Bounce in backend when pulling 24' camper
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From: MADISON,IN
Bounce in backend when pulling 24' camper
Got a question for you guys, Just went down to get a camper with my Dad, hes got a 01 Dodge 1/2ton, long bed truck, 360- v8. We just hooked onto his 08 Puma camper he just bought, it's 26' long, weighs 4400 lbs empty, came with a Reese Dual cam sway control/Trunnion style weight distribution hitch setup. We decided to use te 5th link on the chains from the bar. It wasnt real real tight to get them on and pinned. After pulling this camper with his truck it is bouncing a bit too much fro my taste. I think we may need go down one link on the chain, to 4 links from the bar that will tighten this up. We ran out of time to mess with it as it was getting late last night. What do you guys think?
( I thought about a stiffer shock too, or new ones for sure but his arent very old, only 1 year old)
( I thought about a stiffer shock too, or new ones for sure but his arent very old, only 1 year old)
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There's more to setting up a WD hitch than just hooking on to the 5th chain link and calling it good. That's where Reese says to start, but then the hitch head has to be adjusted to transfer the right amount of weight back to the front axle. This is determined by what the truck owners manual specifies and varies from truck to truck and even between year models. It sounds like the WD isn't doing anything and all of the tongue weight is on the rear axle. Go to Reese's site, download the installation instructions for that hitch and star over. You'll get a much better and safer ride.
Reese says this, but I'll say it anyway. Trunnion bard when properly adjusted should point downward and not be parallel with the trailer tongue like round bars.
Reese says this, but I'll say it anyway. Trunnion bard when properly adjusted should point downward and not be parallel with the trailer tongue like round bars.
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From: MADISON,IN
Thanks for the input, I found some instructions, going to go home and look at the setup , take some measurements on ground clearance of truck, coupler height, loosen ball mount/adjust, jack trailer up, install the spring bars and determine what link of chain I need to run, then let trailer jack down, then lock down the ball mount. Then take it for a pull.
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That still sounds hit or miss. Take the measurements at the front wheel well cutout. Measure the unhitched height, then connect the trailer without the bars and measure that height. Use the 5th link. That's what Reese specifically says to do. Then adjust the hitch ball tilt to return the front fender to the original height or within 1/2". Tilting the ball towards the trailer transfers more weight, towards the trail transfers less. Don't try to get the truck to sit level using the wd. That's not the purpose of it. Get the front right and the back takes care of itself. Reese tells you all of this in more detail, but this is the idea. A lot of guys tweak it until the truck drives like they think it should. That's wrong. Too much weight transfer wears out suspension and tires, too little makes the front end light and can make it squirrelly in adverse driving conditions. It's a safety issue, so don't try to tweak it. The guy that you don't hit on the road will thank you.. LOL
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Leveling the trailer by changing the ball height will help with handling, because a level railer is going to pull better, but it's not going to change the weight distribution, that's done with the hitch adjustment. That is provided that the trailer is close to level when you start the setup. Etrailer has a great video on setting it up, and they say to adjust height after the setup but say nothing further about redoing the adjustment, so the effect is going to be minimal.
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From: VA
Leveling the trailer by changing the ball height will help with handling, because a level railer is going to pull better, but it's not going to change the weight distribution, that's done with the hitch adjustment. That is provided that the trailer is close to level when you start the setup.
Depending on the setup in a half ton, it can be hard to get a long trailer to pull perfectly.
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From: MADISON,IN
Thanks for all the advice. We had to flip the ball mount over to get it to the proper height in relation to coupler height. The dual cam sway bars were mounted to the trailer tongue to far back by the previous owner therefore I had no adjustment. We removed these, moved them forward and remounted them. We got them adjusted, greased the ball and pivot point on distribution bars. We did a test pull and man what a difference it makes with a proper setup.
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