Originally Posted by old-fart
I understand completely what a weight distribution hitch does, and does not do. It would make a bad situation better, it would not make THIS bad situation acceptable from a safety perspective.
Let me clarify....
Don't do this MacDaddy - it is a bad idea. A weight distribution hitch will redistribute the tounge weight absolutely which when towing a trailer that is more than 50% of your own vehicle weight is crucile. It will level out the entire configuration, reduce sway and make braking and steering safer.
IT WILL NOT, HOWEVER, INCREASE THE TOWING CAPCITY OF YOUR VEHICLE.
In this case, the towing capacity of MacDaddy's vehicle is 3,500lbs. The trailer in question has a dry weight of 3,900lbs. Add in people, camping stuff, food, booze, whatever and he is probably looking at another 1,000lbs or so, let's be generous and just say 600lbs bringing his total towing requirement up to 4,500lbs. A weight distribution hitch will absolutely not magically make his mini-van which is rated to tow 3,500 lbs suddenly a capable, safe vehicle to tow 4,500lbs. It can't happen. A weight distrubition hitch DOES NOT improve the frame, the transmission, the engine, the brakes, etc. It redistributes the tongue weight. That's it.
In my original post I said a weight distrubition hitch won't help this situation - the situation is that MacDaddy is asking about towing something that has a dry weight over 10% higher than the maximum towing capacity of his vehicle. I stand by that statement as it won't... it can't magically make the towing capacity of his vehicle any higher.
If you have a towing capacity of 3500lbs, you should not be looking at pulling more than probably in the area of 3000lbs total maybe 3200lbs if you want to push it, meaning dry weight of probably in the 2200 to 2400lbs depending on how much you plan on packing. And then, yes, you should seriously consider a weight distribution hitch depending on the tounge weight of the trailer in question.
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