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How the hitch is turned is also dependent on the ride height of the trailer, so comparing to another is apples and oranges. Not sure on the washers, will look later. You definitely don't want the trailer nose up. Sounds like you need to take it to a CAT scale and bring your tools with you.
THat looks like 4 washers if I am seeing it right.
Here are my weights from the latest trip to the scales with eh current setup. The main thing missing on this weigh was the wife and 4 kids, so that is probably about 350 lbs of payload to be added.
What is the correct math based on these numbers to approximate my tongue weight as I am slightly concerned about exceeding the 1000lb limit of my stock hitch. Also does the weight distribution look good, or should I add the extra washer back in in order to try to achieve more weight distribution?
My hitch has 3 washers installed. I am in the middle hole where it attaches to the jack. Your numbers look OK to me. You could push a little more back on the front axle, but it should be OK. I haven't found it to be critical regarding how it feels to transfer it all back to the front.
Your tongue weight is 1100. You compare the unhitched weight to the hitched weight. Rear is 1620 more than unhitched. Subtract the weight loss in the front and you have the tongue weight. The weight lost from the front axle is moved to the rear axle of the truck without any WD hooked up. You can upgrade your hitch by replacing the bolts to the newer style that started in 2002 ish.
You can upgrade your hitch by replacing the bolts to the newer style that started in 2002 ish.
I know I have seen that before and researched it a little. DOesn't it require drilling out holes in the hitch and/or frame a little larger? Does anyone have the part number for these bolts?
I have lowered my PP stinger one hole and added 2 washers back into the pivot pin for a total of 5 to hopefully induce more weight distribution. I will go to the scales Friday with the TT loaded for a trip this weekend and report back what I get. Also planning to borrow a friends shoreline to see if I can get a better idea of actual tongue weight. Has anyone here ever measured TW with a shoreline, or other scale and a ProPride?
I found this one thread on the Jayco owners forum and am wondering if the picture in here is the most accurate way to measure actual tongue weight as it relates to the truck's hitch rating of 1000 lbs with W/D. https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...ger-44430.html
I have lowered my PP stinger one hole and added 2 washers back into the pivot pin for a total of 5 to hopefully induce more weight distribution. I will go to the scales Friday with the TT loaded for a trip this weekend and report back what I get. Also planning to borrow a friends shoreline to see if I can get a better idea of actual tongue weight. Has anyone here ever measured TW with a shoreline, or other scale and a ProPride?
I found this one thread on the Jayco owners forum and am wondering if the picture in here is the most accurate way to measure actual tongue weight as it relates to the truck's hitch rating of 1000 lbs with W/D. https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...ger-44430.html
You and I have about the same length trailer. I noticed your A/Cs and other items are forward mounted, do you have a bunk house in the rear and bedroom in front? Where are your tanks located? My trailer has the bedroom in front with slide, opposing rear slides with rear entertainment and kitchen over the wheels. My gray and black tanks are centrally mounted, fresh tank in the back as is my water heater.
The only reason I am mentioning this is your camper distribution of weight may make it inherently tongue heavy not to mention the ProPride is a beast as it is.
You and I have about the same length trailer. I noticed your A/Cs and other items are forward mounted, do you have a bunk house in the rear and bedroom in front? Where are your tanks located? My trailer has the bedroom in front with slide, opposing rear slides with rear entertainment and kitchen over the wheels. My gray and black tanks are centrally mounted, fresh tank in the back as is my water heater.
The only reason I am mentioning this is your camper distribution of weight may make it inherently tongue heavy not to mention the ProPride is a beast as it is.
I do not travel with any water in my tanks, but believe that they are all behind or at the axles based on where the dump exits the trailer.
They say dry hitch weight is 685 lbs, so I assume if I add 40lbs for the propane tanks, ~130 lbs for PP and maybe another 100 lbs for items in my pass through storage at the front of the trailer, so you might be right, but based on the Jayco forum post that I put above it sounds like the extra length of the PP might actually help to reduce that tongue weight, so I was just curious if the measurement with the Shoreline as the OP in the Jayco forum did was accurate. A couple items I know I can move/remove to help with TW is that I have a straight stinger that I had Sean make in order to use the PP with my front hitch and also my 50 Amp 30' power cord. Those together might be 50 lbs, but probably not a huge effect at the tongue itself. I could also remove one propane tank or replace it with an empty as we do not dry camp, so 1 tank is really enough to suffice for our travels.
To be honest, I probably run over weight myself (don't tell the weight police). I have used my PP since 2011 on 3 trailers without an issue.
Try to level the trailer and let the back of your 2wd Ex sag about an inch but make sure the camper is level, I have found that to be the sweet spot. If the truck and camper are level using the bags the trailer feels loose especially when the fuel tank empties. Also fill the tires on the Ex to 80 in the rear and 75 in the front, max the trailer tires.
Update from the scales prior to trip over memorial day weekend. Everything was loaded in truck and trailer except for the family (4 kids + wife), so maybe 350 lbs more payload in truck.
Unhitched:
Front axle: 3500
Rear Axle: 4180
Trailer: 7780
hitched no W/D:
Front Axle: 3040
Rear Axle: 5760
Trailer: 6660
hitched ~6" on W/D jacks:
Front Axle: 3520
Rear Axle: 5080
Trailer: 6860
I am very pleased with the results minus being over the 1000lb tongue weight rating and also my max trailer rating of 7500 lb. I figure there is at least 10% safety factor, so I think I will just load trailer cautiously and move some items from trailer to truck for longer drives, but the trailer towed great and the truck even measured perfectly level on all 4 corners with a fender height measurement. I do have the Roadmaster RAS, so my rear is normally higher than the front and I have it set to the maximum payload setting to help keep the sag down. next trip is ~2400 mile round trip to Texas and back at the end of the month. That will be the real test, but so far I absolutely love the PP as I can tow consistently at 70 mph and there is absolutely 0 sway experienced.
Numbers sound pretty good. It's a sweet towing hitch. I think you could back the jacks off a smidge since you are slightly over the starting weight on the front axle.
