My new to me TT,towing help!

[Jsdirt]

I was towing quite a bit with my flatbed trailer, hauliing all different weights of vehicles. Towed for years without a W/D setup. Just picked one up last fall, and boy what a difference that thing made! Handling was night and day. Placement on the trailer wasn't as critical anymore. It used to be that a couple inches forward or back would mean the difference between a rattlesnake whip that would just about make you crash over 45 MPH, or, make your kidneys bleed with constant bouncing due to lack of suspension from excessive tongue weight.

 

Since I tow different weights all the time, there was no real ideal setting for me. Even with the head tilted as far down as it will go, I still have a bit too much tension for most loads. I've got a different setup than most - it's torsion bars without chains. They rest on brake-pad-like friction material that also provides an anti-sway element all in one system. Very happy with it.

 

I never measured my fenders, but I can tell the rear doesn't sag nearly as much as it used to. I rarely have to put more than 5 psi in my airbags while towing.

[peejaykay]

I posted what I do, I tow A LOT and have been for over 20 years. This is how I've always done it and I've been in about every situation on the road imaginable and never a problem with how my hitch is setup. This includes my travel trailer to my race car trailer and everything in between. I haven't ever actually measured fender heights. I'd assume that when I put my TT on my Yukon the front probably raises close to 1 inch. On level surface and hooked up my trailer is riding level with minimal sag on the truck

 

This. If you know you're towing at the limits, you do whatever you can to lower the risk. Follow these instructions and you will be fine. I measure every time. Yeah the campers all think I'm anal busting out the tape measure when I pull chocks, but I feel better knowing it's set up right.

[Jon A]

Guys, the point I’m making is that much testing has taken place in the last few years regarding WDH’s. This has caused all the manufacturers to change their instructions on setting them up because it has been found that the “old recommendations” actually make the vehicle less safe.

 

If you’re transferring large amounts of weight to the front; “leveling” a truck with a large tongue weight, you’re making it less safe—even if that’s what “feels best” driving down the road. We have a saying when setting up the suspension of a racecar—“feels fast” and “IS fast” are often two very different things.

 

In this case, “feels safe” isn’t necessarily so. Feeling safe while driving down the road in a controlled manor doesn’t set the bar very high. If instead you went to a skidpad, slalom, etc, and actually tested emergency handling (and braking) maneuvers, you’d find setups that transfer large amounts of weight to the front actually make the vehicle much easier to jackknife—much more likely to crash in such maneuvers. GM and the SAE have already done this testing for you--that's where their recommendation comes from.

 

If the vehicle doesn’t ride well or “feel safe” driving down the road when set up the way the manufacturer (of the vehicle—not the hitch) tells you to, this is not an indication the manufacturer is wrong, that you’re smarter than them or “all your years of towing” trumps all their years of Engineers’ instrumented testing. It’s an indication your suspension is just too soft to comfortably handle that particular trailer/tongue weight.

 

Fixing that problem the way the manufacturers do—increased spring rate in the rear making the vehicle itself more capable—is always going to result in an overall setup that is safer than if you bandaid over it by over-compensating with a WDH by transferring too much weight to the front. This might not be necessary (that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea) in the OP’s case depending upon how the trailer is loaded.

 

He asked if he should adjust his bars or raise or lower the ball. The answer is we can’t tell from the pictures because we don’t know how much weight the WDH is transferring to the front.

 

Step 1 should be adjusting the WDH while actually measuring the front fenders to get it set so it restores 50% to the front just as described in the owner’s manual. Then, if the trailer is not level, raise or lower the ball.

 

Hopefully that setup will also give you a good ride on the road. If it does not, take that as a hint your truck would really work a lot better with that trailer if you added a set of airbags (or helper springs, etc). Yes, cranking the WDH to transfer more weight to the front can improve the ride—and if you’re on the side of the road in the middle of your vacation, by all means, do what you have to do. But know doing so is eating into your margins of safety (and don’t exceed 100% no matter what). Probably not the smartest way to plan things from the beginning.

 

Just because people didn’t know any better 20 years ago doesn’t mean we have to keep repeating the same mistakes (which won’t necessarily ever be obvious until you have an accident).

[sugarjohnson]

Not to join an argument but the above post is correct. To much weight up front will manifest itself in evasive maneuvers and rain quickly. I tow my TT a lot and my truck was set up primarily to tow as it is not my daily driver. Most RV dealers will gladly slap a hitch on a 1500. They are happy to sell you an overweight concrete block with wheels saying your truck is plenty big to pull this. In fact it will pull it just not very well. For this reason when I bought my new TT I specifically stayed around 50% of my rated towing capacity.

 

That being said I do agree with the above post and it actually takes quite a bit of work involving a CAT scale to actually figure this WD Hitch stuff out correctly. I just upgraded my equalizer hitch and took damn near a whole day to set it up correctly and a trip to the scales. I am OCD but driving a lot with my kids I want a safe and pleasurable ride. My 2 cents

[Jsdirt]

In my case it's easier to just pull the car up a few more inches closer to the tailgate than it would be to re-adjust the ball angle for less torsion load. With a fixed load like a camper, you don't have that much flexibility.

 

If I'm loaded tail heavy, even with this setup, it'll still whip pretty bad, WD friction pads or not.