acdii

I pulled my travel trailer for the first time with my 2016 today, just a short 3 mile trip around the block so I can side sight it instead of blind sight it into my main driveway. First thing I noticed, @45 MPH, it bounces.

Next thing on a smooth road, it sways, but I did not have the sway bar on, so not going to worry about that, yet.

So remind me since I can't recall, bounce, spring bars too tight, too loose, or both? I haven't measured the setup yet, and found the book with all my measurements used to setup the 14, but just want to know if it could be that the bars are too tight that caused it. I'm thinking I may need to pull a shim on the head since it took a bit more than I was used to on the second bar to snap the tipup in.


I'm hoping that is all it is and it will pull as smooth with this truck as it did with the 14 and that I don't have to dish out another $600 on a different hitch. If it doesn't, just add another black mark against this truck.

smokeywren

That's above my pay grade, but my suspicion is that the spring bars were not tight enough.


You know that the ideal tightness of the spring bars on a level trailer will result in the front fender well of the truck to be zero to one-half inch higher with the spring bars tight than when the pickup is without a trailer. That's a simple measurement to get done. So getter done.


If you still have trailer bounce with the spring bars properly adjusted, then you have other problems, not a WD hitch problem.


Are the trailer tires balanced? Have you added good shocks to the trailer suspension? With my WD hitch properly adjusted, trailer tires balanced, and good shocks installed on the trailer, I have absolutely no trailer bounce except when running over bumps in the road.

acdii

I think they were too tight. The hitch was an inch too high, so flipped the shank and got it to be only 1/4" too high. With the bars attached the front end is still a bit too low, unladen is 37", hitched 36 7/8". Trailer is level and the bounce is almost gone, but it is only on a very rough road. I think this setting will solve it, if not I will need to pull a shim and tilt the head a bit forward to reduce the bar tension a bit. I didn't measure the well when I first hitched it up, so no idea what it was, but I wouldn't doubt it was more that what it is now.

Siskiyou

I have a 6500 lb travel trailer with overall length of 24', I have adjusted my hitch bars up and down, added sway bar on truck, sway control on trailer D rated trailer tires on trailer and C rated LT tires on truck. Tows great except I still have a little sway on the freeway. Oh, I forgot that I also added Airlift Air Ride bags. I think 50 lbs pressure may have been a little high so I am going to reduce that a little. I also have about 15% tongue weight.

acdii

My trailer is 28' and 6300 pounds wet, and pulled perfectly fine with the 2014 Screw 5.5. I will need to get it on the Interstate now for a few miles and verify the hitch settings. There isn't much else I can do to the truck, already have 5100's all around, same tires and wheels from the 14, same brakes too. When I say same, I mean , same, they all came off my 14. The 14 didn't have a tow package, this one does, but since it sits higher, that is most likely why it towed so poorly the first time out. Second trip was better, so have to go on a longer drive with semi traffic to check the sway control.

Siskiyou

Let us know what you find with the sway, I sometimes wonder if other people think it is normal and just live with it. I am going from Medford to Portland in a few weeks so hopefully I will have mine worked out.

acdii

On the 14 when I first got the trailer, the hitch was totally misconfigured by the dealer, and that trailer was a sway monster, a breeze blew, a Prius passed me, whatever and the trailer moved. After taking the hitch apart and starting over by the book, and adding a single sway bar to the hitch, the sway was gone, replaced by moving the entire rig as one when a strong crosswind hit it, or being passed by a semi.

So once properly setup, the entire rig should move as one instead of the trailer dictating where the truck moves. This is why I wasn't concerned bout the sway, fix one issue will fix the other. I was drawing a blank on the trailer bouncing the truck, over tension, or lack of.

I think it was a combination of being too high and too much spring pressure.