WD Hitch Help

[Chris562]

I presently have a regular Reese WD hitch with 1200lb bars and a 1400 tongue weight. I just picked up my new North Country 29RKS and I wasn't impressed with my towing. I feel I have plenty of truck for the job. When the hitch was hooked up, the dealer had to raise the ball to the proper height. He turned the ball assembly upside down. The camper swayed bad even with a standard friction sway control. The camper sway at times really bad...white knuckle stuff. I have read where a lack of tongue weight can cause this but I feel it was more than that. I know the wind was really going but I didn't think it should have affected it that much. Is the Reese hitch supposed to be turned upside down and used in that manner?

I have thought about going to a dual cam or something similar. Will that improve stability and control any?

 

[jnbhobe]

Chris; When I pull Tag a Long trailers I always use a dual-cam sway control. I have all kinds of drawbars, high, low, 2"& 2 5/16 and upside down.It all has to do with setup. Level the trailer measure front & rear. measure the truck front & rear. measure trailer ball height. Set truck ball height to trailer height.Set trailer on truck and re-measure everything. Now use your bars to bring everything back to the original measurements. Remember you need 3 or 4 working links in your chain so you may have to change the ball angle to get your working links. Remember to have the trailer loaded as you normally would. Its a little different if you go to a dual-cam sway control. Good luck,JON Pm me if you need more info

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Like Jon said, it sounds very much like your hitch is set up incorrectly. You have plenty of truck for that trailer. I'm assuming when you say 1400 tongue weight that it's not actually the tongue weight of your trailer. If you have the instructions for your hitch, get them out and set your hitch up following the instructions. If not, go to the Reese website and download them. From what you say, it sounds like you have too little on the tongue. If everything is level as it is now, try loosening up the tension by 1 link and try again. Also you should set up your hitch with your rig loaded as you would normally use it.

 

[jnbhobe]

One more thing I dreamed about !! Tire pressure, I run my tires at max. pressure on both the truck front and rear and trailer tires. There is a lot of weight transfer with a WD hitch. Jon

 

[pmmjarrett]

Weight distributing hitch shanks can be used right side up or upside down to get the correct hitch height, doesn't matter, just don't use them sideways


When hooked up the WD bars should be level and the trailer should be level to just slightly nose down.


I would bet you have tire or air pressure issues. You should have at least "D" or "E" rated tires. Not the cheap passenger car tires many people put on SUVs and even pickups. When I bought my '06 F350 dually to replace my 2000 F350 dually I didn't give the tires much thought until I pulled my travel trailer with it and it was squirly. Upon closer inspection, the previous owner put the cheapest tire they could find in that size which were not even close to the load range that should have been on it.


That said. Pulling larger travel trailers like your 29 footer in high wind is a white knuckle ride period.... And it doesn't matter what you are pulling it with.


P.S. Most travel trailers have a hitch height of about 22" - 23" when level to the top of the ball. The small 2" ball ultralite stuff is usually about 15"

 

[HRAI]

Chris,

Speaking from experience here... I have seen how dealers install WDH and let me tell you, a monkey could not do a worse job. Like someone said earlier, your bars should be level when your rig is hitched up and your trailer s/b as level as possible. One thing you should check is the amount of squat the front of your vehicle goes down versus the back of the vehicle when the rig is hitched.

Measure and record the height of your vehicle at the back and at the front without the trailer. Then hitch your trailer like you normally would with your WDH. Now measure the height of your vehicle at the back and the front. IF your set-up is good, the front should have come down as much as the back. If not, then adjust the angle of your ball back some more and try again.

When you have adjusted it properly, it's as if the tongue weight has been dispersed between the front and rear axle making for a very stable ride.

It takes a while (1 hour or so) to get it right because sometimes when you adjust your ball angle, you change the height of trailer's tongue which then means you have to raise or lower it as well. All in all, it is well worth the time to do it right. You'll be amazed at how well the trailer pulls. I have pulled both travel trailers with WDH and 5th wheels and the travel trailer set-up properly pulls as well as any 5th wheel if not better. I have gone through the windy Pennsylvania mountains with mine with NO PROBLEMS whatsoever.

My brother in law has the same set-up as you and he could not get over how well his TT pulled after I adjusted his WDH. He used to white nuckle it before they were adjusted.

Good luck,

Guy

 

[Chris562]

I agree with the tire issue. I have new Toyo E rated tires. I'm beginning to wonder if my autoride shock system in my yukon is having something to do with it. They set everything up with the truck turned off instead of it running. I might need to lower the ball a notch so the camper is tilted down a bit becuase my autoride raises the truck back up to conpensate for the weight. What do you all think? I am also considering adding the dual cam setup that's about 200 to my current setup. Opinions on that too?

 

[Chris562]

Like Jon said, it sounds very much like your hitch is set up incorrectly. You have plenty of truck for that trailer. I'm assuming when you say 1400 tongue weight that it's not actually the tongue weight of your trailer. If you have the instructions for your hitch, get them out and set your hitch up following the instructions. If not, go to the Reese website and download them. From what you say, it sounds like you have too little on the tongue. If everything is level as it is now, try loosening up the tension by 1 link and try again. Also you should set up your hitch with your rig loaded as you would normally use it.

Sorry about that, the 1400lbs is the max weight of the shank and my receiver for that matter.

 

[pmmjarrett]

I agree with the tire issue. I have new Toyo E rated tires. I'm beginning to wonder if my autoride shock system in my yukon is having something to do with it. They set everything up with the truck turned off instead of it running. I might need to lower the ball a notch so the camper is tilted down a bit becuase my autoride raises the truck back up to conpensate for the weight. What do you all think? I am also considering adding the dual cam setup that's about 200 to my current setup. Opinions on that too?

If the trailer is nose up when towing, they handle like rudypoodoodoo.

When you adjust the height on the shank, make sure to properly torque the bolts too. They WILL come loose if not torqued correctly. IIRC it was something like 250 ft lbs on my Curt WD hitch and trust me, just cranking on them with the air impact didn't cut it.

I'll just say it was a 44' park model that taught me that one. No harm, no foul but it was an awakening to catch it before it came apart.


Sway control I can't comment on, have never used one.