Towing Problems 3800 Cyclone

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Rockitman

Member
I recently purchased a 2012 3800 Heartland Cyclone and a 3500 Dodge Mega Cab D/A. I have a B&W 18k Companion hitch, but when towing I'm getting a lot of jerking front to back, mostly over bumps.

The trailer squats the rear end about six inches, so I added some Firestone air bags to level out the rear of the truck. The air bags helped some, but it's still jerking.

Anybody have any suggestions or ideas on how to stop the jerking?
 
cookie

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
The trailer jerking you are getting is known as "chucking". It is common to get that with a large trailer, but there are ways to reduce or eliminate it.
There are a couple of pin boxes designed to do just that. One is the Trail Air Tri Glide and another is the Mor-Ryde. These are just two that you can look into.
You said that your trailer squats in the rear by about six inches. That's not good, as you are putting undo stress on the rear axle and tires. You need to get the trailer riding as close to level as possible. You can either try to raise the pinbox on the frame or lower the fifth wheel hitch. Maybe you could also let some air out of your air bags.
I am sure others will give provide more suggestions to help with your chucking.

Peace
Dave
 
porthole

porthole

Retired
Your 18K hitch is barely adequate for that trailer.
6" drop? I thought mine was excessive with a 3" drop.
Have you weighed the truck and trailer and just the truck so you have an idea of your pin weight?

The jerking back and forth is "chucking" There are several pin boxes and hitches that lay claim to minimizing this issue.

Two pin box examples are the “Trail Air with Tri Glide” and the “MOR/ryde”.
One hitch example is the Hensley Trailer Saver.

I would not recommend the Trail Air for that heavy of a trailer.
I had it - hated it. Prior to the Trail Air I had the MOR/ryde pinbox. The MOR/ryde is back on the trailer, although I did have a heavier rate shear spring installed.

I also have the Hensley Trailer Saver air ride hitch. They claim to minimize chucking as well as softening the ride. I can’t really give an A-B comparison because I also changed out my GMC2500 to and F-350 DRW.

But, between the hitch and MOR/ryde pin box the trailer is a very comfortable tow with minimal chucking. Actually, on our recent 1500+ mile trip to Goshen and back I don’t recall any chucking issues.
 
T

TwoGypsies

Well-known member
We're towing a 2011 3812 with gross weight of 18k like yours. We went overkill on the 5th wheel and have a 25k hitch (Super 5th by Pullrite). I get the odd clunk once in a while over some bumps but not others. I had planned to buy one of the Mor-Ryde units or similar, but now that we've been towing several weeks I'm not seeing any need. Maybe a different hitch would be a better solution, don't know. It might be worth pricing versus the pin box. Fwiw our truck is a 2011 F350 duallie. It squats about 3" or so with stock suspension. The ride is good; in fact it's better with the trailer than without.
 
porthole

porthole

Retired
When I was looking at truck hitches The B&W companion just never looked good to me, especially when you start getting up in the trailer weight. Just seems to be too much stress on that center mount. And that may very well be exaggerating the chucking motion.
 
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branson4020

Icantre Member
TwoGypsies said:
We're towing a 2011 3812 with gross weight of 18k like yours. We went overkill on the 5th wheel and have a 25k hitch (Super 5th by Pullrite). I get the odd clunk once in a while over some bumps but not others. I had planned to buy one of the Mor-Ryde units or similar, but now that we've been towing several weeks I'm not seeing any need. Maybe a different hitch would be a better solution, don't know. It might be worth pricing versus the pin box. Fwiw our truck is a 2011 F350 duallie. It squats about 3" or so with stock suspension. The ride is good; in fact it's better with the trailer than without.
Click to expand...

I agree the pullrite is a great hitch. As for truck squat, your F350 probably has twice the payload capacity as that Megacab.
 
trvlrerik

trvlrerik

Well-known member
I know that with my Cyclone if the toy box has a light load it gets a little prone to "chucking". I have found that keeping the trailer level and keeping weight in the toybox has pretty much eliminated the problem. I weigh my truck a lot and I find that if my pin weight is between 3000 to 3300 lbs it gives me the best overall ride. You will be surprised how much placement of your load will change your pin weight.
In regard to hitches I am using the B/W Companion system with great results, it is a simple design that is easy to work with. In my opinion simple is good.
 
trvlrerik

trvlrerik

Well-known member
Toys, tools, parts, I have moved a lot of stuff since we got our Cyclone. The most usual cargo are my wifes show animals and a golf cart. A friend of mine is currently building a rack so we can haul 4 jet skis. I think the lightest I have ever gotten my pin weight was hauling my golf cart and a Razor 4 wheeler (had to stand the razor on its tail). The counter balance of the weight made to pin weight 2900 lbs, but my comined weight on that trip was 25900 lbs. which was to heavy for my TV (I will not do that again).

Between water load and cargo you can shift your weight around a lot. We also have the luxury of traveling with friends that haul other "stuff" so we can keep our combined gross vehicle weight under 24k untill I can afford a larger TV.
 
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CabinetmakerII

Active Member
Rockitman, The only differance we have is the TV... I have an F-450 DRW with the Companion hitch pulling a 2012 Cyclone HD 3800. We too have a serious chucking problem. After lots of research we decided on the 5th Airborne air ride pin box. Although it has helped, I am pretty disappointed in the results of this $1000 pinbox, as chucking is still felt in the cab. I am now weighing options of replacing the hitch, airbags on the truck, or trade out the 5th Airborne pinbox for the rubber dampened Mor-ryde pinbox. If I had it to do over I would have started with the Mor-Ryde. As they say "Hind sight is 20/20"
 
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rustyshakelford

Well-known member
CabinetmakerII said:
Rockitman, The only differance we have is the TV... I have an F-450 DRW with the Companion hitch pulling a 2012 Cyclone HD 3800. We too have a serious chucking problem. After lots of research we decided on the 5th Airborne air ride pin box. Although it has helped, I am pretty disappointed in the results of this $1000 pinbox, as chucking is still felt in the cab. I am now weighing options of replacing the hitch, airbags on the truck, or trade out the 5th Airborne pinbox for the rubber dampened Mor-ryde pinbox. If I had it to do over I would have started with the Mor-Ryde. As they say "Hind sight is 20/20"
Click to expand...

What do you carry in your garage? We have the little guy (3010) and the last time we took the trailer with an empty garage we were getting terrible clunking. Now we only pull the trailer with the rhino in the garage and it rides smooth.

Brett
 
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CabinetmakerII

Active Member
Brett,
It does not seem to make any difference as to how the coach is loaded. Water, 2 Arctic Cat 700's in the garage. Loaded or not it chucking is always prevalent. From the time we took delivery (Empty) on our shakedown trip, to completly loaded for 2 week boondocking trip. As mentioned, it is slightly better with the air ride pinbox but still very noticable. Uphill, downhill, flat towing, speed... Nothing seems to make any difference.
 
DW_Gray

DW_Gray

Well-known member
The Trail Air Tri Glide Air Ride pin box works great for me and you can see my load numbers below. I used to have terrible chucking but it's pretty much eliminated. The MOR/ryde is known to do well for chucking but it does nothing to smooth out the up and down motion effects on the truck like the pin boxes with an air bladder and shock.
 
adam

adam

Well-known member
Has anyone added a replacement pin box suitable to assist with chucking and been able to retain the pin box valance trim that comes from the factory?
We are pulling a 3800 with a F450 (which by the way pulls better then our previous 28ft Fifthwheel.)

I am asking because my wife likes the look of the trim but we would unfortunately lose it with my plan to install a "trail-air".

Thanks Adam
 
V

Vtxkid

Well-known member
We also have the 3010 Cyclone and I will say that what you have in the garage makes a big difference. Coming back from Goshen with the 3500 HD with a B&W Companion 18K hitch, it drove like a dream. At that time I had a 1800 VTX and a golf cart in the garage. I recently took the rig to DE with nothing but a cooler in the garage and I too felt chucking (only across major bumps) as the weight distribution was the only thing that changed. At the least, need to ensure the trailer is level when hooked up to the TV. IMO, based on having a couple of different name brand hitches now, the B&W Companion is a great hitch, but I will also say that with the size RV you have, the 18K hitch is not large enough.
 
porthole

porthole

Retired
Jerry - just an FYI for you. I have a scale that can measure tongue weight. I did a "weigh in with the garage empty, just the bike and the bike and golf cart. My bike and cart probably weight the same, about 800 each.

My results:
Pin weight
Garage empty_________2800
Bike only_____________2700
Golf cart and bike_____ 2450


As to the OP's concern, I don't think it is "just the trailer". Just the truck sagging 6" with the trailer hooked up means either the trailer is too heavy (pin) or the truck is not up to the task.
Not suggesting he needs to buy a new truck, just that there are ways to help alleviate the problem, but - a big trailer twice the weight of the vehicle pulling it just may have some comfort issues.

I would not recommend the tri glide for this heavy of a trailer.
I would recommend the MOR/ryde, with a heavier shear spring installed.
I have tried both setups.
 
V

Vtxkid

Well-known member
Good info Duane... little surprised about a couple of things though...
1) I was under the impression our tongue weight was more around 3100 (unloaded in the rear).
2) I agree with the 800 lbs per bike/ cart as I feel mine are the same weight but, according to your specs, adding the bike takes only 100 lbs off the tongue while adding the golf cart takes away 250 lbs its-self. Maybe the carts weigh more then we thought?
Either way, having the garage unloaded, makes enough difference in our size rig to create a little chucking on bumps for us anyway.
And to elaborate on what I said earlier, I agree that the TV and the RV need to be level when everything is hooked up and your ready to go, as a minimum... 6" drop is way to much.
 
porthole

porthole

Retired
I did not take the bike to the MD rally last week, noticed no change in ride - but about those roads around Baltimore Port ............................. And I still think they got a lot of nerve charging tolls on those roads coming off the Delaware Memorial Bridge heading south.
 
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