How can we stop the 5th wheel jerking while towing?

Jsaulsbury

New Cycloner
We had a lighter 5th wheel and purchased a 2010 Cyclone this summer. It's much heavier, so we upgraded our hitch to a Reese 20K. Towing w/Chevy 3500 duelly, we experience lots of jerking (near whiplash if you ask me). By the time we get anywhere, we have headaches :mad:. We adjusted our brakes and had very little change. Every bump and bridge jerks terribly. We did not have this problem with our old 16K 5th wheel.

Can you tell me the best option (most economical as well) to add to our hitch to reduce or eliminate the popping and jerking for a smoother ride? There seems to be lots of things on the market (that claim to stop the jerking), but I'd like to hear from someone whose tried some of these different options.

Thanks in advance for your help! :)

jeri
 
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2010augusta

Well-known member
Adjust or upgrade your brake controller. If the hitch is solid/ridged there should be no motion of the trailer relative to the truck, so the jerking has to be caused be a mis-match in the braking efforts of the to vehicles. If there is "play"' in any part of the hitch, you need to fix that.

We tow our 16,500 lb Landmark with the standard pin box and a 18K select plus hitch and have ZERO chucking, jerking, or other motion with the 450. We are just using the factory integrated brake controller set to 10/max.
 

Two Hands

Well-known member
We have the same complaint about our 3055RL Big Horn, but I don't think nearly to the extent that you describe. RV magazines advertise that their product will improve the ride, but how much, if at all. I think there have been other discussions of this problem so you might run a search to get some ideas.
 

mrcomer

Past Ohio Chapter Leaders (Founding)
I really like my Mor-ryde pin box. This is the first rig I have ever had with this on it and I can tell you it makes a world of difference. I take our trailer to a local CG just about every weekend. We travel the same roads and I have done this with three other trailers and all of them chucked somewhat but with our Landmark and the Mor-ryde pin box, all the chucking is gone. Very happy customer.

Mark
 

newbie

Northern Virginia
I have a standard 20k Reese and standard pin box and get very little to no chucking.

I wonder if you have your brake controller set too high so your 5th wheel is pulling back on your truck too much relative to the braking power of the truck itself ? Have you experimented with the brake controller settings to see if that makes a difference?

Just a few thoughts...

John
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
We have the AirBorne pin box and use the Ford tow control set at 10 as well. No serious chucking at all even on poor roads.
 

Jsaulsbury

New Cycloner
We adjusted the brakes and it helped a little, even nearly turned off the trailer brakes, however we still get chugging/jerking over every bridge and bump on the road. Thanks for the post!
 

Jsaulsbury

New Cycloner
It seems like the Airborne hitch is designed to combat a little more than the MorRyde. It's a little more expensive, so I'd like to kill 2 birds with one stone if it is truely better. Anyone have thoughts between these two options?
 

trdeal

Past North Carolina Chapter Leader
Can't really do a comparison.Have only used the 5th Airborne.But I like it.
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
Personal opinion... I think if you have a heavy pin weight you have less chucking. The Mor/Ryde pin box is built for chucking but does nothing for bounce.

Ray LeTourneau had a TrailAir and upgraded to the new one that reduces both bounce and chucking. I would look into that one before I purchased anything else.
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php?t=10622&highlight=trailair

The new Trail Air Tri Glide can be seen at tweetys...
http://www.tweetys.com/trailairfifthtriglidewheelpinboxes.aspx

FWIW
BC
 

bill40

Well-known member
Jeri,
We tow with the same truck and had the same problem,very sharp chucking. Thought it was the hitch or the setup. We installed a Tri-glide pin box hitch and it smoothed out the chucking and improved the ride. We had two different shops check out the setup before investing in the hitch. I am sure that you will find many answers to the problem.
 

caissiel

Senior Member
Do you have less pin weight, also is your garage loaded enough to remove pin weight. If you have to much suspension for the trailer pin weight your truck will jump on the back. I had that with extra springs on my TV so I removed one ply. rides great now. My helper spring ply is not supporting any load.
 

PUG

Pug
I have a Reese 20k and a Cyclone 3950 pulling with a 2500 duramax and air bags and got not jerking around except when stopping at low low speed due to brakes set to high. I have now changed to 3500 Dually Dodge with same hitch and it hardly feels like it is back there. If you are moving faster than that, say highway speed and it is jerking you around, you might want to look close at the hitch and possibly the frame work on the trailer above the fifth wheel.
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
We use air bags, Fifth Airborne pin, and Trail Air suspension. Items on the counter tend to be there if you forget to take them down. No chucking at all and only a slight nudge when you stop and start off. This is on rough hi ways and back roads as well. We adjust the truck/trailer so it is level and run 80 psig in the TV, 110 in the Coach, and 75 psig on the Curb side Coach and 85 psig on the Drive side coach. Works like a charm and has to be much easier on the Coach as it is on us. We don't like to be jerked around going down the road especially on concrete hi ways.
 

Boca_Shuffles

Well-known member
Since the original poster has a Cyclone, one of the questions to ask is if there is a heavy cargo in the garage. The trailer would probably ride different empty as compared to carrying two HD's (for example).

The best thing to do is to get your unit weighed, with separate readings for each axle. This would help in balancing the load.

I've often wondered why the manufacturers don't have cargo areas behind the axles so people with regular units could balance their loads. I found that if I put my scuba diving bags in the rear living area, I could affect the ride of my trailer.
 
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