mezerr
London Ontario
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I recently purchased a 2007 Surveyor 192T. My uncle has a cottage that we would like to take the trailer to. The road in is a narrow gravel road. There are alot of sharp up and down hills, sharp enough where the truck would be going down, and the trailer still up.
Assuming that ground clearance is adequate, will a Weight Distribution Hitch, or Sway bar prevent the trailer and truck from navigating through these hills? I thought the WDH would basically extend or connect (persay) the trucks frame and the trailers frame. How would it then be able to go up and down these hills?
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path1
seattle
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IMO...WD hitch mostly for higher speeds. If anything more weight on drive wheels without spring bars. If garbage or propane delivery trucks get there you should be alright. It is always hard to know by reading what somebody else means by "There are alot of sharp up and down hills, sharp enough where the truck would be going down, and the trailer still up." But when you say "uneven terrain" are you really saying someplace where you don't have a chance to get a vehicle in, but what to try? And if you don't make it, are you going to be backing it out? and maybe with no place to turn around?
* This post was
edited 06/06/12 12:01pm by path1 *
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mezerr
London Ontario
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Towing it with a 2006 Dodge Dakota. It's a fairly good road. But there are tight hills, where the crest is small. So the truck would be going down, while the trailer still going up. Essentially bending the truck and trailer.
Small dump trucks do get in there, but they are all one piece.
I'm just wondering if it's ok if the truck is going down the hill at a 25 degree angle, while the trailer is still going up behind it at a 25degree angle.
Like this -- /\
I'm not sure how i can demonstrate it more clear.
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path1
seattle
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Ya I know what you mean by the ^ thing and that is where you might have problems. Not just with ground clearance but with the hitch on your ball, with trailer way up or way down creating a pich point.
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bikendan
Napa, Cal.
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just be aware, Surveyors and Jaycos have a lot of complaints about ground clearance.
both companies advertise as having low profile trailers for better gas mileage, but this comes at a price of poor clearance.
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mezerr
London Ontario
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path1 wrote:Ya I know what you mean by the ^ thing and that is where you might have problems. Not just with ground clearance but with the hitch on your ball, with trailer way up or way down creating a pich point.
So would those problems be caused by the wdh? I could take it off and tow in with just regular hitch. My tent trailer with regular hitch tows in the road fine.
I just don't know how a wdh works and thought that would cause problems
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old guy
Oregon (pronounced Or e gun)
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I can tell you this about WDH in the mountains. A friend of mine told me he left his WDH on and the hill was so steep and with loose gravel that even in 4 wheel drive his truck could not pull up the hill. the front wheels were just spinning. so he got out the tool to adjust the WDH so the front wheels had more weight going to the front. he could then drive up the hill to his camping spot. So if you encounter any terrain like that you may try it first with the WDH left on.
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BarneyS
S.E. Lower Michigan
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I would advise to take the WD bars off before going down that road. The sharp rise/fall of the truck and trailer will put a LOT of strain on the trailer A frame where the snap up brackets attach. You could easily bend the snap ups or the trailers A frame. It all kind of depends on whether you trucks receiver can carry the dead weight of the tongue without using the WD bars. If it is way over the recivers weight carrying ability then I would not attempt it.
Another possible solution if the WD absolutely is needed would be to stop before each sharp rise/bump and remove the tension on the bars, drive over the bump, and draw up the bars again. Pain in the neck but it could get the job done! 
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tatest
Oklahoma Green Country
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You won't know until you try. When we were towing WD behind an old station wagon, riding a lot lower than any 4x4 SUV today, we managed a lot of places on logging roads, ranch roads, and even off-road where the hitch dragged a little bit and didn't take anything off. You sometimes gotta go real slow, with someone watching.
It is not just about the WD making a more "rigid" connection, and might limit angles, it is also that most WD installations hang a lot lower at the receiver than a straight stinger and ball, and the spring bars take up some more space under the trailer tongue.
Usually "over the top" as you describe is less a problem than going through a dip, but if you lift the tongue much, you might want to watch what is going on at the back of the trailer. That's where people have more clearance problems, esp if the plumbing drains are very far behind the rear wheels.
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dahkota
Washington, DC
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bikendan wrote:just be aware, Surveyors and Jaycos have a lot of complaints about ground clearance.
both companies advertise as having low profile trailers for better gas mileage, but this comes at a price of poor clearance.
We had a problem with ground clearance but it was caused by the front stabilizer jacks. Bent both of them while wandering off road two different times, one of them on a steep short hill at the crest. We ended up having to flip our axles and haven't run into a problem since. The back jacks were never a problem with the short overhang on the trailer.
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