Tow hitch

We have had a 177 for 11 years (37,000+ miles) and have only used a Curt friction bar for sway control.  Towing vehicles have included (8 years) '08 and '13 Explorers and the last 3 years '11 and '17 F-150 which would be comparable to your Ram 1500.  Although the tongue weight is significantly less for us (325# with a full FW tank) the truck doesn't even begin to sag in the rear or lift in the front.  If you experience the same you can probably safely get by with a simple friction bar.

A lot depends on your tow vehicle. If you have an F-250, for instance, your hitch needs will be different than if you have a Frontier or Ranger, for example. I use an Equal-i-zer 4-point sway control hitch with 600 lb bars. It is what I got when I got our RP179. I tried a Hensley hitch, which was very good, but a pain to hitch and unhitch on unequal ground, so I sold that back to Hensley and went back to using the Equal-i-zer. Some people like using similar hitches such as the Fastway E2 which is 2-point sway control. Some like using the Andersen No-Sway hitch because of its light weight. The common thing is that all of these offer at least some form of sway control. Sway control is something that you don't normally need -- that is, until you do, so it is better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Weight distribution is a different matter. Some vehicles may not need it, but it will still improve the ride as it controls the porpoising that can happen as you go over road dips. All the ones I mentioned are weight distribution hitches. Again, if you have a heavy duty tow vehicle, you may not need it, but you will need to make sure you have at least 10-15% of the trailer weight on the tongue to reduce the risk of trailer sway. If you don't need or want WD, then you can get electronic sway control such as the Hayes Sway-Master or the Tuson Sway Control.

Please let us know your tow vehicle and we will be better able to advise on what would be suitable.