I have seen a few posts recently in our Facebook group where someone wants to know if they need a sway control or weight distribution hitch for towing the Happier Camper HC1, usually noting that they aren’t quite sure what the difference is between the two. In this article I will explain what they are, what they do and why I don’t think you need either when towing a Happier Camper - but please don’t take my opinion as gospel, do additional research and under no circumstances should you sue me if your choice doesn’t work out. 

Weight Distribution Hitch

I want you to imagine a cartoon of a really heavy camper being pulled by a really small car, where the front tires of the car are popping up off the ground because the camper is so heavy that it drags down the back end of the tow vehicle. In real life, the front tires aren’t actually off the ground, but the front of the tow vehicle is lifted and the back of the vehicle sags because the entire load of the camper is right on the hitch. It’s called ‘squat’ and not only do you have less control of your tow vehicle, but it contributes to trailer sway which is one of the biggest reasons for trailer accidents. 

A weight distribution hitch has two steel arms that stick out below the ball hitch and they attach to the tongue of the trailer. I have no idea how the physics of this works, but the result of those two steel arms is that they distribute 25% of the tongue weight to the front axle of the tow vehicle and 25% to the back axle of the trailer which in turn lifts up the back of the tow vehicle which eliminates the sag. From what I can tell, there are 3 kinds of weight distribution hitches but I’m not going to provide links to them because they are generally required when the trailer is 5,000 lbs or heavier - which is why I don’t think you need one. You’d have to daisy chain a bunch of HC1s or HCTs together to even come close to that weight (although I’ve read articles that say you should put one on anyway but I think they are written by someone who is sponsored by a weight distribution hitch company).

Sway Control

Sway control is related but different. There are all sorts of reasons that you might experience sway when pulling your camper. Imagine that you are driving too fast down the highway in Texas and a huge gust of wind comes through just as a semi truck comes screaming past and your husband jerks the wheel to the right and suddenly you can see the camper fishtailing behind you. My husband Mike can probably explain this even more vividly, but it’s easy to have happen and I totally forgive him for giving me a heart attack because 1) he didn’t do it on purpose and 2) it could just as easily have happened to me. Road conditions, tire pressure, speed, wind, tongue weight and even how weight is distributed inside the trailer can create conditions where you experience sway. The rule of thumb is that if your trailer is heavy enough to warrant a weight distribution hitch, you should have a sway bar but you can still install a sway bar on its own - it’s basically a bar that you connect between the tow vehicle and the tongue of the camper - but as I noted above, I don’t think that you need one. But I do want to caveat this… some very knowledgable people on the Facebook group have one and it does look like it is very common to install one, even when you have a light weight camper so here is a link to a good option.

What’s your opinion? Do you have a sway bar? What variables do you think would tip the scale so that an HC1 owner would want to consider adding one to their set up? Leave your comments below!