smkettner wrote: A load of bikes, cooler, firewood in the bed will make it perfect. JMHO.
A load of bikes and a bundle of firewood on a carrier at the back of the trailer would indeed and you could dispense with the hassle of the WD hitch and it's spring bars
With all this "advice" you are giving here, I wonder what your qualifications are for giving that advice. I see you drive a 3500 series truck and have a truck camper. What experience do you have towing a travel trailer?
Barney
My advice is based on what others said that the bars might be a little tight and the rear axle a little light. I agree even though I have little experience with a WDH. I contend than once the bed is loaded with a few hundred pounds of stuff it will be spot on.
bill321 wrote: I was hoping that I could find out my tongue weight, but I don't think the way I used the scales is an accurate measurement of what is sitting on the TV when all hooked up. It was my first time at a scale and I was nervous and there was somebody behind me waiting. Maybe I will have to go back and get the TV weighed alone.
The second diagram in your first post indicates the load on the tongue jack was 700#. Are you concerned that the "tongue weight" is not the same as the load on the jack? If so, you're correct -- but the correction can easily be calculated.
For example, if the distance from the ball coupler to the midpoint between the TT axles is 15' and the distance from the jack to the midpoint between the axles is 14', then your tongue weight would be 700#*14'/15' = 653#.
On the 4th page and no one has commented about the safety chains not being hooked up from the backside? Either I'm missing something or you guys are slipping.
I also can't tell from the picture how the brake safety cable is run. Maybe it is right, but I just can't see it tied into the truck.
As far as the angle of the hitch....well I don't think I was holding the camera level with the horizon when I took that photo (as is evident when you look at the building in the background). I will have to take another more accurate photo the next time I get the TT out of storage.
I guess my main concerns were getting the TT to sit level when hooked to the TV and the WD was applied. And also to get the front of my TV to settle back down to its original height.
I did have most everything loaded in the TT save the bottled water and the canned good we usually bring and we don't ever travel with a full tank of water.
I was hoping that I could find out my tongue weight, but I don't think the way I used the scales is an accurate measurement of what is sitting on the TV when all hooked up. It was my first time at a scale and I was nervous and there was somebody behind me waiting. Maybe I will have to go back and get the TV weighed alone.
All this talk about the angle of the hitch shank has me worried now. What can happen if I leave this set up like it is?
Well I'm not sure how to answer that. IMHO the receiver should have no slant to it relative to the frame of the TV and should never change. If you have somehow bent the receiver then you have overstressed it and might have weakened it ... How much no one can say, but some of the posts that talk about flex just seem odd. IMHO the receiver should "NEVER" flex and it's hard for me to believe that a vehicle manufacturer would mount a receiver with that "up angle" on purpose. It just looks like you may have actually bent the receiver and if that's the case I would be replacing it before towing past your driveway.
What sort of stamp is on the receiver indicating it's weight ratings and what are those?
Oh and my Tundra is rated at 10,300 towing and according to the sticker inside my door, the front axle limit is 4000 lbs and the rear limit is 4100 lbs and my cargo capacity is 1400 lbs.
And I would not go without a WD set up. Sure...It is more work....but I like the idea that not all the TT weight is sitting on my rear axle and also the anti-sway it helps to provide. With the set up like it is now....the TT tows fine but does have a little "bounce" to it when we go over bumps in the road.
Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote: Maybe the OP could take a pic of the hitch head and bars without the bars hooked TT.
This will show two things. One if the receiver is flexing when the bars are cinched to the TT and Two how far the bars drop or tilt towards the ground before they are cinched onto the TT.
Don
This is the real question. What does it look like when unloaded? If the drawbar is flat when disconnected and the picture is the angle with the WD applied, the OP has a serious problem and it is very unsafe.
OP - if the hitch and drawbar are rock solid, I wouldnt think there is a problem. However I think the concern expressed in these posts is - "Is the angle resulting from flex/twist after the WD is applied or is that how it was installed".
As BenK indicates each aspect is just part of the total equation. Yours seems to work, but the angle of the drawbar draws attention and concerns.
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THe angle of the draw bar is not do to the receiver being bent. It is because there is slop in the receiver itself. I have seen many like this. I know of 5 right off the top of my head that I personally know. The bar actually will move up and down in the receiver almost 1/2" from full up to full down. Mine does the same thing just not as bad. Now, to all you intelligent people....... how in the heck do you fix it? I have had 2 different receivers and while the current one is better than the previous, it still has slop. My buddies has slop, my neighbors has slop, his FIL's has slop (it's on a DP), My other friends brand new truck that hasn't towed anything, has slop.
My resolution on how to fix this...... Double pin the shank in the receiver? This would require a second hole to be drilled behind the main hole in the receiver and the draw bar. Keep in mind..... I feel that this would also weaken the receiver tube. What is your take. The windup I referred to is the slop in the receiver itself.
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Quit making assumptions. The OP needs to MAKE SURE that the receiver is not twisting up when the WD bars are applied.
If the shank is a sloppy fit in the receiver, he needs to find that out and state that for the record.
We are not there. We cannot see what is really going on, only what the picture shows.
The receiver should not twist up with the WD bars. Period.
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
b_salgado wrote: THe angle of the draw bar is not do to the receiver being bent. It is because there is slop in the receiver itself. I have seen many like this. I know of 5 right off the top of my head that I personally know. The bar actually will move up and down in the receiver almost 1/2" from full up to full down. Mine does the same thing just not as bad. Now, to all you intelligent people....... how in the heck do you fix it? I have had 2 different receivers and while the current one is better than the previous, it still has slop. My buddies has slop, my neighbors has slop, his FIL's has slop (it's on a DP), My other friends brand new truck that hasn't towed anything, has slop.
My resolution on how to fix this...... Double pin the shank in the receiver? This would require a second hole to be drilled behind the main hole in the receiver and the draw bar. Keep in mind..... I feel that this would also weaken the receiver tube. What is your take. The windup I referred to is the slop in the receiver itself.
A shim can be used to correct excessive play in the receiver.
Both of these standards allow the receiver/hitch to flex to a maximum of 5 degrees. The following is from the SAE standard and VESC-5 says essentially the same:
6.3.2—The hitch shall withstand the applied forces indicated in Table 3 without incurring permanent deformation such that the position of the ball axis, at the completion of each test step, shall not depart more than 5 degrees from the original, nominally vertical, position.
b_salgado wrote: The bar actually will move up and down in the receiver almost 1/2" from full up to full down. Mine does the same thing just not as bad. Now, to all you intelligent people....... how in the heck do you fix it?
If you are truly seeing 1/2" movement in your hitch, Id get a new receiver and/or drawbar. That is entirely too much.
They will all have slop because they are a slip joint and held in place with a pull-pin - nothing providing pressure. 1/2" IMO is very excessive.
On edit: I just went out and measured mine. The end of the drawbar where the ball sits moved 9/32". This would mean the ball will move slightly less than this measurement.
The fix is a shim (or some variation) as wp6529 suggests. I would weld a small piece of metal to the top (bottom carries the weight) such as a large fender washer. Push this into the receiver as far as possible - grind/sand to custom fit as needed until you can insert the pin and the bar does not get stuck and un-removeable.
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