Feature Product: Weigh Safe Tow Hitch
Jan. 10, 2017
UTVUG Staff
If you own a UTV then you probably own a truck and trailer. This year at UTVUnderground.com you will see lots of content surrounding products, reviews and features centered around these subjects as we see them as information we all can benefit from. I learned how to tow a trailer in my teens with minimal direction, and let me tell you, the first time I towed it was a disaster. Everything from hooking up the trailer to backing it up seemed like foreign territory but like most things, as time went on I soon began to think of myself as a pro. Reality is, I was far from it and still am.
Recently we acquired a brand new 2017 Ford F350 4x4 Lariat from our good friends at Sunrise Ford. We already had a perfectly good functioning Ford diesel truck but we have some awesome ideas for producing some stories that can help us all (especially the novice) learn a few things to make hauling our UTVs around a little less painful. Now, I know a lot of you are thinking that I am making towing a trailer out to be something much more than what it is and for a lot of you, I am sure you are pro's. But even after over 15 years of hauling trailers loaded with toys all over this great country and even abroad, there is still a lot that is new to me or I continue to learn about. Thats what I plan to share, things that I am learning or products that are helping the hauling experience easier, better and hopefully safer!
While I plan to do a ton of content on our new truck, the first product story we are kicking off is around preparing it to tow. Purchasing a hitch was right at the top of the list only because when I get something new, I am the type of guy that likes to have new accessories and not repurposed. A tow hitch is certainly something that can be re-used time and time again and I had every intention of just swapping my current billet drop down hitch from our other UTVUnderground truck to this one, that was until I came across the Weigh Safe hitch via a Facebook Ad. I rarely bite on the online ads, especially on Facebook, but this particular product hit me at the right time and had something I had never seen before.
If you see the Weigh Safe hitch from the passenger side, it appears to look like the other adjustable billet drop down hitches on the market. But what caught my eye was the cool built in scale that is positioned directly on the ball mount on the driver side. I quickly realized this wasn't an ordinary hitch and clicked the ad to learn more. The built in scale ensures proper hitch weight making for a safe towing experience. In my early years I learned the hard way that too much weight positioned at the rear made the trailer sway from side to side and the faster I traveled the worse it got making for a very dangerous situation, not just for me but for others on the road. Too much weight at the front of the trailer (tongue weight) and you can overload the tow vehicles rear tires making the handling of the truck difficult while reducing your ability to stop or corner at speed.
With experience I learned that trying to keep the weight centered or over the axles of the trailer almost always made for a good pull down the highway. But there are times when I have multiple vehicles on a trailer and thats when things can get a little trickier as visually things look good but not until I get going at speed do I realize that I should have backed one vehicle on in reverse or actually flip flopped the position of the vehicles entirely in how I loaded them. The Weigh Safe hitch now takes out all of that guess work, allowing you to instantly see if your tongue weight is perfect for towing. No more trial and error, and no more getting down the road and just saying the heck with it and keeping on because you don't want to deal with pulling over and resolving the situation. Simply put, the pressure of your trailer on the Weigh Safe ball sends a reading to the scale, measuring the tongue weight in lbs.
I was instantly sold on wanting this hitch for our new Sunrise Ford F350, we placed our order for the Weigh Safe hitch and we were stoked to be able to get their 6" drop down (available in 4", 6", 8", 10") with 2.5" receiver shank. Whats cool about our new 2017 Ford is it has multiple receiver sleeves allowing all the way up to a full 3" shank. Weigh Safe will soon introduce a 3" hitch which will allow us to actually tow 21,000 lbs, the full capacity our truck is rated for! Needless to say, once its released we will be upgrading and swapping this 2.5" hitch to our older diesel. The maximum Gross Tongue Weight (GTW) for our 2.5" hitch is 14,500lbs with the 2-5/16" ball mounted on it. Its rated for 10,000 lbs with the 2" shank so you can see quickly how much that larger receiver actually adds to the weight you can tow with. The hitch is also supplied with a smaller 2" ball which can be installed simply by unlocking and removing the pin in the ball mount. With the 2" ball you have a maximum GTW of 8,00lbs. The hitch in total is rated for 2,200 lbs of total tongue weight.
The hitch is made of high quality aircraft aluminum and uses only high quality stainless steel components. Everything is CNC machined in house at Weigh Safe's facility here in the USA. Weigh Safe prides itself on being the safest, and highest quality hitch in the industry and seeing it leaves little doubt in my mind that it isn't the nicest hitch on the market. The parts fit with precision, the ball mount slides effortlessly on the drop down and the pins fit securely without having to fight them in and out of the predetermined holes. Adjustability is king when towing different trailers like we do. We have one trailer that has flipped axles that we will raise the ball mount up for while others we will slide it down due to the ride height of our truck. Another feature is the ability to flip the ball mount around into a "stow away" position and anyone who has smashed their shin into a hitch while walking behind a truck will know just how cool that feature is.
Lastly, we purchased a new locking hitch pin to ensure our new Weigh Safe hitch doesn't get stolen, and at a cost of $299 you don't want anyone stealing your hitch which happens often! We think the price is well worth it for all that this product is. Its right on par with other billet drop down hitches we have purchased in the past, but the Weigh Safe hitch certainly is much nicer.
Once we got our hitch installed we greased it and found an old ball (dog toy) and turned it into a cover, a technique my grandfather would be proud of. Next up for us is to actually put it to work and we can't wait to bring you more info on how it works and holds up to our heavy duty towing duties.
On behalf of UTVUnderground.com, we want to thank Weigh Safe for creating and providing this killer product for our new UTVUnderground / Sunrise Ford F350. You can learn more on the product and where to purchase in the links below.
Weigh Safe Product Page
Purchase a NEW Weigh Safe Hitch HERE
SPECIFICATIONS
- Includes both 2in. & 2-5/16in. stainless steel balls
- 14,500 LBS Max GTW (2-5/16” ball)
- 8000 LBS GTW (2” ball)
- 1500 LBS Max Tongue
- V5 & J684 Certified
- Adjustable from 7in. Rise to 6in. Drop in 2in. increments
- Forged Aluminum For Lite Weight