Anyone know how to avoid losing weight on steering axle when I hitch up? I have Autoride and seem to recall this discussion 8 years ago when I researched tow vehicles. It was never a concern until I decided to weigh my rig and discovered my steering axle is lighter after I hook up.
Thanks.
'05 Yukon 3/4 ton, 6 liter, 4.10 gears with Quadrasteer
Pulling a
'05 Airstream 25' International CCD
With
Hensley Arrow Hitch, Kodiak discs powered by Titan and Tekonsha P3 controller ....and O'Reilly the cat makes three
Steering axle is 3,130 with trailer and 3,500 without. I have a travel trailer with a Hensley Arrow hitch. There is some trick to overcoming the automatic leveling system so the weight distribution adjustment does what it is supposed to.
Let's say you first adjust the WDH to restore the correct amount of load to the front axle with the height control OFF.
With the front end at the correct height, the added load on the rear axle will cause the rear to be below "level".
When the height control "kicks in", it will (I assume) raise the rear end to the "level" height.
Raising the hitch will cause load to be removed from the WD bars, and that will cause load to be removed from the front axle and added to the rear axle.
The front no longer will be at the correct load/height.
One way to use ride height control in conjunction with weight distribution is to initially "over-adjust" the WDH to transfer more than the desired amount of load to the front axle.
Then when the height control kicks in, it will raise the rear and remove some (hopefully, all) of the excess load from the front.
By trial and error, you can determine how much initial over-adjusting will result in having the right amount of load on the front after the height control does its thing.
Thanks for your input on both threads. Someone suggested I remove a fuse to prevent the auto leveling, so I may give it a try. I'd like to get it right the first time, correcting the loss on steering axle AND shifting some of the 600 lbs off the front trailer axle too. Re weighing several times gets pricey.
The GMC manual states the following:
"If a weight distributing hitch is being used, it is recommended to allow the shocks to inflate, thereby leveling the vehicle prior to adjusting the hitch"
Do you think this refers to the initial WDH set up only?
* This post was
edited 06/02/12 09:26pm by 4Galvs *
Let the air ride level things first, then engage the WD bars to level the front of the truck.
HOWEVER, per your other thread, your trailer has about 600lbs more weight in it than it was designed to handle. You need to shed that weight, or upgrade the axles. There is no combination of air ride and WDH that will solve the two issues you have:
1. Light front axle on truck.
2. 600lbs overweight on first axle on trailer.
2002 Chevy 3500 DRW 8.1L/Allison
2000 Palomino B1500
...and the reason why I need a DRW to haul a Palomino:
2004 United 7x14 tandem axle enclosed toy trailer
2011 PJ 8x20 7-ton deckover equipment trailer
4Galvs wrote: The GMC manual states the following:
"If a weight distributing hitch is being used, it is recommended to allow the shocks to inflate, thereby leveling the vehicle prior to adjusting the hitch"
mkirsch wrote: Let the air ride level things first, then engage the WD bars to level the front of the truck.
I know what the GMC manual says, and I disagree with the stated procedure.
I'm guessing the people who wrote that instruction never have used a WDH on a vehicle with ride height control.
When you place the tongue weight on the ball with no WD applied, load is removed from the steer axle.
Some of that load is transferred to the steer axle, and some is added to the TT's axles.
The front of the TV will rise above unhitched and the rear will drop.
If you then allow the shocks to "level" the vehicle, the rear will rise to the preset ride height (assuming the air shocks have enough lifting capacity to overcome the weight added by the tongue weight).
There will be no significant load change at the steer axle, so the front will remain above the unhitched height.
Note -- the TV will not be "level". The front is raised and the rear is at the preset height.
If you now adjust the WDH to add enough load to the steer axle to bring the front back down to unhitched height, you will remove load from the drive axle and the rear will rise.
Assuming the rear rise is sufficient to trigger the ride height control, air will be released from the shocks and the rear will drop.
When the rear drops, the WDH load transfer will increase.
The end result will be the steer axle has too much load and the front height will be below the unhitched value.
One way to use ride height control in conjunction with weight distribution is to initially "over-adjust" the WDH to transfer more than the desired amount of load to the front axle.
Then when the height control kicks in, it will raise the rear and remove some (hopefully, all) of the excess load from the front.
By trial and error, you can determine how much initial over-adjusting will result in having the right amount of load on the front after the height control does its thing.
Ron
Thanks for the replies Ron,
I agree with our comment about the GM manual. I don't feel comfortable about dropping about 1k# of tongue weight on tow vehicle without at least partially loading up the WD bars. This is the method I used last weekend; however, the ride seemed harsh. It felt like there was too much load on the steer axle.
So in your opinion we need to trick the self leveling suspension a bit in order to ensure we put some load back on the steer axle? I have tried this method once and at the time I felt the ride was better over a short tow home from the storage lot. I imagine it will take some tweaking to find the sweet spot for each trip.
I'll try to take some wheel well measurements before and after hooking up and report back.
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