Andersen WDH without chains, Sway Only?

[Steve Morris]

Damn, I just tried to help @Ralph Mawyer with his question, and get piled on left and right!

Im 5’7” and Deb is 5’1” She weighs less than me. We’re not average.

I spent 45 years doing mechanical engineering, so I know numbers, too. 
 

Im out…

Edited July 29 by Steve Morris

[Rivernerd]

20 hours ago, Steve Morris said:

So, do I have another 500 pounds in there? I don't know. That's why I need to weigh the truck, trailer, and both combined to get accurate numbers

I am one who uses an Andersen WD hitch because we pull an Elite II with a 2019 Tundra.  To ensure we are not over the GCVWR for the Tundra, we visited a CAT scale on our last trip.  We're not even close.  But, our fully-loaded Elite II weighed in at over 5000 lbs., so the WD hitch is required for us.  That is what we suspected.

I strongly recommend you verify whether you "have another 500 lbs. in there" with a CAT scale.  You will then be empowered to decide whether you "feel lucky" enough to stick with your current setup.

[MAX Burner]

FWIW:  For us, every road trip is different in terms of load-out and corresponding payload weight.  It all depends on what we're planning to do on a particular adventure.  Since we sold our 1-ton RAM 2 years ago, the days of throwing anything we "think" we would need in the 8-foot bed are long gone - as we never even came close to maxing out the payload limitation on the Big 3500.  

With he TUNDRA, we're limited to a measly 1400lbs cargo weight - it is what it is.  So, we developed a simple spreadsheet that we fill-out before each departure which calculates how close we are to the 1400lb max limit (...remembering that this includes a full gas tank).  Our list of cargo items is all inclusive with a measured weight for each line item - obviously, we don't take all these items (they wouldn't fit), but only calculate the weights of those loaded for a given trip.  For example, the items listed below indicating "0-lbs" were not brought along with us this time.

This is a screenshot of the spreadsheet for the current trip we're on now:

We simply go down the list and insert the weight associated with the item (column D) if it's being brought along.  If we're not boondocking, like on this trip, much of the heavy items stay in the Man Cave at home.  Even if we're in the BD mode - the volume of space under the BakFlip bed cover usually limits the weight we can carry anyway.  We typically run 75 - 100lbs less than the maximum allowed cargo weight, FYI.

Kind of a PIMA, but I believe "weight and balance" is a necessary planning activity just like back in the day when instead of pulling a travel trailer, I was flying aircraft....