[Cruz_Man]

Ok this is my fist good tow with the H/D and my TT. The drive was a short one about 100 miles with a 6000 lb TT (not a fifth-wheel). but enough to get a good feel for how this is going to work out. On the way down I elected to not use the weight dist bars since (I only needed them with my half ton.) the tong weight is only around 650 lbs.

Just outside of Atlanta on 85 South there is what I would describe as a washboard section of road. ( I guess this is the correct term.) What I mean is the road has equally spaced expansion joints that cause your vehicle to setup a rhythm or bounce.) It was bad enough that my dog got sick.

(Thanks Chevrolet for the rubber floor mats!

) It wasn’t the movement but the harsh bottoming of the rhythm and what I would describe as a fight between the truck and trailer. To describe the fight I would say that it felt like the trailer was catching up to the truck and the then truck would pull away from the trailer (all in the hitch).

I decided this was probably due to the lightweight of the trailer and the overload springs coming in to play. To correct this I pulled out the weight distribution bars and put them on. The bottom of my hitch on an unloaded truck is about 16.5 inches from the ground. When I set the trailer on it was 14.0. I then used the W/D bars to get it back to 15.5. On the ride home it was much more comfortable but not great either.

Tomorrow I am going to look at the trailer tong and see if there is an adjustment to make it hold the ball better. (The ball on my truck looks like the weight is on the top and front the grease on the back of the ball looks untouched.)

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[FirstDiesel]

The Bilsteins made a huge difference in the ride of my truck. I would add the front ones too. Trust me the stock shocks will be worn out so fast you can't beleive it.

 

[VFRRider]

The rythmic bouncing you describe is very common. The jerk and lunge of the truck/trailer is worse on some combos. My father-in law's F150 could give you whiplash pulling his 25' TT. My combo (5th) had a mild case, I installed airbags which reduced it to almost unnoticable. Now my 5th is probably over 10k, and I'd bet your problem is a push/pull lash as opposed to a weight/distribution effect. I'd discuss it with a good experienced hitch installer, there may be something that can be added to your setup to reduce the problem.


Mike