I understand what you are saying, but my next question is, if both can be leveled with the WD hitch, why did you have to add air springs?

Pop

The Ride-Rites are like any other heavy duty spring system such as Overload Leaf Springs, Coil over Shocks, Air Adjustable Shocks, etc; they add to the capacity and dampening rate of the springs. Therefore I can carry a heavier load without over stressing the springs ... of course I do not want to exceed the axle capacity even with the additional spring capacity. Bottom line is my TV and Hi-Lo will bounce less on rough surfaces and when not towing I can drop the air pressure to where I hardly notice the addition of the Ride Rites.

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John

2007-22T TowLite 50th Anniversary, Valley Towing Equalizer Hitch
2008 Nissan Frontier SE 4X4 Crew Cab, Snug Top & McKesh Mirrors
Cooper AT3 LT265/70R16 AT w Slotted Rotors, Ride-Rite Air Springs

Pop,

Since I've owned our Bon Voyage, I've never used air shocks or any type of spring augmentation. Just hitch up, making sure both torsion bar chains are shackled to the third link (proper for leveling out my set-up), and go!

Years ago, in the 70's and 80's, I towed with a Toyota FJ-40, If you remember, those things had a really short wheel base. This was not a great vehicle for towing, in fact the braking capacity made them downright dangerous, but it was all I could afford. Well, one advantage to towing with that spine jarring, stiff springed beast was that I got I got a smooooth Cadillac ride for a change! Spreading the weight across two frames and an addition pair of springs (or more), tames even the toughest TV beast.

Going way back, when my dad first bought our 1969 Bon Voyage, we towed with a 1969 Dodge Polara. At the Hi-Lo dealers recommendation, he moved up to a 1970 International Travel-All with the air shocks option (even came with a little on-board compressor for raising the shocks!). With both vehicles we used a Reese "load equalizing" hitch. I still remember our conversation about how neither of us could tell the difference when towing... other than that the Travel-All had a TON more power and made acceleration and passing easier, and didn't tend to overheat in the Smokeys.

Now, I do think air shocks are a good addition when towing light trailers (U-Hauls), with bumper hitches. They nicely level out the TV body, but the driver needs to always remember that the weight is still centered at the hitch point in the rear, and front axle braking is still negatively impacted.

Jim

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1967 17' Hi-Lo Bon Voyage (1967-1969)
1969 19' Hi-Lo Bon Voyage (1969-2011)
2004 27' Hi-Lo TowLite (2010-present)
2007 Chevy Suburban

Guys, I agree with you that if the WD hitch bars are rated over the combined weight of the tongue and the addition weight that is put in the TV then the WD should be able to level them both. My SUV wasn't really designed for much weight in the back, also I had a very bad back and forth oscillation when traveling on some concrete roads. The air shocks cured this problem. I didn't use the air shocks to level the trailer only to support the additional load that I put in the SUV. Also the WD Bars that the dealer installed were only rated at 550 lbs. only about a 100 over the tongue weight, not really enough for the 200 lbs. that I put in the back of the SUV. However this setup worked great with our 21 ft. 95T trailer, was very stable.
I have since upgrade to a 2209 which is heavier and has more tongue weight, my set up is not working near as well as it did with the 95, I had to add an additional 20 lbs. to the air shocks to level things up and actually on our 5000 mile trip to FL., I was very displease with the handling, my opinion is that I am going to have to get a better WD hitch with higher rated bars. I guess I am very opinionated, but I don't mind being proved wrong. John, I do basically what you described for the additional weight in the SUV. Do you think that a higher rated hitch will improve things.

Thanks all for the kudos. The best thing about these information sharing websites (Forums) is that we can all help each other have a better camping experience. I don't consider this a big failure as I'll sell the timbrens to recoup a portion of my money and now we know they aren't sutable in our application.

I will also go with a WD hitch in the future and just take the extra time to hitch up. As much as I tried getting around the WD hitch, it is the best choice.

Fireballsocal, Check the library , Towing. I just posted a lot of manufacture information on selecting the right weight rated WD hitch, and how to adjust it.

I wanted to update this post since I've now towed 400 miles with a weight distribution hitch and can compare between the WDH, timbren rubber overload springs, and using nothing at all.

There is no contest. The truck rides better and steers truer with the WDH installed. I still need to fine tune the hitch to raise up the tongue of the trailer but as a first run, I now see why everyone feels they are a necessity.

With the WD installed, the rear of my truck doesn't sag anymore and I don't scrape the hitch on steep driveways. The headlights don't blind oncoming traffic, and the light front end and vague steering are gone.

Using nothing at all, my truck sagged really bad and blinded oncoming traffic with it's headlights pointing up. The hitch would drag on steep driveways and while managable, steering was vague.

The timbrens solved the sagging back end and scraping hitch but presented new problems in the horrible ride quality hitched up and unhitched. They did nothing to fix the steering either. I sold these on ebay for just slightly less than what I paid new for them.

The WDH fixes all problems and only presents one additional problem, the extra time to hitch up. I feel it's well worth the additional time to hitch up to get a better towing experience.

To those who tried to steer me to a WDH from the get go, you were absolutely right.

Great feedback! I, for one, am delighted you tried the WD hitch. Just looking at all the other "solutions" left me with the feeling of a horrible load on the rear axle of the tow vehicle, reduced steering traction, dive during braking, bad stress on the rear tires of the tow vehicle and, all the other things you mentioned.

There IS a rather unique WD hitch that I suspect might be overkill for us, but here it is: PullRite has a SAFER, STRONGER, BETTER designed hitch for you

This thing essentially puts the tongue over the rear axle, like a 5th wheel or a gooseneck, and, it distributes the weight too (over both axles of the TV).

What really blows me away though, if you watch enough of the videos, you can jackknife your trailer while backing and keep going! This can really get you out of (or into) some very tight spaces.

The only thing I think might be a problem with my truck is that it looks like it would interfere with the spare tire access. Otherwise, WOW!

- Jack

Glad to hear you are on the right track. I increased the torusion bars on my WDH from 550lbs to 750 lbs. The 550 tys wouldn't do the job on the 2209 which is heaver than my 95. We have a long trip planed in a few days, several thousand miles till the end. I will get to try the new set up out, already used it a couple hundred miles but the speeds were not sufficient to get a good answer. In my experience you have to be on a major highway with a speed limit of 70, I only drive at around 65 but the test is when large SUV s or tactor trailers blow by you at speeds of 15 to 20 mph faster than you are going, if you get little suck over and little push back, (sway) then you got it right.

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Rich
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(215TL) - 1995 21' TowLite
(2209T) - 2009 22' TowLite
99 Ford Explorer 4DR 4X4

THANK YOU Jim,so many people unknowingly endanger themselves and everyone on the road at the same time by trying to save a few bucks,i had someone very dear to me killed by a man pulling an overloaded camper,he had a blow out because of overheated tires that were brand new, however they were underrated as far as load weight,he saved $200.00 and killed 3 people,one of them was HIS daughter.
READ THE MANUALS,STICK TO THE RULES,and everyone is safer