wdh's and what is tongue height for 2006 160?

[sdsjdo]

Hi everyone!
Brand new fun finder owner here! We just purchased a used 2006 160. (I dont know whether to call it an m160 or t160? I thought it was a t160 b/c it has the blue and yellow coloring on side, but the title says m160, so...?)

A few starter questions...

We need to get a wdh and since we are having the brake controller on truck installed tomorrow at a hitch place I thought I may as well get the wdh while I am there. Prob is we dont have the camper yet. It is an hour away and I cant pick it up for a week. Unfortunately the owner has it stored at a lot and it is a pain for him to get to it just to take a measurement. But the hitch place guy said ideally he needs to know the towing height of the tongue to sell me the best wdh. So I thought if I got enough answers to this I could average it out and give him a fair guess.

Also, I want a wdh with built in sway control. We have a 2012 4.6 tundra crewmax. I know we prob dont "need" wdh but I will be towing with my kiddos and often without the hubby, and mostly in the rocky mtns, so I want to feel as safe as possible. What are people using that they LOVE? Equilizer E-2 has been suggested. Other ideas? or thoughts on this one?

I will be back for many many many questions I am sure, but this will get us started!
Thanks!

 

[webslave]

I tow anything over 3,000 lbs (bumper pull) with a WDH if I'm going more than 30 to 40 miles. Much more stable pull and a lot safer.

If I remember correctly, my 210WBS was right at 16" for the top of the ball coupler. I towed with a Jeep Commander and had to use an 8" drop shank to get the top of the ball at ~16" with my Equal-i-zer unit.

My Jeep rides high...I believe the stinger is at 19", so, I had to drop 3" right off the bat and you have to allow for about 5" in height of the Equal-i-zer hitch head to the base of the ball...left me with about an 8" drop and allowing for spring squat from the tongue weight gave me a very slight (~.5") nose down attitude. You want level or slight nose down, never nose up when towing.

Hopefully some others will chime in with their measurements.

 

[roy-FUN]

Not sure if this wil help since I have a different trailer and truck.

My truck is a 2010 tundra double cab TRD, sits up high in the rear. Trailer is a 2012 xt276 which is high off the ground as well. Trailer completely level, 17" from pavement front of camper and at rear wheels. Tongue is 24" at this point. I set my Equilizer wdh at 24" to top of hitch ball. I used 5 washers to get the angle right on the hitch. When hooked to the truck the camper squats the truck 2" in the rear and hardly moves the front up at all. With wdh tension bars hooked up the truck rises 1/2" which is still about 1/2" higher than my front is. Trailer is completely level at this point. My tension brackets on the trailer tongue rails is set at one hole showing from the top any higher and I lose too much traction on my trucks rear axle. Other words there is to much weight transfer to front of truck and camper is no longer level in attitude. I did all these setting with trailer fully loaded, two motorcycles in the rear and all the travel items in the forward storage compartment.

It was a time consuming job to get the thing level and trailer attitude correct but I learned a lot doing it. It's ready to roll in the pic I attached. The truck pulls this camper very well and the Equilizer 12000# hitch is wonderful. I am still about 500# under the gross weight of the trailer. With the heavy tongue weight of this model toy hauler we are real close to the trucks haul payload which does not concern me because everything we need is in the camper.