davisenvy wrote: {snip} There is some sway, but not enough to have me overly worried. It kinda feels like the TT is driving my TV. {snip}
I would be plenty worried having a 36 foot trailer that has sway issues.
I'm not generally a Hensley pusher, but if I was you I would get a premium hitch (Hensley or Propride). That would be cheaper than switching to a fiver and you will be completely amazed at the difference in towing.
WisconsinCamper wrote: I know we should be able to trust the dealer to sell, install and adjust things correctly but we can't. I would read the setup instructions for your WD system before doing anything drastic. This might be the setup PDF for your system: http://manuals.adventurerv.net/Eaz-Lift-Weight-Distirbution-Hitch-Ultra-instructions.pdf Copy and paste into www address header. You can also find videos showing the setup of the WD's.
Good luck, Gary
My bars are the bent bars. Will this procedure still work?
The scales are your friend.
Your truck is 9200 GVW.
Load the bed of the truck and the trailer so that you have 12% or even up to 15% of the weight of your trailer on the tongue. Without going over the rear axle loading shown on your door jamb of your pickup.
Move the heavy stuff from the back of your trailer to the front to do this.
The idea is to have your truck loaded to the 9200 GVW towing the lightest trailer you can make it.
Physics: 9200 # towing 9000# is better than 9000# towing 9200#.
The spring bars help you do this by transferring some load to the front axles of your Duramax.
Proper weight distribution is the cheapest , best solution assuming you are not over your GVW and GCW.
Franklin Hitches in your home town has been there for 43 years...same family, same place. I'd take it some place like that for advice, and keep the TT.
Our TT's (we've had 6 Jayco TT's), were all set up by the same shop, and we always had great towing experiences with none of the issues you describe. We've had standard reese hitches which were not as good as the Hensley and PullRite trailer hitches we had later..and the new kid on the block is the Pro-Pride Hitch which is basically an improved version of the Hensley.
Good luck and I hope it gets resolved, as it's not normal handling behavior.
My posts shouldn't be taken for factual data. They are purely fictional, for entertainment purposes and should not be constituted as actually related to scientific, technical, engineering, legal, spiritual or practical advice. Amen.
I pull with a half ton and my trailer is 32 ft long.
With my old 1000 lb husky bars and friction sway control I would also get this rocking and bucking when I crosses expansion joints on bridges etc.
Now I have a draw-tite 1200 lb bar hitch with Reese dual cam.
No more bounce. The suspension is firm and I feel like I am in total control.
IMHO you should use a Reese trunnion hitch with 1500 lb bars and dual cam sway control.
Depending on your floor plan and your gvwr you could be approaching 1500 lbs of tongue weight. I know that the front slide and rear lounge models can have very high tongue weight.
If you are at more than 1400 lbs you can strike Equal-I-zer off your list. They don't go above 1400 lbs.
That leaves Reese/Draw-Tite, Pro-Pride/Hensley if you want integrated sway control.
I think that you should figure out what your tongue weight is.
The cheapest thing you can do if you are at or below 1400 lbs on the tongue weight but over 1000 is upgrade your bars to the eaz-lift 1400 lb bars, make sure you WD hitch is dialed in and use the dual friction away control and see if you are satisfied with the tow.
But again IMHO you will probably need a Reese/Draw-Tite 1200-1500 lb bars and Dual cam sway control.
Thanks and good luck
Jeremiah
TT: 1995 Layton 2910
Tow Vehicle: 1999 F-350, v10, 2wd, Crew Cab, Dually
Hitch: Draw-Tite Trunnion WD Hitch
Sway Control: Valley dual friction sway control
Brake Control: Tekonsha Voyager
"It's Kind of Fun To Do The Impossible"
~Walt Disney~
First a knowledge base. You have a great truck. You don't necessarily need to spend money to fix this. Your Eaz-Lift hitch is as good as any other ordinary brand, although some other brands cost twice as much. The Eaz-Lift founder invented weight distributing hitches and the original company specialized steel-works still makes the spring bars for most other hitch brands anyway.
All ordinary (non-geometric*) anti-sway friction brands are basically the same except for Reese dual cam which tends to center straight ahead because the cam must climb a small ramp against gravity, when off-center during turns. Friction hitches can be a little tricky while turning on icy roads, but fortunately your Eaz-Lift sway pads can be disconnected during such weather. Some brands illogically claim to be non-friction, but if you read their own instructions, you will find that they depend on part-binding to provide sway control and it can't be disconnected during icy conditions. Otherwise, friction is friction, binding or pads.
If you are willing to spend money, some new Bilstein, or adjustable Rancho shocks are a good idea. Many new trucks are designed to ride soft for magazine tests and they have a lot of spring travel and minimal damping from the factory. The OEM shocks do a good job of controlling the light spring rebound at unloaded "test" conditions, but when the spring travel is in the higher tensile portion of the spring travel, such as during continuous hitch load, the soft OEM shocks do not have enough damping to control the hobby horse/porpoising effect... and that is when they are new. There is also the possibility that you will need the Eaz-Lift 1400# bars (see below). But from the following description you gave, I suspect your hitch-head tilt is still in the as-shipped position. During install, Camping World may not have taken into account that your TT is larger, and heavier, than most. Here is what you said:
Quote: I have my chains on the 3rd link to have any tension on them at all. This brings the front of the TT a little high. The more links I go, the higher the front goes. To keep the TT level there is almost slack in the chains and it appears all the weight is on the rear axles. I will spend time getting it dialed in this week
It sounds like you are counting down from the top. Three links gives some minimal tension and more links release bar tension to nothing at all. First of all, 3 links aren't enough to allow the end of the spring bars to swing fore-and-aft when turning. You need at least 5 links to prevent running out of room for bar end travel without bind. Observe the bars when stopped and turned.
Quote: I am using 1,000 lb bars that Camping World installed on my TT. The GVWR on my TT is 11,000lbs. The hitch is not angled back at all. When I do hitch up, i use the tongue jack to get an extra length on the chains. Also, the front of my TT seems to be ever so slightly tilted up in the front when hooked up. There isn't any more notches to drop the hitch lower. I have also measured the trucks sag before and after hitching up. The rear sags about 1.75 more than the front if this helps. Thanks for the info. Please keep it coming.
Second, from this I would have to ask if the "L" shaped hitch shank (the part inserted in the truck receiver) may be turned up instead of down? Unless you have a jacked up truck, there should be enough drop in a down-pointed shank to accomodate the height difference, between your receiver and the TT ball coupler, and allow the TT to ride tilted down slightly in front. If not, you may need a shank with more bolt holes. It also sounds like the WD bars are not adequately forcing the front of the truck somewhat down and most of the weight is on the rear axle.
To solve all this, you may need to flip the shank over and adjust the head tilt while you have it loose. With a little thought, you can see how the head tilting back will cause the bars to aim more towards the ground and by chaining them back up, the spring tension will tend to arch the hitch joint upward ever more. This is what weight distribution is. Some of the tongue weight is thereby "distributed" to the front truck axle and some is "distributed" to the TT axles. The result is the rear axle of the truck no longer carries the entire tongue load and porpoising is just one undesireable thing reduced.
Quote: My bars are the bent bars. Will this procedure still work?
You will find instructions for your bent-bar Eaz-Lift Elite hitch here: http://www.eaz-lift.com/eazlift/Instructions/Elite_Instructions.pdf
Note that a part number for 1400# bars are shown, if you need them. A whole new Eaz-Lift 1400# hitch costs about $320 from PPL. Camping World did not show this weight range in Eaz-Lift.
I apologise for over-explaining this. I know you already knew much of what I said. But some readers do not, and maybe this will help them too.
Days spent camping are not subtracted from one's total.
- 2000 Excursion V-10 - 2004 Cougar Keystone M-294 RLS, 6140# tare
- Hensley Arrow - Champion 4000w/3500w gen
- Linda, Wes and Quincy the Standard Brown Poodle
...
I tow my 32BHDS with a Reese dual cam. I set it up while it was empty. It towed great. Once we loaded it to go camping we had a horrible experience. After 3 tries I finally have it dialed in correctly.
I think you may need to adjust your set up or switch your w/d system.
SEMPER FI
Joe,Joyce 4 kids & 3 dogs
2004 Ford Excursion LTD 4x4 V-10 3.73 Gears, Hellwig Swaybar, Bilstein Shocks & Steering Stabilizer, Roadmaster Active Suspension, Super Duty Tow Mirrors
Reese Dual Cam & Prodigy Brake Controller
2010 Jayco G2 32BHDS.
I have the same weight trailer and tow it with my 1/2 ton Tundra...IMO it's not your truck, it's your hitch set up. I spent quite some time adjusting and fine tuning my Husky WDH - height, hitch ball angle and weight arm height all factor into getting the perfect tow. Now that I have mine dialed in I can drive with one finger on the wheel - or even let go of the wheel when being passed by a semi at 70 mph on the interstate (I have a youtube video of this)...no sway, no porposing, just smooth easy towing.
Dan
N. Carolina
2012 Forest River V-Cross Platinum 32VBHS 36' UL 7,500#
Husky Centerline WDH
Tekonsha Primus IQ Brake Control
Rear View Wired Camera
TRD Supercharged 2008 Toyota Tundra Crewmax (505 hp,550 torque )
2wd 5.7, 4.30 gear (10,400 tow cap.)
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