GaryS1953
Michigan
Senior Member
Joined: 05/26/2009
View Profile
 Offline
|
Durb wrote:Could be the installing dealer didn't hook the hitch up correctly and you do't have enough tension on the bars; it has happened many times before. New friction hitches like yours are paint on paint and wearing in could help with the anti-sway.
Air bags might help with the bouncing, but they may have a tendency to lighten the front end of your truck. First thing I would do is measure your wheel wells, front and rear, to the ground, and make sure the measurements are close to the same with the trailer hooked up and the spring bars installed. Could be you will have to adjust your hitch head to add more tension to the bars.
You should weigh your trailer. You might find it is far more than 5,777 pounds, and is nearing the zone where your truck is insufficient. Make sure your tires are aired to the max and your truck's shocks are good. There is plenty of stuff to check before spending money.
I can empathize, my wife told me the same thing with a poor riding fifth wheel. The hitch dealer did the install himself, and he had a ton of great reviews. He did a lot of measuring, front and rear of trailer as well as front and rear of the truck, several times and make several different adjustments. It certainly seemed like he knew what he was doing. I checked my trailer tires this morning and they were all about 65 PSI, and they are rated at MAX 80, but I'm not sure if that's cold. I added 5 lbs to put them at 70 ps1. Truck tires were 34 front and 32 rear. Specs call for 35 cold, so I brought them up to that. Could that little bit have made a significant difference?
Thanks!
Gary in Michigan
2014 Chevy Silverado 1500 Double Cab 5.3 Liter V8
1996 Coachmen Catalina RB210 21' Fifth Wheel
495 Watts Solar, 40 AMP Renogy Tracer MPPT Controller,2 GC2 6V Batts.
|
GaryS1953
Michigan
Senior Member
Joined: 05/26/2009
View Profile
Offline
|
Home Skillet wrote:The trailer tongue weight may be too high.
Air bag will help quite a bit. Thanks!
|
GaryS1953
Michigan
Senior Member
Joined: 05/26/2009
View Profile
Offline
|
eHoefler wrote:Need to have the hitch properly setup, you are not transferring enough weight to the steer axle. Air bags will not help, might even make it worse. Do you mean there is too much weight in the back of the truck, lifting the front wheels? That's kind of how it felt. My hitch has different adjustments and it's set one from the top.
|
GaryS1953
Michigan
Senior Member
Joined: 05/26/2009
View Profile
Offline
|
valhalla360 wrote:Empty weight is irrelevant and payload often runs out before tow rating.
Swing by a CAT scale and find out what the real weights are (loaded as if you are going on a trip). Take 3 measurements (after the first, you can do re-weighs for like $3, so probably $20-25 total).
- Fully hooked up with the WDH connected.
- Hooked up but disconnect the WDH bars.
- Just the truck.
With this info, you can determine the actual weight of the trailer and the actual hitch weight. Then you can determine the hitch weight and if the truck is overloaded.
On the door of the truck are stickers that provide overall and per axle payload ratings.
It might be that the trucks rear suspension is overloaded or it could be the opposite and the hitch weight is too low. If it's too low, airbags won't help.
I may get to a cat scale, but in the meantime could you elaborate? What is meant by "hitch weight is too low"? Thanks!
|
Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
Senior Member
Joined: 05/06/2013
View Profile
Offline
|
GaryS1953 wrote:blt2ski wrote:Not enough hitch weight? That is typical of the issues you mentioned in my experience.
Marty I'm not sure what you mean. Could you elaborate? Here are the specs for the trailer:
Trailer Specs
Hitch Weight 663 lbs
GVWR 9463 lbs
Dry Weight 5777 lbs
Cargo Capacity 3212 lbs
Vehicle Specs
4WD:
Double Cab, 5.8 V8
9600 lbs / 4354 kgs – 5.3L (3.42 axle)
Thanks!
This is where folks who don’t know blinker fluid from muffler bearings get over their head…
Is it light or HEAVY on the hitch? How much are you taking off with the wdh? What tires, what psi? Is it doing the Carolina squat or didja get er good and weight distributed (maybe too much)?
And if you can’t tell, even approx order of magnitude, after this many years, maybe this towing thing ain’t for you.
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5” turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold
|
|
|
JRscooby
Indepmo
Senior Member
Joined: 06/10/2019
View Profile
Offline
|
GaryS1953 wrote:blt2ski wrote:Not enough hitch weight? That is typical of the issues you mentioned in my experience.
Marty I'm not sure what you mean. Could you elaborate? Here are the specs for the trailer:
Trailer Specs
Hitch Weight 663 lbs
GVWR 9463 lbs
Dry Weight 5777 lbs
Cargo Capacity 3212 lbs
Vehicle Specs
4WD:
Double Cab, 5.8 V8
9600 lbs / 4354 kgs – 5.3L (3.42 axle)
Thanks!
This is the issue; You think somebody looking at numbers like this should be able to tell you why your snot don't tow right. The idea you can't seem to get between your ears is it does not matter what is printed on the paper. The scale is not just something for fun. Until you know what the real weights are there is no way anybody can tell you what you need to change.
|
MFL
Midwest
Senior Member
Joined: 11/28/2012
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
Tire pressure will make a difference, especially the rear truck tires. If stated is 35 psi, that is for normal no load operation. Towing that size trailer, I'd run rear truck tires close to max pressure on side wall (maybe 44 psi)?
Tires, truck or trailer maximums, are set cold. The closer you get to max pressure in the trailer tires, the better it will handle, and they'll run cooler too.
If the front end of truck feels light to steer, you may need to transfer more wt to front. A scale would help if you have one nearby.
Hitch wt should be about 12-13 percent to lessen the sway.
Jerry
.jpg)
|
dustminer
home
New Member
Joined: 01/27/2019
View Profile
Offline
|
What is the payload capacity of said truck?
|
Bionic Man
USA
Senior Member
Joined: 04/03/2009
View Profile
|
GaryS1953 wrote:blt2ski wrote:Not enough hitch weight? That is typical of the issues you mentioned in my experience.
Marty I'm not sure what you mean. Could you elaborate? Here are the specs for the trailer:
Trailer Specs
Hitch Weight 663 lbs
GVWR 9463 lbs
Dry Weight 5777 lbs
Cargo Capacity 3212 lbs
Vehicle Specs
4WD:
Double Cab, 5.8 V8
9600 lbs / 4354 kgs – 5.3L (3.42 axle)
Thanks!
Where are you getting these values from? If you have less than 700 pounds of tongue weight on a nearly 10,000 pound trailer, that could cause your issues.
2012 RAM 3500 Laramie Longhorn DRW CC 4x4 Max Tow, Cummins HO, 60 gallon RDS aux fuel tank, Reese 18k Elite hitch
2003 Dodge Ram 3500 QC SB 4x4 Cummins HO NV5600 with Smarty JR, Jacobs EB (sold)
2002 Gulf Stream Sea Hawk 29FRB with Honda EV6010
|
GaryS1953
Michigan
Senior Member
Joined: 05/26/2009
View Profile
Offline
|
dustminer wrote:What is the payload capacity of said truck?
Trailer Specs
Hitch Weight 663 lbs
GVWR 9463 lbs
Dry Weight 5777 lbs
Cargo Capacity 3212 lbs
Vehicle Specs
4WD:
Double Cab, 5.8 V8
9600 lbs / 4354 kgs – 5.3L (3.42 axle)
|
|
|
