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Great advice here, Thanks all! I went to trailer & took some measurement & found that one of the dual cam sway plates attached to the frame of the trailer was an inch closer to the ball receiver than the other side. My specs called it for 20.5 inches from center bolt to center of coupler. I found 19 inches on right side & 20 inches on left. I loosened both sides of the cam adjuster nuts out & hooked it up with the chains & drove it around a few times than stopped it straight. The cams adjusted themselves to where they should seat & were in the center position of the spring bars. I tightened them up & one side has 1 more inch of thread showing than the other. I'm thinking that may have caused some sway issue when hooked up? I will see next time I hit the road with the trailer.
I also adjusted the height of the hitch ball to bring up the spring bar height to where it should be . I needed 12 inches from tip of bar to ground as opposed to the 9 inches they were set at. the front measurement of the fender to ground actually went down a 1/2 inch so I may have to add a link into the snap up bracket & put some more weight on the tongue. These things sure are a PIA to get right. Also will max tire pressure to see if that helps firm up the sidewalls a bit.
That's exactly why I hate the Strait-Line system (HP Dual Cam) that I have sitting in my shed.
It has some known design defects. That being, you sometimes can't get the angle so that the spring bars are clear of the cam bracket lobe, when making turns.
When it hits, you see where the spring bar rubs on the cam bracket lobe (yoke). My dealer adjusted my Straight line cam brackets at the improper length as yours. So I didn't get the angle I needed to clear the cam bracket lobe and my head exploded while backing and turning. Neighbor kids were helping me back into driveway with new trailer and hitch, and luckily none were hurt as it literally grenaded!!
After dealer came to my house to fix it, they re-adjusted where the cam brackets were located and angled my head toward the trailer to get as much downward angle (tips of bars closer to road surface) as possible so that the spring bar doesn't rub on the cam bracket lobe. To achieve the needed spring bar angle, I needed to go down 7 links to get the spring bars to clear the cam bracket lobe (Yoke) with a pronounce head tilt as well.
With the new 2016, I couldn't get this hitch adjusted without the spring bars hitting the cam bracket lobe (yoke). Now I would recommend against this hitch system and recommend a Blue Ox Sway Pro system (which I replaced the Reese with) or an Equalizer brand hitch system.
Here's a pic from a well discussed thread at rv.net about this hitch's flaw
That's exactly why I hate the Strait-Line system (HP Dual Cam) that I have sitting in my shed.
It has some known design defects. That being, you sometimes can't get the angle so that the spring bars are clear of the cam bracket lobe, when making turns.
When it hits, you see where the spring bar rubs on the cam bracket lobe (yoke). My dealer adjusted my Straight line cam brackets at the improper length as yours. So I didn't get the angle I needed to clear the cam bracket lobe and my head exploded while backing and turning. Neighbor kids were helping me back into driveway with new trailer and hitch, and luckily none were hurt as it literally grenaded!!
After dealer came to my house to fix it, they re-adjusted where the cam brackets were located and angled my head toward the trailer to get as much downward angle (tips of bars closer to road surface) as possible so that the spring bar doesn't rub on the cam bracket lobe. To achieve the needed spring bar angle, I needed to go down 7 links to get the spring bars to clear the cam bracket lobe (Yoke) with a pronounce head tilt as well.
With the new 2016, I couldn't get this hitch adjusted without the spring bars hitting the cam bracket lobe (yoke). Now I would recommend against this hitch system and recommend a Blue Ox Sway Pro system (which I replaced the Reese with) or an Equalizer brand hitch system.
Here's a pic from a well discussed thread at rv.net about this hitch's flaw
This sucks! I may have that issue & didn't even know about it. I need to check for abrasion marks on the plates & bars.
Thanks for the heads up on this. I thought I was buying a well recommended WD Hitch last year but now???? \Thanks again for the write up.
Just returned from a trip from Southern Ontario to Myrtle Beach with our Keystone Cougar xlite 28rbs. I must confess that after reading a great deal of the post on this forum i was a bit concerned about my truck/trailer combo. Ive got a 2016 F150 screw with the 5.0, 3.31 rear end and the 145" wb. All i can say is that towing that trailer was far better than i expected. I have the equalizer e2 wdh hitch and it kept that trailer straight and true with little to no movement even when passed by semis and some strong wind and rain in Virginia. We averaged about 11.5 mpg on the trip. I did stop using the cruise control going through the hills/mountains in the Virginias because i found it would try to maintain speed far to aggressively. Twice it dropped to 2nd gear on a steep slope and i found myself flying up the slope passing vehicles on the left like i had rockets strapped to the rear of the trailer. I found through trial and error that if i watched my speed at the start of a hill i could maintain speed comfortably in 4th and only had to drop to 3rd if i didnt give enough gas at the start of the climb. And then again if in 3rd it would shoot up the hill like a rocket. I havent got any experience for comparing other rear end ratios but can say that i have no complaints towing with my truck with the 3.31 rear end and the 5.0. Just for anyone who may be curious, the trailer probably weighed around 7200 lbs with our stuff inside and we had 3 bikes in the truck bed. 2 adults and one teenage daughter. Couldnt be happier with my truck choice.
Just returned from a trip from Southern Ontario to Myrtle Beach with our Keystone Cougar xlite 28rbs. I must confess that after reading a great deal of the post on this forum i was a bit concerned about my truck/trailer combo. Ive got a 2016 F150 screw with the 5.0, 3.31 rear end and the 145" wb. All i can say is that towing that trailer was far better than i expected. I have the equalizer e2 wdh hitch and it kept that trailer straight and true with little to no movement even when passed by semis and some strong wind and rain in Virginia. We averaged about 11.5 mpg on the trip. I did stop using the cruise control going through the hills/mountains in the Virginias because i found it would try to maintain speed far to aggressively. Twice it dropped to 2nd gear on a steep slope and i found myself flying up the slope passing vehicles on the left like i had rockets strapped to the rear of the trailer. I found through trial and error that if i watched my speed at the start of a hill i could maintain speed comfortably in 4th and only had to drop to 3rd if i didnt give enough gas at the start of the climb. And then again if in 3rd it would shoot up the hill like a rocket. I havent got any experience for comparing other rear end ratios but can say that i have no complaints towing with my truck with the 3.31 rear end and the 5.0. Just for anyone who may be curious, the trailer probably weighed around 7200 lbs with our stuff inside and we had 3 bikes in the truck bed. 2 adults and one teenage daughter. Couldnt be happier with my truck choice.
sounds like ford figured out hte 5.0 /3.31 probs. there was a few guys in 15's that had many a problems with BCM or something like that. only cropped up on the 5.0/3.31 trucks none with 3.55 or 3.73. but glad its working for you!
Just returned from a trip from Southern Ontario to Myrtle Beach with our Keystone Cougar xlite 28rbs. I must confess that after reading a great deal of the post on this forum i was a bit concerned about my truck/trailer combo. Ive got a 2016 F150 screw with the 5.0, 3.31 rear end and the 145" wb. All i can say is that towing that trailer was far better than i expected. I have the equalizer e2 wdh hitch and it kept that trailer straight and true with little to no movement even when passed by semis and some strong wind and rain in Virginia. We averaged about 11.5 mpg on the trip. I did stop using the cruise control going through the hills/mountains in the Virginias because i found it would try to maintain speed far to aggressively. Twice it dropped to 2nd gear on a steep slope and i found myself flying up the slope passing vehicles on the left like i had rockets strapped to the rear of the trailer. I found through trial and error that if i watched my speed at the start of a hill i could maintain speed comfortably in 4th and only had to drop to 3rd if i didnt give enough gas at the start of the climb. And then again if in 3rd it would shoot up the hill like a rocket. I havent got any experience for comparing other rear end ratios but can say that i have no complaints towing with my truck with the 3.31 rear end and the 5.0. Just for anyone who may be curious, the trailer probably weighed around 7200 lbs with our stuff inside and we had 3 bikes in the truck bed. 2 adults and one teenage daughter. Couldnt be happier with my truck choice.
I found out also not to use cruise on hills especially in the mountains. I dropped into 2nd a few times with the the rpm's up to 5,500. I felt like I was racing up pikes peak! I had passed a few cars with the screaming engine & it brought some attention from those. I had to back off the speed to correct it, tranny temps always were in normal range throughout. Biggest challenges I faced were crossing the Bighorn mountains, going into Custer SD from the east, & pulling through Wyoming into Colorado.
Just returned from a trip from Southern Ontario to Myrtle Beach with our Keystone Cougar xlite 28rbs. I must confess that after reading a great deal of the post on this forum i was a bit concerned about my truck/trailer combo. Ive got a 2016 F150 screw with the 5.0, 3.31 rear end and the 145" wb. All i can say is that towing that trailer was far better than i expected. I have the equalizer e2 wdh hitch and it kept that trailer straight and true with little to no movement even when passed by semis and some strong wind and rain in Virginia. We averaged about 11.5 mpg on the trip. I did stop using the cruise control going through the hills/mountains in the Virginias because i found it would try to maintain speed far to aggressively. Twice it dropped to 2nd gear on a steep slope and i found myself flying up the slope passing vehicles on the left like i had rockets strapped to the rear of the trailer. I found through trial and error that if i watched my speed at the start of a hill i could maintain speed comfortably in 4th and only had to drop to 3rd if i didnt give enough gas at the start of the climb. And then again if in 3rd it would shoot up the hill like a rocket. I havent got any experience for comparing other rear end ratios but can say that i have no complaints towing with my truck with the 3.31 rear end and the 5.0. Just for anyone who may be curious, the trailer probably weighed around 7200 lbs with our stuff inside and we had 3 bikes in the truck bed. 2 adults and one teenage daughter. Couldnt be happier with my truck choice.
Yeah I learned the hard way not to use CC pulling up a mountain in my 14. It would maintain the speed limit, 65, in 4th gear, but man did it heat up FAST!!!! Didn't notice until I heard DING and the dash flashed OVERHEATING. The 14 had 3.5 with 3.15 gears, and no tow package. It pulled like a mad Hungarian after his Goulash.
03-19-2017, 06:01 PM
