WDH for towing travel trailer

[KirillWA]

Hi everyone,

I've searched the whole forum and couldn't find a solution. Most R1Ts that I see on the road with small travel trailers use basic hitches. I understand that leveling is not an issue with R1T since truck will do it for you. But what about sway control and putting more weight on the front axle for better handling?

I have a travel trailer with 6500lb GVWR. I currently use Husky Centerline weight distribution hitch (aka WDH or WDS) on my gas truck. It helps with towing a lot. Installing bars back and forth is very annoying. But with bars installed I can tow without even noticing I have 6000lb+ behind me. No sway, good handling. Was towing in windy conditions and passing semi-trucks at 75mph, all good.

Since I already have Husky Centerline, I thought that I can just reuse it with R1T. On smaller trips I can go without installing the bars and let the truck level itself, but use bars for longer highway trips.

What is your experience with WDH?

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[Runs_4_beer]

Rivian says in their manual to use a WDH of the trailer is over 5000 lbs. I use a blue ox for my trailer. Luckily the Rivian and my F350 hitch hight are close enough I don't need to move the hitch when swapping vehicles.

 

[vandy1981]

The R1T and R1S sre only rated for 5000 pounds without a wdh.

I don't have personal experience yet (picked up the R1S today) but plan on using our equalizer wdh with our travel trailer even though it's less than 5000 pounds.

 

[ScottnAZ]

ProPride has been rock solid for me. Towing a similarly weighted Airstream.

What’s the downside to your Husky? Just the hassle of swapping the bars?

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

We have an equalizer WDH. Ours is estimated at 5500 lbs. Anything over 5,000 its recommended.

 

[IHScout]

We use an Anderson WDH. We love it. Easy to install and uninstall the chains on trips.

 

[KirillWA]

Thanks, everyone. That is great info and confirms my belief that WDH is a must have thing if you tow anything meaningful.

 

[KirillWA]

And to leave if is here for future reference: this is exact quote from the October 2023 version of R1T Owner's Guide:

 

[R1-T1]

Maybe this is just CYA language in the manual, but I was disappointed to learn that I will need to buy a new WDH to tow anything over 5k. This was not written on the Rivian site as far as I could see. It just says 11,000 lb max towing capacity. My Touareg can tow 7200lbs and doesn't need one. It also seems to be a low number compared to the 11k max.

 

[Mickey]

Hi everyone,

I've searched the whole forum and couldn't find a solution. Most R1Ts that I see on the road with small travel trailers use basic hitches. I understand that leveling is not an issue with R1T since truck will do it for you. But what about sway control and putting more weight on the front axle for better handling?

I have a travel trailer with 6500lb GVWR. I currently use Husky Centerline weight distribution hitch (aka WDH or WDS) on my gas truck. It helps with towing a lot. Installing bars back and forth is very annoying. But with bars installed I can tow without even noticing I have 6000lb+ behind me. No sway, good handling. Was towing in windy conditions and passing semi-trucks at 75mph, all good.

Since I already have Husky Centerline, I thought that I can just reuse it with R1T. On smaller trips I can go without installing the bars and let the truck level itself, but use bars for longer highway trips.

What is your experience with WDH?

I tow an Airstream with the same GCWR and use the Andersen WDH. I LOVE it! The Andersen uses chains in place of the bars. So simple to install/uninstall. When installed/setup properly, it makes my R1T and trailer seem like one long unit. So smooth!

 

[Epicloop]

Maybe this is just CYA language in the manual, but I was disappointed to learn that I will need to buy a new WDH to tow anything over 5k. This was not written on the Rivian site as far as I could see. It just says 11,000 lb max towing capacity. My Touareg can tow 7200lbs and doesn't need one. It also seems to be a low number compared to the 11k max.

The R1T will handle towing anything better than the Touareg. If it is recommended for the R1T then the Touareg would have needed it even more.
Lots of towing with R1S from small to very heavy 0 issues.

 

[Thedude]

Maybe this is just CYA language in the manual, but I was disappointed to learn that I will need to buy a new WDH to tow anything over 5k. This was not written on the Rivian site as far as I could see. It just says 11,000 lb max towing capacity. My Touareg can tow 7200lbs and doesn't need one. It also seems to be a low number compared to the 11k max.

That’s just a weird European thing. Most full size VW/Audi/MB/BMW SUVs are rated for 3500kgs and say to not use a weight distribution hitch with no supporting evidence as to why not.

 

[Thedude]

Hi everyone,

I've searched the whole forum and couldn't find a solution. Most R1Ts that I see on the road with small travel trailers use basic hitches. I understand that leveling is not an issue with R1T since truck will do it for you. But what about sway control and putting more weight on the front axle for better handling?

I have a travel trailer with 6500lb GVWR. I currently use Husky Centerline weight distribution hitch (aka WDH or WDS) on my gas truck. It helps with towing a lot. Installing bars back and forth is very annoying. But with bars installed I can tow without even noticing I have 6000lb+ behind me. No sway, good handling. Was towing in windy conditions and passing semi-trucks at 75mph, all good.

Since I already have Husky Centerline, I thought that I can just reuse it with R1T. On smaller trips I can go without installing the bars and let the truck level itself, but use bars for longer highway trips.

What is your experience with WDH?

The WDH hitch makes a difference. It’s hard to get set up right with the air suspension but the truck tows much better with it than without. When towing my 7000lb trailer I would only leave the bars off for short distance tows (unde five miles) and out them on for everything else.

 

[tk21]

We use an Anderson WDH. We love it. Easy to install and uninstall the chains on trips.

I too use Anderson and pulled a 7500lb travel trailer like butter w my S

 

[Dark-Fx]

Towing our TT with a GVWR slightly over 5k with the R1S this week. Definitely does not tow as nice as the R1T did bringing it home. Don't have a WDH on it currently.

Since we are having to dry camp we left with a full tank of water. Lots of water sloshing around made sway a big problem. Will probably look at getting a WDH for it if we keep pulling with the S. I don't like the added complexity for disconnecting if I need to drop the trailer, so was trying to avoid it.

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