I get lots of porpoising when pulling our camper. Camper is around 6500# and tongue weight is about 600#. I've ran it with and without a WDH and it still bounces quite a bit. Any ideas? Is the long bed contributing? We didn't get the FX4 package so I wonder if the more basic shock is to blame? No air bags either...point the finger at that? Maybe all of it? Let me know what you think?

Oh, for clarity about the shock question comment, we only have 13,000 on the truck so they aren't worn out at all.

My WDH is a bar/chain set up and uses a receiver adapter to fit the 3" hitch. When not using the WDH, it's a 3" receiver with no drop and doesn't extend as far out so the camper's distance is 4" closer to the truck. I had hoped that would eliminate some of the porpoising (100# less weight back there with the WDH and parts removed) but nope still does it.

It's not an unsafe ride by any means, but I want something that is more peaceful and can soak up bridges and train tracks a little better without wallowing 2-3 times before settling back down. I just don't want to upgrade my WDH, replace all 4 shocks, or install airbags without knowing it'll be the solution.

 

Honda Ridgeline?

 

Id try and get the tongue weight up close to 900 lbs and see how it feels.

 

Agree on that.

Also, how tight are you setting the WDH what you use it?

 

So the issue here is most likely the trailer...and there may not be much you can do about it.

For example, we have a travel trailer that is a similar weight, maybe a little bit heavier. It has porpoised behind every truck we've hooked it up to, to some extent. It was worse behind the Power Wagon as it had a soft suspension, it did it behind my last Ram 2500, it did it behind my FIL's old F250 Godzilla, and without the WDH it does it behind my current truck (haven't pulled it with the WDH yet because we haven't gone camping, so I can't say if that helps or not).

In contrast, my flatbed when loaded to a similar weight doesn't do it nearly as bad.

The difference is how it's loaded, in my opinion. See with my flatbed I can control where the load is at, to get tongue weight and everything dialed in. With the travel trailer, the vast majority of the weight is just where it is, and you can't do anything about it. You can play around with where you have your gear, food, and clothing loaded, but most everything else is already locked down.

Some things that I have noticed that help, however, is to always run with a full water tank (a partial load can make it worse because the water can 'move' more) to add some tongue weight, and run with very little to nothing in any waste tanks (I try to leave no more than 5 gallons in there, which I will usually stop and dispose of on my way home, keeps the tank cleaner).

Also, try adjusting your WDH to take less weight off the hitch - easiest way is to just have one less link hanging on the chains, otherwise you have to mess with hitch head angle and whatnot and those involve tools. Adjusting how many links you have hanging is quick and tells the story.

Shocks may help, but unlikely. Airbags are bandaids, they'll stiffen up the rear suspension of your truck but they don't address the root cause, and COULD make things worse by making the ride even rougher.

There are some WDH systems that claim to help, but I don't know enough about them to say whether they're worth the upgrade.

 

IMO, your tongue weight is not enough. Most want 12-15%. There are many videos online of the consequences of 'not enough' tongue weight, watch a few. Likely you just need need to reposition cargo.

 

Thanks?

 

Might be tough to do but I can do some temporary things to see if that makes a difference. The challenge is the freshwater, one of the grays, and the black tank are all behind the axles. I have one gray tank in front of the axles and the propane. I did have the batteries up on the tongue, but they are now moved back to under the bed (just in front of the axles) and are lighter with the LFP upgrade. Maybe I can get a tongue box and then load it up a little?

 

Hard to reposition cargo with the floor plan on the camper I'm dealing with. I'll have to mess around with temporarily adding weight to the tongue.

 

Most of my tanks are behind the axles so that'll make it worse. We always run dry though so it hasn't been contributing to the issue. There is a kitchen gray tank that is in front of the axle that I could probably add some weight too, but it is just in front of the axles so it won't directly equate pound for pound to increased tongue weight. Might be time to invest in a scale to make it easier to mess around here at home.

I do have my chains cranked pretty tight - I have 3 links hanging. Takes quite a bit of force to pull the handle up and lift up the bars. I'm not too excited about upgrading to a more adjustable system either until I know it can solve all the problems.

 

So I guess the consensus is to increase the tongue weight. The odd part is that if the weight is to low, you'd think I would get a little wag here and there. But it tracks rock solid down the highway regardless of wind or even if I swerve - it just tracks great. In my mind I figured it was the result of not enough dampening in the OEM shocks or maybe the WDH bars weren't matched properly (even though they are sized for my camper).

I'll see what I can do about tongue weight and then give an update after our next camping trip in a few weeks. Thanks.

 

I'm curious of the camper? Never heard of fresh water and holding tanks behind the rear tires. I typically travel without much water or waste as well. Your 21 F250 should pull like a solid rock, is it pretty level when loaded and ready to go?

 

Unless my connection is jacked up, you didnt mention what truck.

Move as much cargo to your front box. Same for front under bed storage. Reduce cargo aft of the axle. Easiest area is kitchen stuff. Paper plates are light, and clean up easy with fire. Not enough nose weight causes the trailer to lift gour truck when bouncing over bumps. No amount of suspension work will help, because the suspension moves freely between up and down travel. A dead zone, spring wise.

You can also move cargo to the bed of your truck. Its cheating, but helps.

Some pics would help. Every TT ive seen has a huge pass through box up front. I put my chains, jacks, tools, grill, etc. there.

Its not your shocks. But Fox 2.0s are a nice shock. Add them at any time. OEM shocks are junk on most brands.

 

You could strap a lawn chair to the hitch. What does your wife weigh?

 

Borrow someone's 40# propane tanks so you can try more weight on the tongue. The tongue weight does seem a bit low but a bunch of weight behind the axles isn't helping.

Shocks can have an effect. I've tweaked the setting on my Rancho 9000XL front shocks and a higher setting tends to reduce porpoising. And it makes for a harsher ride up front. I had to replace my OEM factory shocks before I had 5,000 miles on them. One of the rear shocks was clearly blown. There was a large stream of fluid running down it.

A bit more force on the WDH is a free, no-cost test to run.