I mostly hang over at the Excursion Forum, but being that camping season is here and we have taken out our new trailer a couple times I have some questions I was hoping someone could help me with. First off, I have had an extremely busy first half of the year and did not get to invest the time I wanted into getting our trailer set up correctly. With that being said I will lay out what I have and what my questions are, here it goes.

2005 EB Excursion 4x4, 2004 6.0 PSD, according to information I found GVWR is 9200, max cargo is 1329, max tongue weight with distribution hitch is 1,250 lbs and GCWR is 20,000 lbs.

Trailer is a 2014 Surveyor Cadet SC321BHTS, 36' overall with a 880 lbs tongue weight and 7294 lbs total dry weight with 3754 load capacity.

I have not scaled the truck and trailer, but I plan on getting the TV scaled tomorrow on our way to Children's Hospital. Hopefully get the combo down next week if I can get my concerns figured out.

When we purchased the trailer the dealership installed a Reese DC system with 1200 lbs trunnion bars, I believe they installed it incorrectly causing things to break (I've learned this through research after the fact). The pitch of the ball was to high causing the chains on the cams to be set at 3 links to get WD, this caused the trunnion to knock the emergency break off the bottom of the A frame. The hanger brackets were also installed with the u-bolts out causing cam arm cam to sit at a cant and not flush on the bottom of the trunnion bar, causing some serious grinding. I thought all this was normal or at least operator error.

So anyways this weekend it all came to a head and I found the trunnion on the drivers side had bound up, bending the hanger bracket, breaking off the emergency break, and popping the self tap bolts out of the A frame. I've received the replacement DC components and moved up to the DCHP units.

1) With a tubular frame, should I drill all the way threw and install longer bolts or purchase larger self tapers to utilize the existing bracket location? Or, should I have plates welded and thread into those?

2) Am I correct in thinking that I need at least 5 links on the hanger bracket?

3) With my Ex cargo capacity being 1329 lbs and my dry tongue weight being 888 lbs does that really leave me with only 441 lbs for passengers and cargo in the tow vehicle?

Sorry for the long drawn out post, just want as much information out there and want people to know I've done as much research as I could, but just don't feel I've found my answers yet. Thank you.

 

bump to the top.

 

Any chance the OP can shoot a picture to be sure I am following? I am not clear how the bar got jammed.

3 links hanging shouldn't be a problem.

One thing to do right off is go to Etrailer.com and see if they have a video of the proper set-up. Your tow vehicle gross minus what the camper puts on it is what you have left.

Steve

 

I already removed the offending bracket, so the best I can do us draw a picture when we get home from Children's. Everything I've read says I shouldn't have less than 5 links between the cam hanger and the pull up bracket because it causes the trunnion to bind.

 

I was on a completely different page here. A bar that is up too high can bind or break things. I interpreted your post as meaning the opposite.

Sorry about the confusion.

Steve

 

Thank you for the response. What is your take on remounting the cambracket? Should I drill all the way through the frame and buy longer bolts? Get bigger self tap bolts? Or, install a plate that I can tap and bolt to or through?

 

My initial thought is self-tappers should hold it. That's pretty much standard and doesn't seem to cause problems.