F150 feels loose in the rear when pulling Vcross

[Nelsen83]

I have a 2012 F150 EB and a 2009 28VFBS Vcross TT with a e2 WDH. for some reason when I am going down the road we are getting the feeling of the rear of the truck "washing out". It has not broken loose but it does feel like it could. We had the WDH hitch installed at the dealer but I am wondering if anyone else has had this issue. We have minimal items in the trailer, some cloths, board games, and a blocks of wood for leveling and set up.

We are new to the camping scene and are looking for some advice. I did take a little tension off of the bars to see if that would help by putting more weight on the back of the truck. The only thing is, when I "fully load" the camper for our first real trip, am I going to want that tension back? I have not adjusted any tire pressure on the truck either.....

Any help or if anyone has a similar set up I would appreciate your knowledge.

[OldCoot]

If you have "P" tires on your truck, that would be one contributing factor.

[Nelsen83]

I have the factory tires that came on the truck yet. Wrangler SR/A

[OldCoot]

Air them up to the max stamped on the sidewall.

[katkt]

I've always found Fords to be a bit whimpy in the rear spring area. I've cured it with the ARS springs.
Roadmaster Active Suspension Kits | Helper Springs | Overload Springs

I've had them on 4 different Fords counting the one I own now. I used to drive the longer E250 Cargo vans loaded with tools, and without them, it felt more like I was herding the van down the road, then driving.

I'm not sure what effect there would be on a 1/2 ton truck without the Roadmaster ARS, using a WDH.

Just a thought.

[another_newfie]

Scale your combo to determine where you are at weight wise.

You mentioned your dealer installed your WDH. Since most dealers know SFA and often royally screw up WDH it's best to familiarize yourself with your own setup and learn to set it up properly.

[Nelsen83]

Originally Posted by another_newfie

Scale your combo to determine where you are at weight wise.

You mentioned your dealer installed your WDH. Since most dealers know SFA and often royally screw up WDH it's best to familiarize yourself with your own setup and learn to set it up properly.

for the weight, when I get that info, what am I looking for?

[acadianbob]

V-Cross trailers seem to have heavy tongue weights. Looking at similar trailers on the Forest River site, you probably have a DRY tongue weight of 700 to 800 pounds; more with LP tanks, batteries, options, and loaded. You may very well be at or over the payload capacity of your truck.

You don't mention what version of F150 you have or its payload capacity. (It's on the door/door frame) Some optioned high-level F150s have payloads as low as 1,100 pounds. Check out your payload capacity.

Also, don't forget about (in addition to your tongue weight), the weight of your family/pets, tools, hitch, coolers, generator, etc that you load in the bed of your truck.

If you add all of this up and include the tongue weight of your trailer, you may very well have an issue.

This is also quite a long trailer. That also may be contributing to the loose feeling you are getting.

Putting less pressure on the bars is probably the wrong direction to go. You need to transfer weight off of the rear of your truck and onto the front of the truck and the trailer axles. You do this by putting more pressure on the bars.

[pappcam]

Have you tried putting 44psi in your tires yet? I have the same Wranglers on my 2011 F150 and the extra air helped quite a bit. That's a large trailer to pull with a 1/2 ton so you'll never get it to the point where you don't know it's there.

You may want to double check the WDH set up. I measure from the ground to the front wheel well and try and get that measurement the same loaded as unloaded.

[Nelsen83]

how does one figure out the tough weight? the Payload is 1360lbs

[Orion]

Originally Posted by Nelsen83

how does one figure out the tough weight? the Payload is 1360lbs

I got one of these:

Sherline Trailer Tongue Weight Scale - 2,000-lb Capacity Sherline Tools 5780

[MtnGuy]

Originally Posted by Nelsen83

how does one figure out the tough weight? the Payload is 1360lbs

Take the rig to some CAT scales. The truck axles with trailer hooked up (without spring bars in place) minus the truck axles without the trailer hooked up equals the tongue weight. All cargo and passengers should remain in the same position.

1 more weigh-in (the trailer with spring bars in place) will give you information compared to the truck solo weight as to how well the WDH is adjusted. Again, all passengers and cargo in the same position every time.

You can also a Sherline (previously mentioned) or your bathroom scales to get a tongue weight: Measuring trailer tongue weight with a bathroom scale

[donanddona]

As a full timer and retired. I rarely pass anything on the highway. Average speed is 53mph. Not telling you to slow down mate, but how fast do you tow?

[jeeplj8]

Get your rig weighed - do it right.

watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixK9BTAXqyY

use the search function on this website for more info.

Until you have your three weigh slips in hand, and can crunch some numbers - you have NO idea what your problem might be. While some anecdotal advice may inadvertently prove helpful, you are trying to solve a problem by taking guesses at what is wrong.

Most likely culprit is the WD hitch is not adjusted correctly. No way to know for sure without weights.

[bikendan]

i would've gone with the original 4-point Equal-i-zer WDH and not the cheaper E2 WDH, because of the length of your trailer.

IMHO, the E2 is better for shorter and lighter trailers.

[R Whitlow]

Originally Posted by Nelsen83

how does one figure out the tough weight? the Payload is 1360lbs

Do you have all the weight in the back mid or front. If you get to much weight in the back thus removing tongue weight can cause washing feeling. Does it start when you go over a bump? Sure sign of light tongue weight.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forest River Forums mobile app

[chuckw5kav]

You really need to double check the WDH setup, also the way you have the your trailer loaded.
Dealing with large amounts of weight over the
years you want to center your weight over
your axles when ever possible or toward the front of the trailer. To much in front is just as
bad as to much to the rear, but out of the two
to much at the rear of the trailer is the worst.

hope you figure it out so that you will enjoy camping and not worry about driving to or from
a camp site and enjoy your weekends and
outings

[Weezer]

We had the same problem while pulling our former V-Lite with DH's former 150 ecobeast.

DH said it "didn't have enough ass". That's why it's his "former" 150 eco beast.

bought the 250 to better tow the V-Lite, then upgraded to a 5er.

[Old Bones]

I have the same problem with our Ram 1500 and SP 296 TT.

Going to be changing out the P rated tires to E load range tires. Also been told to back off the tension on the WHD to get more weight to the back of the truck and will also help with the porpoising.

May also have to look into a WDH with sway control if the above doesn't resolve the issue.

Hope you get yours figured out.

[raspivey]

I'd agree with the tire advice and also setting up your own WDH based on what I've seen dealerships do. I've probably got half the rig, but it's in about the same proportions. This last trip out, I swapped the stock P tires on the rear with XL (51PSI)..still P tires, as LT's are a little too stiff for what I normally use the truck for. I normally run 30 front / 35 rear cold as per the door sticker, but bumped it to 35 front / 45 rear with the new tires while towing. Felt much more solid and picked up a little over 1 mpg.