First Time Cobalt Owner (and Boater), Long Time Admirer

[NautiWeasel]

Looking at the pictures, you definitely have hydraulic brakes, and therefore must have a flexible fluid line that allows the tongue to fold as it is in the picture.
So, unfortunately, that does mean that the Andersen WDH is a no-go on your trailer. You have a few options...
1. Weld up a new tongue that does not swing. This is probably not the best option, as it may lower the value of the trailer, and most definitely will void any trailer warranty you may have.
2. Get one of the WDH hitches that do work with hydraulic surge brakes, (and hopefully a swing tongue) and return the Andersen.
3. Skip the WDH all together, and go with some Timbren bump stops for the back of your truck. This won't add any weigh carrying capacity, but it will stop the sag when you hook up the trailer. However this will also more than likely effect the off road performance of the TRX.

[RWM250]

Congrats on your beautiful boat and nice truck. I read through the thread and there's lots of great info shared and probably a bit overwhelming. After driving big trucks for years, one can overload anything and remain comfortable over time. Most equipment can withstand a small percentage of overloading beyond rated weight. Driving habits must change to stay safe. Move at your comfortable pace and it'll all come together. Congrats again on a great looking Cobalt.

[bruceb58]

You can NOT use the Anderson WDH with surge brakes...period!

You also won't be able to use ANY WDH with a swing tongue.

What does the rating sticker on the hitch of your truck say?

Electric over hydraulic brakes means there is a small hydraulic pump that is use to apply the hydraulic brakes...you do not have that system.

Why they put a swing tongue on an R5 trailer is pretty puzzling.

The RAM TRX is similar to the Ford Raptor...both are very poor tow vehicles. The previous owner of my R5 was towing it with a Raptor. He sold it and bought a 3/4T instead.

[tdryan]

Hey @NautiWeasel and @bruce58 -

I mentioned previously that my trailer has hydraulic disc brakes on all four wheels. You both express the caution with surge brakes... which pops the question (independent of the WDH hitch) - are hydraulic disc brakes considered surge brakes?

RE: hitch rating sicker - I can't find out; however, the specs state that it's a Class 4, 2" receiver, 8,100 max towing.

2. Get one of the WDH hitches that do work with hydraulic surge brakes, (and hopefully a swing tongue) and return the Andersen.

What does the rating sticker on the hitch of your truck say?

You can NOT use the Anderson WDH with surge brakes...period!

Considering my trailer configuration, y'all have convinced me not to roll with the WDH. Spent hours researching this and your knowledge and experience provided the sound information needed to make the decision. Y'all saved me $$ and countless hours of future frustration.

Ram TRX is a offroad baja truck with a hellcat engine. It is designed for offroad high performance vs. towing. It has a max towing capacity of 8,100 lbs. For comparison, a regular Ram 1500 has a towing capacity of 12,750 lbs. I'm looking at a total tow weight of 6,825 lbs. Details follow:

• R5 Dry Weight: 4,880 lbs.
• Tower Weight: 200 lbs. (I'm guessing here)
• Fuel Weight: 300 lbs. (50 x 6)
• Trailer Curb Weight: 1,245 lbs.
• Additional Load: 200 lbs. (just for good measure)

Above shows my expect trailer load with a total of 6,825 lbs - still below the max 8,100 lbs. I wanted to roll with the WDH to mitigate any unknown challenges. Now that this is not an option, I'll look for and research a "standard" hitch.

Congrats on your beautiful boat and nice truck. I read through the thread and there's lots of great info shared and probably a bit overwhelming. After driving big trucks for years, one can overload anything and remain comfortable over time. Most equipment can withstand a small percentage of overloading beyond rated weight. Driving habits must change to stay safe. Move at your comfortable pace and it'll all come together. Congrats again on a great looking Cobalt.

tysir!

[dsthomas]

Hey @NautiWeasel and @bruce58 -

I mentioned previously that my trailer has hydraulic disc brakes on all four wheels. You both express the caution with surge brakes... which pops the question (independent of the WDH hitch) - are hydraulic disc brakes considered surge brakes?

Just to clarify what was said by the other guys.... your trailer has hydraulic disc brakes but they are activated not by an electric hydraulic pump but by an actuator mounted in the tongue of your trailer. When you go to stop the momentum of the trailer pushes forward toward your truck and triggers the actuator which then activates your brakes on the trailer. This is system is referred to as surge brakes. Electric/hydraulic is activated by an electric signal from your truck when you press on the brake. It's considered an upgrade because you can adjust the amount of brake applied to the trailer and the trailer stops in sync with the truck as apposed to surge brakes where it stops only after forward momentum activates the surge brakes.

I'm impressed that you have taken the effort to research this a lot of people just hitch up whatever to there truck because they once saw a commercial with their brand of truck towing the space shuttle or something

[tdryan]

Just to clarify what was said by the other guys.... your trailer has hydraulic disc brakes but they are activated not by an electric hydraulic pump but by an actuator mounted in the tongue of your trailer. When you go to stop the momentum of the trailer pushes forward toward your truck and triggers the actuator which then activates your brakes on the trailer. This is system is referred to as surge brakes. Electric/hydraulic is activated by an electric signal from your truck when you press on the brake. It's considered an upgrade because you can adjust the amount of brake applied to the trailer and the trailer stops in sync with the truck as apposed to surge brakes where it stops only after forward momentum activates the surge brakes.

I'm impressed that you have taken the effort to research this a lot of people just hitch up whatever to there truck because they once saw a commercial with their brand of truck towing the space shuttle or something

Thanks for the clarification. My boat (and trailer) are in another state, so I can't easily run outside to look or take quick pics.

I'm about researched out with the hitch topic. This thread has convinced me to not roll with the WDH. I'm likely going to now go with a Weigh Safe drop hitch.

[NautiWeasel]

DSThomas is correct in his explanation of surge brakes.
To paint a different, but also correct picture (and a dumbed down one at that) think of the coupler on your trailer (or any trailer with surge brakes) as a brake pedal. The ball on your trucks receiver is the foot. When you go to stop, the weight of the trailer pushes the foot (ball on the receiver) into the brake pedal (coupler on a trailer with surge brakes) and makes the trailer brakes activate.
The coupler on your trailer tongue is actually getting shorter when you are stopping, because that coupler is being forced backwards into the tongue of the trailer, hence hitting the brakes. Because that measurement from the length of the tongue isn't consistent, you can't use a Weight Distributing Hitch, as those are designed for a fixed tongue length, and actually put pressure back on the tongue of the trailer to raise the rear end of the tow vehicle, and also lower the front end of the vehicle. Basically, the WDH tries to prevent any up and down movement between your vehicles receiver hitch, and the trailer tongue. Since a WDH is trying to make that a fixed point, it would prevent the surge brake coupler from actually being pushed into the tongue, and "hitting the brake pedal" to activate the brakes. A WDH would work, but you would NOT have any trailer brakes.

Add the extra weak point of the swing tongue, and you have just another reason that you can't use a WDH because of the extra stress those put back into the trailer tongue.

[NautiWeasel]

I found a picture of my boat trailer that will maybe help show the actual tongue that has hydraulic surge brakes.
The circle is showing the amount of movement the tongue will be allowed to collapse as it slides along that channel. The arrow is showing what happens when the tow vehicle is slowing down, therefore putting backwards pressure on the coupler, which slides into the tongue.

[tdryan]

I found a picture of my boat trailer that will maybe help show the actual tongue that has hydraulic surge brakes.
The circle is showing the amount of movement the tongue will be allowed to collapse as it slides along that channel. The arrow is showing what happens when the tow vehicle is slowing down, therefore putting backwards pressure on the coupler, which slides into the tongue.

Makes perfect sense. Here's a blurred, close-up of mine (similar to yours). Thanks for the cliff notes.

[sailor55330]

Just to clarify what was said by the other guys.... your trailer has hydraulic disc brakes but they are activated not by an electric hydraulic pump but by an actuator mounted in the tongue of your trailer. When you go to stop the momentum of the trailer pushes forward toward your truck and triggers the actuator which then activates your brakes on the trailer. This is system is referred to as surge brakes. Electric/hydraulic is activated by an electric signal from your truck when you press on the brake. It's considered an upgrade because you can adjust the amount of brake applied to the trailer and the trailer stops in sync with the truck as apposed to surge brakes where it stops only after forward momentum activates the surge brakes.

I'm impressed that you have taken the effort to research this a lot of people just hitch up whatever to there truck because they once saw a commercial with their brand of truck towing the space shuttle or something

Thanks for the clarification. My boat (and trailer) are in another state, so I can't easily run outside to look or take quick pics.

I'm about researched out with the hitch topic. This thread has convinced me to not roll with the WDH. I'm likely going to now go with a Weigh Safe drop hitch.

The Weight Safe hitch is cool, but unless you are constantly loading different trailers, I wouldn't get one due to price. Once you have established the tongue weight on your trailer, it will stay virtually the same going forward each time you tow the boat so you won't need the built in scale. You can do just as well with an adustable hitch or fixed drop hitch at a much lower cost. You can figure out the tongue weight with a quick trip to a certified CAT scale for about $10.

Just trying to save you some money for the fun stuff.

[bruceb58]

Post a picture of the hitch receiver rating. There should be a sticker on it. More than likely, it is rated for 5000# load and 500# tongue weight for a dead weight hitch. If it is that rating(Class IV hitch), you are going to need to put another receiver platform on your truck that is higher rated. You will be exceeding both the towed weight and the tongue weight by a LOT.

You will need to look at Class V hitches if you dead weight tow this boat with your truck.

[tdryan]

Boat arrived about three weeks ago, and we've been out on Lake Washington half dozen times. In the end, I bought this hitch off of Amazon. Works great. I haven't weighed the tongue yet, but the truck pulls the boat like it's not even there. Although, I'm getting about six MPH with the boat in tow. Hope everyone is doing the same - enjoying the great weather! Cheers