Do any of you boat pullers use a weight distributing hitch assembly? I have an old EZ-lift that I used on a 20' travel trailer, but a hitch welder told me today that they can have a negative effect on surge brakes.. Any truth to that? The boat drops my GMC 150 rear end about 1 1/2 inches when hooked up and I thought maybe I should shift some weight forward. Any suggestions?? (The boat is a 20' Bayliner cabin model, '89', on a dual axle King trlr.)

Periwinkle,
1 1/2 inches doesn't sound like much to me but you probably want to check the tongue weight at a scale someplace just to make certain it's not too much for your hitch. I had a similar problem a while back with my Chevy 1500. I solved it by moving the winch stand back about 6 inches. Do this an inch or two at the time as you can go too far and make your trailer squirly. You could also consider electric brakes and go ahead and use your ez-lift. Contrary to popular beliefe electric brakes will not fail just because you get them wet. I had electrics on my previous trailer for several years and never had a problem. I also plan to switch my new(used) trailer to electrics as soon as the weather gets better.

I think the guys reasoning may be right. If you think about the surge brakes,the coupler has to come forward on the ball right? If you have the WD bars on the frame of the trailer,It makes more of a ridgid connection. I don't know if the trailer would slide forward enough to set the brakes. I could be way off though?

I tow a 21' Bayliner Capri,it's weight across the scales is right at 4000lbs. I have a Chev 1500 and it does sink the rear end,but I don't think it's more than an inch. Our travel trailer is 23',and weighs just over 5000lbs. When we have it loaded for a trip we have about 12% tounge weight,and thats about 600 lbs. I can't remember what it drops the rear down,but it's probably close to 2" or so.

Periwinkle,
Speaking from experience, I dumped my boat on the highway ten years ago and the problem was directly caused by a weight distributing hitch. The place that installed it didn't do the job right and my surge brakes locked and jacknifed the trailer. You can use weight distributing hitches but they have to be installed properly so that when you apply your brakes the coupler can slide forward as designed while your master cylinder slides backward on the rods its mounted on. This is how the braking pressure is regulated so you don't get lockups. Personally I would never use one on a boat trailer again. I would follow previous advice and adjust your boat back as needed to get the proper weight adjustment. If you have torsion axles you need to make sure the trailer is level when towing or you will be carrying all your weight on one axle.

I would convert to electric, I read on here somewhere that surge brakes will be illegal soon. Any truth to that???

Good advice guys----- no weight distributing bars and no sway bar with surge brakes....

Steve, isn't the switch over to electric brakes quite expensive? ($2000)

Guess I'll stick with the basic hitch set up and maybe add some rear air shocks....

Thanks,,,,,,

That number may be close for a double axel trailer if you don't do the work yourself. I was quoted $500 per axel by a guy in Portland. That included all parts except the in-cab brake controller which I already had. I did the conversion myself for about $250 on my last single axel trailer and it ain't rocket science.

Steve,
There was a thread a couple of weeks ago about Canada limiting surge brake trailers to 2800 kilos or about 6100 pounds. I haven't heard anything about something like that happening in the states.