500 Miles on my Cyber Truck. 400 of them towing a car. Do I need a weight distribution hitch?

[charliemagpie]

If I was carting 3500 kg, on a long haul ahead I would use WDH and never exceed 60mph on a highway anyway.

If I had small hops, say 50 miles, I wouldn't bother, but I would drive slower.

It is a risk, but I wouldn't be bothered with the setup for 30- 60 minute drives. The Cybertruck is 3,130 kg.
Remember, many fatalities happen close to home, without a WDH I am already taking a managed risk, so lower your speed.

Towing a 1:1 ratio, Using this would eliminate the need for a WDH IMO, but its dollars :
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[SSonnentag]

Level does not mean safe. You can have too much weight on the back axle or not enough and be unstable. Sure, level is better, but that does NOT make it safe. WD gets you weight to the correct axle and load leveling adds to the stability.

BUT, this does not really matter IF the CT is double the weight of the trailer. When I tow my car hauler, the total weight of the trailer and the Model A Ford is 1,800 for the aluminum box trailer and 2,500 for the Model A or 4,300 pounds. If I have 400 to 500 on the tongue, it tows just fine without any WD. BUT, if you cannot get your tongue weight right by checking it, WD can help. You still need to figure out a way to measure it. ALSO, get your ball height right! I see trailers going down the road and the trailer ball is 12 inches too high and the trailer is in dump mode all the time.

My camper has a 21" ball height when the trailer is level. So, I have to raise the ball on the receiver up 4 inches so I am level. Remember that the ball height changes when you "start" the CT if you have it set to go to Entry when it is in park.

I understand and agree with all that, but with auto-leveling air suspension the only way you can transfer weight from the trailer tongue to the front axle is by raising the suspension to high, then connect the trailer, and then lower the suspension back to normal ride height. If you simply connect the trailer at normal ride height there will not be any way to properly tension the WD hitch. Is this how people generally connect their WD hitch? I honestly don't know as I've never used one. I only tow 500-1000 lb utility trailers.

 

[mongo]

I understand and agree with all that, but with auto-leveling air suspension the only way you can transfer weight from the trailer tongue to the front axle is by raising the suspension to high, then connect the trailer, and then lower the suspension back to normal ride height. If you simply connect the trailer at normal ride height there will not be any way to properly tension the WD hitch. Is this how people generally connect their WD hitch? I honestly don't know as I've never used one. I only tow 500-1000 lb utility trailers.

Not so. The spring arms from the receiver portion to the trailer are preloaded.

Yes, you need the truck at drive height to set it up properly, but after that the arm setup can be installed while at any height.

 

[SentinelOne]

Have a WD Hitch for Toy Hauler - always use it on my diesel, except for 5 mi drive to take for service....for CT I got a weight safe hitch to use for general purpose / lighter towing and to measure the tongue weight of my trailer, then will use the WD hitch for any towing over a few miles - assuming tongue weight works out, big maybe as trailer is 9600lbs unloaded so obviously cant tow at trailer max gvwr of 13k...will skip water and dirt bikes if take the CT - aka to keep under 11k and under tongue weight...

guessing setup hitch at "low" ride height since I dont use entry mode and low is freeway / > cities speeds...

Wish Tesla would have something in the manual about WD hitches, unsure of if non traditional castings / bumper structure will actually support it - no reason to doubt but would be nice if they recommended or not

 

[Cyber Man]

Not so. The spring arms from the receiver portion to the trailer are preloaded.

Yes, you need the truck at drive height to set it up properly, but after that the arm setup can be installed while at any height.

Exactly! Think of it as a wheelbarrow. The more you lift, the more weight is transferred from rear to front. You can adjust the WD tension once the trailer is hitched up. Depending on the tongue weight and trailer load, you adjust the WD.

Wish Tesla would have something in the manual about WD hitches, unsure of if non traditional castings / bumper structure will actually support it - no reason to doubt but would be nice if they recommended or not

I couldn’t agree more. We need some official answer from Tesla. Some OEMs don’t recommend WD with software controlled air suspension system for whatever reasons. I really prefer to use WD. It’ll be a bummer if Tesla doesn’t recommend it for CT!

 

[mongo]

Exactly! Think of it as a wheelbarrow. The more you lift, the more weight is transferred from rear to front. You can adjust the WD tension once the trailer is hitched up. Depending on the tongue weight and trailer load, you adjust the WD.

It's similar at the beginning when you start lifting the wheelbarrow while the back legs are still on the ground. They have less and less force on them, while the front gets more, as do your legs.

Once the rear legs are off the ground, the wheel barrow is a completely different setup as lifting the handles further shifts the center of gravity towards the front tire due to rotation around the tire.

 

[MeadowShade]

Think of it as arching the area at the hitch up. The weigh goes to the front and back off the rear axle.

 

[Woodrick]

I understand and agree with all that, but with auto-leveling air suspension the only way you can transfer weight from the trailer tongue to the front axle is by raising the suspension to high, then connect the trailer, and then lower the suspension back to normal ride height. If you simply connect the trailer at normal ride height there will not be any way to properly tension the WD hitch. Is this how people generally connect their WD hitch? I honestly don't know as I've never used one. I only tow 500-1000 lb utility trailers.

FYI, lots of experience with a 1980's Station Wagon and big trailer and load leveling hitches.

Adjustable suspension was nowhere to be found.

 

[MeadowShade]

There is a Canadian Guy on YouTube that pulls a 28' Airstream with a Model 3. In one of the videos, he demonstrates how a WD hitch works by making adjustments to the hitch and getting all 4 fender heights to exactly the same as before the trailer was connected. It is amazing, then he takes off down the road at 60 mph or 100 kph and shows how well it handles. Absolutely solid.

 

[Cyber Man]

There is a Canadian Guy on YouTube that pulls a 28' Airstream with a Model 3. In one of the videos, he demonstrates how a WD hitch works by making adjustments to the hitch and getting all 4 fender heights to exactly the same as before the trailer was connected. It is amazing, then he takes off down the road at 60 mph or 100 kph and shows how well it handles. Absolutely solid.

Yep! His name is Andy. I called him and spoke with him several times while setting up my rig. He beats the conventional thinking of using traditional trucks to tow. That dude is just amazing and incredibly knowledgeable. I almost decided to make a trip to visit his shop and show my rig that he helped setup, but he lives on far east, so decided to do it later.

 

[TyPope]

Im reading that its 0.5x the weight of the truck. Example truck is 6000lbs. Would need a weight distribution hitch when trailer is 3000lbs and above.

I just saw a video
Of Tesla hauling a car trailer using a weight distribution hitch. Ill just go ahead and purchase one.

That's wise. 10% of the trailer's weight should be on the hitch. The weight distribution hitch obviously helps spread that weight to the front tires. You don't want to be doing a wheelie there. Even though the air suspension makes it LOOK like the truck is level, it's possible to have it look level with very little weight on the front tires. Dangerous. It's ALSO dangerous to have the trailer weight balanced over its own tires. The trailer can get to swaying and once it starts swaying, all bets are off. Maybe the Cybertruck can steady it down, maybe not.

My dad and I were pulling a load of sheets of roofing - I think 1/2" x 4' x 8' sheets, but a lot of them. The car, an old Chrysler Reliant, started getting whipped back and forth. My dad calmly said "This can happen if the load is too far back or the trailer is too heavy. The only way to get out of this is to accelerate out (we had no trailer brakes)." Then, he accelerated out of it. We were going like 10 mph when it started. It was so violent that it shifted the whole load back a couple feet. Sucked getting it shoved back forward.

 

[Woodrick]

The whole think here is that you need to keep the weight distribution basically the same as how the manufacturer set the vehicle up.
If it's 60% on the front and 40% on the rear, that's the way it should be when towing as well.

When you add 1,000 lbs to the hitch (a properly balanced 10,000 lb trailer), that takes a lot of weight off of the front wheel and starts to overload the rear axles.
What happens is that the vehicle has problem steering.

And as anyone who has towed a long trailer knows, when that 18 wheeler flies past you, it's going to suck your trailer in and push it back out. The trailer becomes the tail and the tow vehicle the dog and the 18 wheeler just picks the dog up by the tail and swings it around.

If you've ever felt the wind blow you off your course, this is much worse.

You gotta keep those front wheels firmly planted on the ground.

 

[mongo]

The whole think here is that you need to keep the weight distribution basically the same as how the manufacturer set the vehicle up.
If it's 60% on the front and 40% on the rear, that's the way it should be when towing as well.

When you add 1,000 lbs to the hitch (a properly balanced 10,000 lb trailer), that takes a lot of weight off of the front wheel and starts to overload the rear axles.
What happens is that the vehicle has problem steering.

And as anyone who has towed a long trailer knows, when that 18 wheeler flies past you, it's going to suck your trailer in and push it back out. The trailer becomes the tail and the tow vehicle the dog and the 18 wheeler just picks the dog up by the tail and swings it around.

If you've ever felt the wind blow you off your course, this is much worse.

You gotta keep those front wheels firmly planted on the ground.

Keeping the weight distribution the same is not always the recommended approach. For instance, some OEMs specify 50% front height recovery.

For Cybertruck AWD the curb spilt is basically 50/50. However there is 950 pounds of front axle payload available and 1,883 rear axle.

Unloading of front axle due to 1,100 pound tongue weight at 8 inches from the pin is around 365 pounds. Frunk payload capacity is 441 pounds and also transfers ~60 pounds from the rear axle to the front.

 

[Woodrick]

Keeping the weight distribution the same is not always the recommended approach. For instance, some OEMs specify 50% front height recovery.

For Cybertruck AWD the curb spilt is basically 50/50. However there is 950 pounds of front axle payload available and 1,883 rear axle.

Unloading of front axle due to 1,100 pound tongue weight at 8 inches from the pin is around 365 pounds. Frunk payload capacity is 441 pounds and also transfers ~60 pounds from the rear axle to the front.

Axle payload and weight distribution aren't the same thing. They may be slightly related, but definitely aren't the same thing.

I'm not really sure what your numbers are trying to say, but if you are saying that it's okay to reduce the front axle load by nearly 30% is okay, well, it's not.

If you are towing, ALL vehicles axle weights should be more, especially when towing 10,000 lbs.

 

[mongo]

Axle payload and weight distribution aren't the same thing. They may be slightly related, but definitely aren't the same thing.

I'm not really sure what your numbers are trying to say, but if you are saying that it's okay to reduce the front axle load by nearly 30% is okay, well, it's not.

If you are towing, ALL vehicles axle weights should be more, especially when towing 10,000 lbs.

Cybertruck AWD payload capacity is 2,500 pounds.
Front axle can only handle 950 pounds.
By your "need to keep the weight distribution basically the same as how the manufacturer set the vehicle up" logic, the truck's payload is only 1,900 pounds.
In reality, the maximum front loading yields 46/54, and the GVWR example numbers call out 45/55.

Not sure what you are talking about either, reducing the front axle by 30% requires removing 1,102 pounds from it which is impossible unless you have a 8 foot hitch receiver.
What I said was 1,100 tongue weight reduces front axle load by 365 pounds (or 11%), and could be compensated for with frunk payload if one didn't have a WD hitch.

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