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Old 05-13-2012, 10:25 AM   #1
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Advise from the WDH God's

Well I got my new 25rr hauled home and I am finally unwound enough to try tackle the problems with my setup, I had the dealer install the Reese Straightline hitch with 1200lb bars and right away I could tell it was not right, the nose of the truck was higher then normal, the rear of the truck sagged noticeably, I also thought that the ball mount stuck out much further then need be, I attached pictures to show that, So after towing the camper home over 1000 miles and unhooking I decieded to check the installers setup,
I leveled the camper and measured as specified in reese's setup papers,
Trailer tounge height (to top of coupler with camper leveled) 22 1/4"
Then I measured to the top of the ball on the truck and it was 26 1\2"
So right off the bat I got issues, so I was going to reset it all but after looking at my hitch shank (it is a 12"-13" 15000,1500lbs. shank) I think I would be better off using a shorter shank to move the ball closer to my truck, That should reduce the leverage applied to the truck, Any thoughts? I am not going to set up my current shank if a better one is available.
I seen that Reese has a 10" 14000,1400lbs shank available, is that what I should order?
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Old 05-13-2012, 11:04 AM   #2
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Before you order anything, set it up with what you have. One reason I say this, you may need more stuff, or something else, like a rise ball, and no need to pay shipping twice. I assume from your post, you have Reese directions for the hitch, so set it up as best you can and post back. As for the shank length, and sticking out too far, that will let you turn a little tighter before your truck bumper crashes the tongue of your camper.

As for the nose of the truck being high, sounds like the chains weren't tight enough., remember a minimum of 5 lengths of chain though. If the nose of the truck is still high, tilt the head back some more. Just work through the directions from Reese, and let us know.
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Old 05-13-2012, 11:29 AM   #3
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Also, if you have access to a chop saw or metal cutting saw, you can cut the shank off and redrill the shank to where ever you want. As stated, you can then tilt the head down and then once you have the setup you want, you can cut the top of the adjustable shank off flush with hitch to make it a little lighter.

As also stated, I would not buy anything else until you work with what you have. I think you have everything you need.
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Old 05-13-2012, 12:21 PM   #4
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I think you need to get your ball height right; it is too high. If your trailer is 22 1/4, the ball height on your truck (unloaded) should be about 23 to 23 1/2 inches. As currently configured, you can't put enough pressure on your bars or the nose of the trailer will be too high. The trailer should be flat to slightly nose down. The front of your truck should be 1/2 to 1 inch higher than unloaded. Rear down maybe 1 to 2 inches. As it is now, your truck is taking most of the weight because the ball is too high. You might need to flip your shank to allow getting the right ball height.
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Old 05-13-2012, 01:05 PM   #5
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Agree with acadianbob, but I always like to have my front & rear both dropped the same amount. In other words, if the rear is 1" higher than the front with no load, I set my wdh to get the same 1" higher in the rear. I found it was a little more stable and helped combat sway. Most people set them like acadianbob said, but I didn't think it felt right. After you get the hitch set, you will just have to fine tune it to your preference. I also have airbags and could fine tune it from inside the cab with the airbag pressures. Just took some time to get it set. Once it was done, always just set the wdh and then increased the air pressure to the pre-determined setting.
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Old 05-13-2012, 01:11 PM   #6
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Thanks for the info everyone, It drove terrible the way it is setup now, It was worse then anything I have ever towed before but I had a 25 mph wind at a angle to the truck and I also noticed once I took the bars off that they are not resting in the cams correctly, they are slightly up the "ramp" of the bars, I need to adjust the cam arm length also, I can see by the wear mark on the paint where they spent most of there time.
I am going to set this one up correctly and drive it some, if it works well I am going to redrill the shank and cut the tip off, that will also save me some cash also. Thanks for your input, I will post my results, It is Mothers Day so I better not play with my "Toys" anymore today, Lol!
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