kannegk
Stout, IA
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First of all, let me say by saying that I have read many posts on here and have found some great information. This is my first post. I've read a lot of posts that are similar to mine, but need help so I wanted to give you all the details. Hopefully, someone will have some advice for me.
My wife and I bought a Passport 300BH this spring. I recently weighed the truck (2008 F-150 Super Crew 5.5' box) and trailer; here are the details. These are with the truck and trailer fully loaded, water tanks all empty.
Truck and Trailer - 12,460
Tongue Wgt without WD hitch - 880
Truck - 5740
Trailer - 6720
When we purchased the trailer, it had a Reese WD hitch. I have since converted it to a HP Dual Cam system to help with sway. We have 800# torsion bars. I love the sway control of the hitch, but we still have a LOT of bounce. The kids' butts bounce off the seat when we are going down the road!
I have tried any option I can think of to reduce the porpoising, but I have been unsuccessful. I have tried more tension on the bars, but that seems to take too much weight off the truck and contributes to more sway. I have tried less tension and the bounce gets worse. I've even tried pulling it with just a standard ball mount to see if moving the ball closer to the bumper would make a difference. Nothing seems to help. The 30-gallon fresh water tank is about halfway between hitch and axles and it seems to help very little when it is full.
I have been told that more tongue weight will help, but less tension on the torsion bars doesn't seem to make a difference. Even no torsion bars doesn't do the trick!
The porpoising is so bad that I am seriously considering ditching this unit and upgrading truck and trailer to a fifth wheel. Hopefully you all can point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance!
Kendall
* This post was
edited 07/31/09 09:13am by kannegk *
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Trail-Mate
Frederick, MD
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First I would swap out the 800lb wd bars for 1000lb wd bars and see what you have. Also what is the milage on the Truck? Factory Shocks don't usually last very long. They may need replacing. Also Check Tire Pressures.
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cachingcampers
Niagara Region,Ontario
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1) undersized WDH bars- jump up to the next size bars
2) Porposing is usualy caused by UNLOADING the front axle.
Re size the bars & re adjust the hitch and make 100% sure you are achieveing front spring compression.
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eric james
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
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I'm having the same issue with my 290BH and 800 bars. My porpoising isn't as extreme as you describe, more like bunny hopping on these terrible SD road.
I'm leaning toward 1000 bar swap. My tongue weight seems to be dialing in at 810.
* This post was
edited 07/21/09 09:33pm by an administrator/moderator *
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Wilburg
Massachusetts
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I have 100 lbs bars and don't have the issues your talking about
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kannegk
Stout, IA
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Thanks for the quick replies!
The truck has 13,000 miles on it. I have swapped the original Goodyear 6-ply tires for new Cooper 10-ply tires. That helped with the sway issues quite a bit.
I am going to the dealership on Friday for a test drive with their hitch expert. I will mention the heavier torsion bars to them.
There is one thing I can't understand though. I took the time to level the trailer, measured the truck height at the four corners prior to loading, loaded the truck and then adjusted the torsion bar tension so the front and rear were both being loaded (front about 1/2" down and rear about 1" down). It still seemed to porpoise badly. Will the stiffer torsion bars help reduce porpoising that much?
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ronj60
Sidney BC
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I had a similar issue when I first got my setup, and it is very similar to your rig. Heavier bars would be advisable, and I would make sure you are getting weight distributed to the front wheels adequately (weigh the front wheels hitched to your rig and then unhitched at a weight station). Also, I installed Firestone air bags on the rear axle of the truck and that took the last little bit of bounce out of the F-150. Good luck, it CAN be done!
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The Fisher Family
South Carolina, USA
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I agree with all the above - I went from 800lbs bars to 1,000lbs - much better ride!
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flguppie
Stuart
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I'm considering adding a Roadmaster Active Suspension System.. A buddy of mine added it to his 250 for pulling his 5th wheel and it really helped. He even gets better gas mileage. Just something to consider....
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colliehauler
Mc Pherson KS USA
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I would look at firming up your trucks rear suspension.
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