itsmike
Greelawn NY, Long Island!!!!
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Joined: 07/19/2007
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I have been towing with set up my current setup for the last 1.5 years.. No issues and it does tow straight as an arrow, no sway. but the Front of my van does nose up a little..
My question is, I have the 600lb bars are they enough? I have those along with the sway control. My Hitch Head is tilted a little to level the bars with Using the 6th link (5 links showing).. Like I stated, no issues towing, but the nose is up a little and at night my headlights do blind people in front of me, Usually I can see what they are thinking..lol
2005 Ford Expedition XLT (The Gas Guzzler)
2011 Nissan Sentra SR (The Gas Saver)
1999 Sunline Saturn T24
1 Wife
3 Kids
1 Dog!
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Lyrikz
kirkland
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Joined: 04/18/2011
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itsmike wrote:I have been towing with set up my current setup for the last 1.5 years.. No issues and it does tow straight as an arrow, no sway. but the Front of my van does nose up a little..
My question is, I have the 600lb bars are they enough? I have those along with the sway control. My Hitch Head is tilted a little to level the bars with Using the 6th link (5 links showing).. Like I stated, no issues towing, but the nose is up a little and at night my headlights do blind people in front of me, Usually I can see what they are thinking..lol
From all my reading here. We need to know some numbers. What is your tongue weight. If its at or above 600lbs then those bars are not enough.
When your installing your wd setup. Are the bars parallel with the frame of the trailer or point upwards?
Just give a bit more info and we can help.
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itsmike
Greelawn NY, Long Island!!!!
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Joined: 07/19/2007
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To be honest, I do not know the tongue weight.. I was told by the previous owner that it is about 500lbs or so.. Not sure if that is true no truck scales that I know of here on Long Island... As for the bars, they are parallel with the frame and do not point up.
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mkirsch
Rochester, NY
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Joined: 04/09/2004
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Without weights, there is no way to answer your question(s).
Are the 600lb bars enough? You need to know if your tongue weight is over 600lbs. The guy "thinks" its 500lbs? He didn't weigh it. He has no clue.
One BIG issue right now is the conversion van. Conversion vans are HEAVY right out of the gate, and have a VERY limited payload capacity, if any payload capacity at all...
Some conversion vans are so heavy that they're overloaded before you even plop yourself down in the driver's seat to take it off the dealer's lot.
From your picture, the van is squatting pretty bad in back. That means:
1. You don't have enough weight distribution dialed in.
and/or
2. You are overloaded, possibly exceeding the axle, wheel, and/or tire ratings of the van.
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
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Steveque
Central California
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Joined: 08/11/2004
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Without a scale, you can get 'close' using a tape measure and a relatively flat area. Level your trailer unhooked - measure the four corners of it. I marked the spot on the trailer with blue tape and wrote the measurement on the tape. I put a washer at the spot on the ground so I could find the same spot again. I did the same at the four corners of my Tahoe except for marking the ground. I then hooked up and measured everything again. If you guess right, the trailer should be about 1/4 inch lower in the front than the back and the front and rear of the van should be somewhere close to the unloaded heights but both will be lower than the unhooked heights.
If not, find the sticky for this forum and go throught the adjustment procedure. It is really easy to do.
Steve Quesenberry
Central California
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Ron Gratz
full time RVer
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Joined: 12/27/2003
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Steveque wrote:---If you guess right, the trailer should be about 1/4 inch lower in the front than the back and the front and rear of the van should be somewhere close to the unloaded heights but both will be lower than the unhooked heights. Chevrolet specifies that the front of the tow vehicle should be at the same height before hitching and after hitching with WD applied.
In effect, they are saying that the load on the front axle should be approximately the same "before" and "after".
If the front is lower than the unhitched height, you have transferred too much load to the front axle.
Since approximately 75% of the tongue weight will be carried on the TV's rear axle, the rear will drop below the unhitched height with WD properly applied
-- unless the TV is equipped with rear air bags or air shocks.
Ron
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skipnchar
Topeka or somewhere else
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Joined: 12/17/2003
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Without knowing anything about your trailer and it's tongue weight there is no way to determine if it's enough or not. Usually to get the CORRECT spring bars you take 15% of your trailers GVWR and size them as close as possible without going UNDER that weight.
Good luck / Skip
2011 F-150 HD Ecoboost 3.5 V6. 2550 payload, 17,100 GCVWR -
2004 F-150 HD (Traded after 80,000 towing miles)
2007 Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
US Govt survey shows three out of four people make up 75% of the total population
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Ron Gratz
full time RVer
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According to the 1999 Sunline Specifications, the "empty weight" for the T-24 was about 3700# and the GVWR was 5500#.
Assuming a typical cargo load of 1300# would put the TT's GVW at 5000#.
Assuming a typical tongue weight percentage of 13% would put the TT's tongue weight at about 650#. Loading the TT to its GVWR might yield a tongue weight of about 700#.
IMO, the 600# bars probably are adequate. I'm guessing that the "nose up" attitude probably is a result of not enough load on the WD bars.
The way to tell if the 600# bars are adequate is to load the van and TT as they would be loaded for camping and make a trip to the scales. The following weights should be obtained:
1. steer axle and drive axle loads for TV only,
2. steer axle, drive axle, and TT axle pair loads for TV plus TT with no WD
3. steer axle, drive axle, and TT axle pair loads for TV plus TT with WD.
This data would allow us to calculate tongue weight and would indicate if the WD is properly adjusted.
The goal for WD adjustment is to have the front of the TV at the same height (axle load) before hitching and after hitching with WD applied.
Ron
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eric james
Sioux Falls, SD
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Joined: 07/21/2004
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Great advice so far, it's not too difficult to determine.
If your hitch head is tilted to the max and you can't get the front end back to the unloaded height with the bars, they are not "heavy enough"
Tilt that hitch head down (requires disassemble) and use different links under tension to get the front back down. Don't go less links that the bars start pointing "upwards"
Great hitch set up instructions
2009 Keystone Passport UL 290BH
2003 Ford Expedition EB 5.4L/3.73
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itsmike
Greelawn NY, Long Island!!!!
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Joined: 07/19/2007
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@mkirsch, When I snapped that pic, I literally hooked up the TT to the van with really no adjustments to bring it to the local dump station to empty it out.. ( Something about someone-else******grossed me out)..
I was able to adjust the hitch head and tilted it back and lower it.. Found the sweet spot with the links on the bars. Now the van does not squat as much and the TT is more level. But there is a little squat. I do believe when I measured the drop it was 6" with out the bars attached. With the bars it only dips about 3-3.5". It still is a lot of drop but I do plan on installing the Airbags to inflate when towing.
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