision

It aprears you have done it again. Why would you advise (in your experience) not to use a safety item? Have you ever towed a Escape? Sorry I not trying to be rude. It's just that some of the hard line advise being given by some people drives me nuts especially after seeing a new Escape owner almost get into trouble after a bad experience talking advise that they did not need a WDH from this forum. We should realize a lot of the new people are asking questions because they have no experience and answer their questions accordingly. I know sometimes the same questions are being answered over and over and it gets old but thats what this forum should be for. Maybe we should be telling them that depending on your setup you may need one and be very careful until you know how it will tow.

It seems that sometimes people feel their post count is more important and must respond to every post and don't think how their answers might be taken and effect someone down the road.

[SFDavis50]

Originally Posted by Kountrykamper

It aprears you have done it again. Why would you advise (in your experience) not to use a safety item? Have you ever towed a Escape? Sorry I not trying to be rude. It's just that some of the hard line advise being given by some people drives me nuts especially after seeing a new Escape owner almost get into trouble after a bad experience talking advise that they did not need a WDH from this forum.

I don't see any problem at all with Brian's advice. The original question involves a F150 pulling and that truck is designed for towing. It is also very nose heavy so I put sand tubes in the back of my F150 every winter just to give it more traction in ice and snow; but not when pulling a trailer. I can see using a WDH hitch if you also carry a lot of cargo in the truck bed but if just pulling a trailer, the tongue weight isn't that great. Brian is contributing to an intelligent discussion of the merits of using WDH and/or anti sway.

[Kent]

Jill, as you can read you have hit a hot topic not just on this forum, but many others.

Not all responses to "help requests" will be this heated. I think in the end everyone just wants to help and give you as much info so you can make the best choice for your situation or setup.

Please continue to ask for help when you need it, we have all been first timer's.

[GregandTeresa]

Originally Posted by Kountrykamper

"especially after seeing a new Escape owner almost get into trouble after a bad experience talking advise that they did not need a WDH from this forum."

Tom is talking about me here. On our initial trip recently, we experienced a very bad sway situation that almost got very ugly. The only thing that saved us and our new trailer was the brake controller, and the fact that I knew what to do in the event of sway.

We are complete newbies when it comes to towing, and I think sometimes folks on here that have a lot more knowledge and experience in these things forget that others may not have that level of experience.

And I did base some of my initial decision to go without WDH and sway control on things that I had read in this forum.

But I'm glad to report that our trailer did survive that experience, and now that we have towed with our new hitch setup, we would never go back. But that's just us. I like the solid feel that I get now when towing. On our last trip, I experienced side winds, head winds, and curvy mountain roads, and it towed like a dream.

[cpaharley2008]

Let's not forget that any answer here on the forums is worth exactly what you pay for it, which is -0-. Sometimes a person will read an opinion here and take it for gospel. One should always obtain information from a trusted source, is that here on the forum? This may be the first place but should not be the last place for advice on towing or anything involving the use of machinery or heavy equipment, just like those labels on medicines.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Let's not forget that any answer here on the forums is worth exactly what you pay for it

Are you suggesting we're just a bunch of air bags?

[Losangeles]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

I don't question that (although others in this forum who have tried with and without might), but in my experience with trailer the length and weight of an Escape 21' there was no need for WD.


I have not advised anyone to not use WD, and I am only concerned with fact. I have advised people

• to understand what the WD hardware is for
• to understand the consquences of mis-use
• to learn to adjust it properly
• to understand the tradeoffs in the hitch decision

To me, the problem with Brian's post is that he did not specify "with a Ford F150"

Yes I know that is the OP's question, but on a thread, that fact can get diluted....

and to many folks, the blanket statement "]in my experience with trailer the length and weight of an Escape 21' there was no need for WD from a guy with a high post count on the Escape forum could make them think"] "I dont need a WDH"

and frankly, with our tug, (Acura MDX) towing a loaded Escape 21' .... that would be, in my opinion, borderline dangerous.

[rbryan4]

This isn't legal advice, and every jot and tittle doesn't have to be double checked for accuracy. I think Brian's posts were spot on, in that he's trying to clarify what a WDH actually does, which is distribute weight. If you need weight redistributed, then it is a safety item. If you don't, it's not.

I never saw the blanket question "is a WDH ever needed", nor did I see a blanket answer of "It's never needed with a 21."

I could remove my Andersen Hitch today and tow my 19 with no safety issues whatsoever. I use a WDH because I like the ride better.

My advice to the OP hasn't changed: I think you'll have a better towing experience with an F150 2WD with WDH than without it.