I have an 01 Chevy 2500hd with a diesel and when ever I pull my fifth wheel travel trailer and I hit a bump or ride on a concrete road i get a severe forward and aft jerking. I have replaced the shocks, tires, checked trailer brakes.
At first I used a gooseneck adapter to tow it and thought that was the problem. <<adapterforsale <ADAPTER sale for>>> went and bought fifth wheel new receiver and still have same issue anybody ever heard of this?

:help:

I am not an expert, but I wonder if your weight dist is incorrect or off some?

Others will chime in that may be able to help more

Oh, And welcome to the fraternity!

thanks that my next step is to take the whole rig to rv center and tell them to just fix it...but i know that will be some bucks...

1: How big(weight)is trailer?

2: Has wheel alignment been done on trailer?

3: Are there shocks on trailer?

4: Is truck overloaded?

Also set cruise on level stretch of road, this will lessen effect of right foot bouncing throttle pedal, sounds strange but that's a problem I thought I had but was just bumps making foot go up and down. This truck is drive by wire.

I know when I have the weight to far back on my flat deck the I get the same bucking problem. When hauling a 14,000# tractor (600 miles) I thought that I had moved it forward enough. Wrong, thank goodness I was able to start it up and move it farther forward, out on the road.

Sounds like you may not have enough weight on the truck.

I assume that this is with a full load of fresh water. Take a look at where the fresh water tank is, if its behind the trailer axle's it's going to reduce the pin weight on yur truck. As a quick test, fill or drain the fresh water tank depending on which will give you the most weight on the truck. Then load all of your gear as far to the front of the trailer as possible and go for a drive.

Sounds like the ball is too far behind the axle of the pickup when loaded. The more weight you have on the truck the more it throws the weight behind the ball causing the axle to "buck or wind up". Take it to the RV/trailer shop to check for proper placement. Most have a formula/measurement for different load capacity and box size.

Good luck,

Carl

ibchewy1 states "thanks that my next step is to take the whole rig to rv center and tell them to just fix it...but i know that will be some bucks..."

Might be the best approach, especially if you bought the 5ver and hitch from them. Couple of initial thoughts as I read your post. If the trailer brakes are either not engaging sufficiently or not soon enough the trailer will have a tendency to push the pin up into the hitch which will give you that lurching forward motion, then when you release the brakes and accelerate it will ride back down and give you the jerking motion. I get this if I stop too fast at a light sometimes. You might try stopping the rig with only the trailer brakes and see if you get the same results. Personally I like to feel the trailer brakes engage just before the trucks. To each their own though. :rolleyes:

A good RV tech will "know the feel" of your unit and diagnose it. Once you find a RV tech that knows his or her stuff stick with them. They are worth their weight in gold. Good luck. JJ :) <!-- / message -->

I have had the same issue with my 35' toyhau8ler. Usually when I have the weight too far back. I also had that problem when my hitch was too high in the back of the truck and it was causing a rake for the trailer. the front was about 4" higher than the rear. When I lowered the front to only 1" higher, the ride got a ton better.

I'm for checking at the RV dealer. I installed my own hitch, but the dealer knew which trailer I bought, knew which truck I had, knew which hitch I had, told me exactly how to adjust the hitch, and they made sure that the pin box on the trailer was right. When I came in to pick up the trailer, they walked me through the whole procedure just to make sure that everything was correct. Worked like a charm. The hitch installation instructions have specific measurements for positioning, and are critical. (I think I remember the pin being centered over the axle) Further checking should include trailer brakes, and trailer weights as already suggested. It seems that I remember that pin weight on a 5th wheel should be 15-25% of trailer weight, but again, your RV dealer should be able to help you with more information. Keep us informed as to what you find out; it might benefit more than one of us.

After I put airbags on my rear axle, it smoothed the ride out considerably. The chugging you feel exists in every brand of P/U that pulls a heavy 5th. Some are worse than others, some are very slight. I've felt it in Furds and Dudge too.

i have that problem with a certain trailer being pulled by 2 different trucks, our problem is that there is slop in the hitch on the trailer. it is worse in the truck with the manual trans in it.

I had the same problem with my new 5th.wheel trailor 3 years ago. When you would go over a bump, it felt like the trailor was being throwen into the back of the truck. I let out some air pressure in the trailor tires. Now it pulls like a dream.

Not enough pin weight!:exactly:

IIRC the pin should be just forward of the rear axle, maybe an inch or so. Best to let the experts do this stuff, it can get complicated and in some cases downright dangerous unless you are very proficient at this stuff. JJ :)

Like VFRrider says, it exist with ever 5th wheel towing. Of course proper weight distribution is a must too, but you'll still get it. Here, check this out from Mor/ryde.

http://www.morryde.com/php/products/pin_box.php

Sounds like you have a case of FREEWAY HOP. It is created by the length b/t your wheels & the joints in the concrete slabs.It is impossible to fix on some combinations. Airbags do help.

Amen "chipper".

My 02 does the "excercise flop" on some concrete roads.

There is nothing you can do about it because you wheelbase is at the exact pitch for the cracks in the road.

I get embarassed and hope nobody on the road will see my 45K truck jumping around.

It only does it on some concrete roads, not all.

Hope it helps.

Measure the height above the bed rails and adjust the king pin or the hitch(if you have an adjustable) and make it as close to the minimum height allowed (I believe 6-8inches) this will directly affect the amount of weight on the truck and shift the center of weight more forward on the trailer. Simple exercise that usually works my dually was doing the same and I went down from 11in above to 8 above night and day difference. P.S. most king pins require two people to hold while you remove the bolts.

Hope this helps
Jason

Ibchewy 1; I had the same problem. Front of trailer was sitting high, on the truck. I had my head violently bounced off my head rest, one time. Flipped the axles (springs ontop of axles) to raise the height of the trailer.
Now the front of the trailer sits low on the back of the truck. Ride is ALLOT better.

Can you post a pic of hooked up combo?

Can you lower the height of your hitch, in the box? Without causing bed rail clearance?

Replacing the crap stock shocks on the truck might also help. I tow a heavy fifth as well, and the Bilsteins made a big difference.

Marc

With my gooseneck, I get some bouncing like this if the airbags are not inflated. I'm pretty sure in my case, it is from the rear suspension bottoming and it goes away when inflated. Weight distrobution on the trailer is critical though.