Hitches, Receivers & Ball Mounts
B&W Tow & Stow vs Weigh Safe
Two adjustable mounts, two completely different arguments. Neither is a better hitch - they solve different problems.
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How we assessed these: Compared on each maker's published specifications and on what each design does in ordinary use. This site publishes no measured accuracy figures for either scale mechanism and runs no instrumented tests.
Short answer
Buy the Tow & Stow if the mount lives in your receiver on a vehicle you drive every day - its whole argument is that it folds up and stops being a shin hazard. Buy the Weigh Safe if you load a trailer differently each trip and will never get to a scale, because a mount that reads tongue weight turns guessing into a number.
These two get compared constantly, and the comparison is slightly unfair to both, because they are answers to different complaints. One owner is annoyed by a steel spike hanging off the back of a truck they use as a car. The other is worried about whether the trailer is loaded right. If you know which of those you are, the choice is already made.
The two arguments, side by side
| Consideration | B&W Tow & Stow | Weigh Safe |
|---|---|---|
| Headline feature | Swings up and tucks away when unused | Built-in tongue weight gauge in the shank |
| Ball options | Multiple ball sizes on one head | Interchangeable balls on an adjustable platform |
| Adjustment | Drop or rise plus ball selection by pinning | Drop or rise by moving the ball platform |
| Who it suits | A truck or SUV used daily with the mount left in | An owner whose load changes trip to trip |
| What it does not do | Tell you anything about your load | Get out of the way when you are not towing |
| Where both land | Heavy, solid, dearer than a plain mount | Heavy, solid, dearer than a plain mount |
A feature comparison, not a ratings comparison. Both makers publish gross trailer weight and tongue weight figures per part number - buy to the rating on the specific part you order.
Why a stowing mount is more than a convenience
A ball mount left in the receiver is the single most reliable way to bruise a shin, and on a vehicle that spends six days a week not towing it is also the part that gets reversed into things. A design that folds the ball up against the bumper removes both problems without the ritual of pulling the mount, finding the pin and storing a greasy lump of steel somewhere in the cab.
The catch is that you are paying for geometry, not capability. A plain mount pulled out and dropped in a toolbox tows identically for a fraction of the outlay. The stowing design wins only if the behavior it prevents is behavior you actually have.
Why a scale in the shank changes how people load
Tongue weight should sit between 10 and 15 percent of the loaded trailer weight. Below that band is where sway concentrates; above it, the tow vehicle's rear axle takes weight it was not meant to carry and the steering goes light. Almost nobody measures it, because measuring normally means a trip to a public scale or a jack-and-bathroom-scale exercise in the driveway.
A mount with a gauge in the shank turns that into something you read while hitching, which means you find out about a badly loaded trailer in the driveway rather than at highway speed. That is a genuine safety argument and it is why this design keeps getting recommended to people who have had a trailer misbehave. If you would rather measure without changing mounts, the tongue weight methods cover the alternatives, and a dedicated scale is the other route.
Quick picks
Tap any row to jump to the full write-up. How these are chosen - and what we do and do not claim to know - is published in full on our research methodology page.
| # | Product | Best for | Our read | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  B&W Tow & Stow Adjustable Ball Mount Best for a daily driver | Daily drivers that tow occasionally | Folds up out of shin range when not towing | Check price on Amazon #ad Affiliate link - we publish no price; Amazon shows the current one |
| 2 |  Weigh Safe Adjustable Drop Hitch with Built-in Tongue Weight Scale Best for load discipline | Owners who will never visit a scale | Reads tongue weight at the moment you hitch | Check price on Amazon #ad Affiliate link - we publish no price; Amazon shows the current one |
| 3 |  CURT Adjustable Channel Mount with Dual Ball (2 in shank, 6 in drop) Best value alternative | Garages with several trailers | Neither party trick, far less money | Check price on Amazon #ad Affiliate link - we publish no price; Amazon shows the current one |
The mounts in detail
1. Best for a daily driver
B&W Tow & Stow Adjustable Ball Mount
B&W Trailer Hitches · Best for daily drivers that tow occasionally
Two balls on a pivoting head that tucks up under the bumper when nothing is attached, which is the part owners actually rave about - no more shin-height steel bar in a parking lot. Height adjusts in pin increments rather than continuously.
We have not sourced a full specification table for this model from the manufacturer’s own site at a stable address. Rather than repeat figures we cannot cite, the assessment above is limited to what the design and the maker’s published description genuinely establish.
What works
- Stows up out of the way instead of projecting behind the bumper
- Two ball sizes on one head, flipped rather than swapped
- Solid, heavily built, and quiet when pinned correctly
What does not
- Heavy to handle and to store
- Height steps are fixed by the pin holes, so an exact level may not be available
Skip it if
Not the right buy if you need a precise level height - a continuously adjustable channel mount will get closer than pin increments will.
#ad Affiliate link - we publish no price; Amazon shows the current one
Raw specifications: B&W Trailer Hitches’s own page. We earn nothing on that link.
2. Best for load discipline
Weigh Safe Adjustable Drop Hitch with Built-in Tongue Weight Scale
Weigh Safe · Best for owners who will never visit a scale
An adjustable drop hitch with a hydraulic gauge in the shank, so the tongue weight reads out as you lower the trailer onto the ball. It turns the single most-skipped step in towing into something that happens automatically, which is worth more than the hardware itself.
We have not sourced a full specification table for this model from the manufacturer’s own site at a stable address. Rather than repeat figures we cannot cite, the assessment above is limited to what the design and the maker’s published description genuinely establish.
What works
- Reads tongue weight every time you hitch, with no extra step
- Adjustable height and reversible for rise as well as drop
- Makes the 10-15 percent rule checkable instead of theoretical
What does not
- The gauge reads at the ball, so it is sensitive to being parked on a slope
- Heavier and considerably more expensive than a plain mount
Skip it if
Not needed if you already weigh at a public scale - the gauge is convenience, and a certified scale is still the more accurate number.
#ad Affiliate link - we publish no price; Amazon shows the current one
Raw specifications: Weigh Safe’s own page. We earn nothing on that link.
3. Best value alternative
CURT Adjustable Channel Mount with Dual Ball (2 in shank, 6 in drop)
CURT · Best for garages with several trailers
One mount that covers two ball sizes and a range of heights, which is the answer when the garage contains a boat trailer, a utility trailer and a camper that all sit at different heights. Capacity drops to the lower-rated ball you are actually using.
Published specifications
What works
- Two ball sizes and a height range in a single mount
- Flipping it gives rise as well as drop
- Rated to 14,000 lb on the larger ball
What does not
- Heavy, and more joints means more places for rattle to start
- The pins and bolts need checking for torque, unlike a one-piece mount
Skip it if
Pointless if you own one trailer and tow it with one truck - a fixed mount at the right height is lighter, quieter and cheaper.
#ad Affiliate link - we publish no price; Amazon shows the current one
Raw specifications: CURT’s own page. We earn nothing on that link.
When neither is the answer
If you tow one trailer, at one height, a few times a year, both of these are solving problems you do not have. A fixed loaded mount in the correct drop is quieter, cheaper and has nothing to work loose. And if what you want is two ball sizes and a deep drop without paying for a party trick, a conventional steel adjustable mount does that for far less - it is simply heavier to carry, which is where the aluminum argument comes in.
Whichever you pick, the drop still has to be right. Work out the drop you need first; an expensive mount set to the wrong height tows worse than a cheap one set correctly.
Key takeaways
- Tow & Stow solves a parked-vehicle problem; Weigh Safe solves a loading problem.
- Neither tows better than a correctly sized plain mount.
- A built-in gauge is most valuable when your load changes every trip.
- A stowing head is most valuable when the mount lives in the receiver.
- Buy to the rating published for the specific part number you order.
How we sourced this
Every figure on this page came from one of the following, each fetched while the page was written. Where a manufacturer or regulator does not publish a number, we say so rather than estimate it.
Common questions
- Is the Weigh Safe tongue weight gauge accurate enough to trust?
- It is designed to give you a working number at the moment of hitching, which is far better than the guess most owners rely on. Treat it as a check that you are inside the 10 to 15 percent band rather than a certified weight, and confirm at a public scale if you are close to a limit.
- Does a Tow & Stow rattle in the receiver?
- Any mount can, because the play is between the shank and the receiver tube rather than inside the mount. An anti-rattle pin or a shim fixes it on either of these designs.
- Can I use a tri-ball mount with any trailer?
- Only with a coupler matching one of the balls fitted, and only within the mount's published rating. Check the stamp on your coupler against the balls on the head before buying.
- Which is better for a lifted truck?
- Whichever is made in the drop you measured. Both are sold in deep-drop versions, and on a lifted truck the drop requirement usually decides the part number before the feature does.
More in Hitches, Receivers & Ball Mounts
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Measuring Tongue Weight
Three methods for measuring tongue weight, what each one requires, and how to interpret the result against the 10-15 percent band.
Found something out of date, or a figure you can source better than we did? Corrections get read first. How we research explains how these pages are put together, and contact is one click away.