Tow vehicle stance?

i have an observation about tow vehicles. I have a GMC Terrain, and when you look at it from the side, the rear end sits a few inches higher than the front. So when I hook up my 171 and loaded truck it sits just about perfectly level. When I see other vehicles, a lot of them seem to sit just level BEFORE you would ever hook up their trailers. Which in turn has the tow vehicle “squatting” lower than level? Are there more SUV’s that have this higher stance to start with?

And either kind of vehicle will (should) be level if hitched with a WDH (weight distribution hitch).

Originally posted by GlueGuy And either kind of vehicle will (should) be level if hitched with a WDH (weight distribution hitch).

Not really. The front end is usually designed to handle a certain amount of weight. If you completely level the vehicle with tow weight attached and a WDH, you're transferring more weight to the front end than it was designed for. What you should shoot for is no change on the front, i.e. the height of the front wheel well before and after attaching the trailer should be roughly the same, with the excess weight on the rear end.

Originally posted by TheBum Originally posted by GlueGuy And either kind of vehicle will (should) be level if hitched with a WDH (weight distribution hitch). Not really. The front end is usually designed to handle a certain amount of weight. If you completely level the vehicle with tow weight attached and a WDH, you're transferring more weight to the front end than it was designed for. What you should shoot for is no change on the front, i.e. the height of the front wheel well before and after attaching the trailer should be roughly the same, with the excess weight on the rear end.

It still ends up the same way. For most pickups with the back end higher unloaded, adding a WDH will tend to level it. For most passenger vehicles, with the stance level unloaded, adding the WDH will bring the back end up and tend to level it. I would say that 90% of the time adding the WDH will tend to level the whole setup (TT + TV).

I think they are meant to tow and the design of the vehicle to include the rear suspension is designed to compensate for load to a point. Once that load is more than the vehicle's suspension can compensate for and is within reason, the decision is the operators to add additional help, like a WDH. I don't recommend you enhance the suspension, but some folks do. The best option is to transfer the weight and that is what a WDH does, not make the rear go higher or sag less, which is what suspension enhancements do. You have to be within the tow capacity of the vehicle and I'm sure you know that which is what I mean by "within reason".