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Old 07-12-2016, 01:45 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by phillips View Post
You need to turn your whole hitch setup around so you can adjust your ball lower.

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Is that safe guys? I notice it has an additional support welded onto the top of the shank assisting with downward force, it will now be at the bottom not providing as much support. Is this ok?
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Old 07-12-2016, 01:46 PM   #22
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Perfectly ok. They're designed to be flipped. That support is more for front to back than up and down.
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Old 07-12-2016, 01:49 PM   #23
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Your trailer from the pic appears to be sitting high in front, that is usually not the perfect set-up, and in my mind not enough tongue weight may cause the sway. X2 on raspivey. Unhook your TT on level ground and level. At rear of TT measure ground to bumper. Put max 10 lbs in each bag for this measurement (normal riding lbs with no trailer). Measure front of truck ground to bumper(or any point on front end). Back truck up to trailer receiver. The top of the ball should be level with top of trailer receiver (not lower) but agree up to a inch higher is not off. If the ball does not sit this way you are not off to a good start. Once this is satisfied Hook up the trailer and use your weight distribution kit to level as best possible (chains or steel slide). Your goal is to get the front of your truck and back of your trailer as close as possible to original measurement with the weight distribution set-up. You can add air pressure in your bags and I would guess 25 to 35 lbs should get it level, at which time it should look level from back of trailer to front of truck. Fords do sag, but with 25 to 30 lbs in bags that should be enough lift the ass end. The bags are a good thing for Fords, but do not add or change your any of your weight ratio's, they do assist to level. Personally nothing on bumper. Yes x2 on the flip I have a ford and mine is flipped from your pic
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Old 07-12-2016, 01:51 PM   #24
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Ok awesome - thanks everyone for your assistance. I`m traveling from West to East FL on Sunday but will have the shank turned prior and ball dropped 1 hole to start off with to see if i can get the TT level while keeping enough air in the bags - i`ll also put more weight in the front of the TT instead of leaving it semi empty. Will report back my findings on Monday - you guys are awesome!
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Old 07-12-2016, 01:52 PM   #25
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Let me also suggest that you get ahold of the install directions to your hitch and really go through them. I don't know if this is your case, but a lot of people I've talked to let the dealership set them up assuming they're done right and I've seen some pretty poor jobs come from a dealership. There's no substitute for being able to tweak these things yourself when so much depends on them being right. Not only for ride comfort, but for safety.
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Old 07-12-2016, 01:53 PM   #26
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From the pic you are nose high and you have 200 lbs hanging out the back.

Nose high and weight behind the axles accentuates/causes sway.

You need to flip that whole hitch shank upside down (which will make it right side up, currently it is upside down in the pic) to get more adjustment range. Drop it lower and it will level out your trailer. Also you need to shoot for around 15 percent tongue weight. Get it weighed ready to camp.
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Old 07-12-2016, 01:58 PM   #27
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Ok awesome - thanks everyone for your assistance. I`m traveling from West to East FL on Sunday but will have the shank turned prior and ball dropped 1 hole to start off with to see if i can get the TT level while keeping enough air in the bags - i`ll also put more weight in the front of the TT instead of leaving it semi empty. Will report back my findings on Monday - you guys are awesome!
You must only have normal riding preasure in your air bags for initial set-up. 5 to 10 lbs. The air should be used to take sag out of rear end after. If you set-up with 30lbs your truck is way to high.
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Old 07-12-2016, 01:59 PM   #28
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Let me also suggest that you get ahold of the install directions to your hitch and really go through them. I don't know if this is your case, but a lot of people I've talked to let the dealership set them up assuming they're done right and I've seen some pretty poor jobs come from a dealership. There's no substitute for being able to tweak these things yourself when so much depends on them being right. Not only for ride comfort, but for safety.
I purchased my previous RV with the WDH (it has bars and chains) - a tornado destroyed my rv leaving me with the WDH. Anycase, when purchasing the new RV i took the old WDH incl bars etc to the dealership, they then set it up. I told the technician that i use the air suspension when RV`ing and that he needs to take that into consideration when setting it up.

a) i dont have the doucmentation/information for the WDH

b) technician didnt install/setup the WDH correctly in the first place. If i recall it was nose in the air from day one. I should have realised something was off then already.

Some of the stuff mentioned comes with years of RV`ing experience - one would look at my setup and realize immediately i have a problem, i didnt see it although it was staring me in the face. It`ll get better with though!
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Old 07-12-2016, 02:05 PM   #29
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You must only have normal riding preasure in your air bags for initial set-up. 5 to 10 lbs. The air should be used to take sag out of rear end after. If you set-up with 30lbs your truck is way to high.
OK, got it!
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Old 07-12-2016, 02:06 PM   #30
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From the pic you are nose high and you have 200 lbs hanging out the back.

Nose high and weight behind the axles accentuates/causes sway.

You need to flip that whole hitch shank upside down (which will make it right side up, currently it is upside down in the pic) to get more adjustment range. Drop it lower and it will level out your trailer. Also you need to shoot for around 15 percent tongue weight. Get it weighed ready to camp.
You`re right - i noticed now while looking for another shank online that mine is already upside down and not the right way up ;-)
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Old 07-12-2016, 02:06 PM   #31
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Some of the stuff mentioned comes with years of RV`ing experience - one would look at my setup and realize immediately i have a problem, i didnt see it although it was staring me in the face. It`ll get better with though!
There's definitely a learning curve . As far as documentation, most of those things are the same more or less. When you have time, look around online for one similar and glance at it. The principle is the same even if it's not the exact same hitch. My first one I had to adjust it about six times over three trips before I had it where I like it. It came much easier with my next two.

Any problems, just ask...somebody around here will help you out!
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Old 07-12-2016, 03:13 PM   #32
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You must only have normal riding preasure in your air bags for initial set-up. 5 to 10 lbs. The air should be used to take sag out of rear end after. If you set-up with 30lbs your truck is way to high.
When I was researching getting a new hitch I talked directly to Equal-I-Zer and Blue Ox. Both told me the airbags should be inflated to desired pressure before setting up the hitch. They said changing pressure after the setup would have an affect on the initial settings.
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Old 07-12-2016, 03:17 PM   #33
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GeeTee - I agree with all who've pointed out the high nose and the need to properly adjust your WD hitch. In my case, the setup was perfect if you just use measurements of the front and rear fenders. At the scales the front axle was within 200 pounds of the truck alone weight -close, but I didn't like the way the whole rig handled. Adjustment of the spring bars one bolt hole higher got the front axle to within 60 pounds of the truck alone weight and made a big difference in stability/handling. So... find instructions for your brand of hitch on line, adjust it by measurement and you'll be close, fine tune it at the truck scales and you'll be happy. IMO, you should not put air in your bags until after you've got the hitch adjusted properly. Then add just enough air to very slightly lift the back of the truck. This has the effect of giving you a higher spring rate to deal with the extra weight, but does not affect how much weight is distributed by your WDH. Hope this helps.
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Old 07-12-2016, 03:30 PM   #34
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Just my $.02 as well... What is the levels of your tanks? With a big old trailer comes (sometimes) bigger tanks... If they are somewhat filled they slosh and that is another several hundreds lbs goign from side to side and resonating with your already loosey goosey travels.
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Old 07-12-2016, 03:42 PM   #35
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I also found lowing your speed helps also. Later RJD
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Old 07-12-2016, 03:53 PM   #36
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When I was researching getting a new hitch I talked directly to Equal-I-Zer and Blue Ox. Both told me the airbags should be inflated to desired pressure before setting up the hitch. They said changing pressure after the setup would have an affect on the initial settings.
It is funny how many differing opinions these guys will give. The way I was advised, and read was the weight distribution hitch is the most important tool for distributing the trailer weight through-out the TV & TT for egual distribution (level). Note that this is one initial set-up of your complete system with the truck in its normal driving condition. Once this has been established and you know the proper positioning of the hitch you could fill bags prior to hook-up. My recommendation is set-up once first with 5 to 10 lbs in bags get all your measurements for truck and trailer and hook-up. fill bags to reduce sag. After this first set-up and you know what amount of air is needed, I say then you can always fill your bags first. Hope you have better travels.
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Old 07-12-2016, 03:56 PM   #37
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Sounds like wdh companies do not give out same info. Later RJD
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Old 07-12-2016, 04:44 PM   #38
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It is funny how many differing opinions these guys will give. The way I was advised, and read was the weight distribution hitch is the most important tool for distributing the trailer weight through-out the TV & TT for egual distribution (level). Note that this is one initial set-up of your complete system with the truck in its normal driving condition. Once this has been established and you know the proper positioning of the hitch you could fill bags prior to hook-up. My recommendation is set-up once first with 5 to 10 lbs in bags get all your measurements for truck and trailer and hook-up. fill bags to reduce sag. After this first set-up and you know what amount of air is needed, I say then you can always fill your bags first. Hope you have better travels.

It is tough to come up with a solution over the internet.. Like my tank levels comment, the other thing I found is the better the WDH the happier one will be.. When running at / close or dare I say over weights the cheap WDH just did not please me. I started with a cheap ($200 maybe) curt set up that looks similar (not saying it is) WDH. It was loose and the friction sway controllers just never impressed me. I switch to a much better (IMO) setup with integrated sway control.
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Old 07-12-2016, 04:49 PM   #39
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Air bags need to be filled prior to setting up your WDH (weight distribution hitch).
Changes in air bag pressure increase and decrease the height of not only rear of the truck, but also the height of your hitch, coupler and front of the trailer. Hitch height changes DO effect load distribution.
Consider this: Common practice for hooking or unhooking a trailer from a TV (tow vehicle) that utilizes a LDH (load distributing hitch) with load bars, is to lift the front end of your trailer with your tongue jack, which tilts your truck forward, and tilts the trailer backwards. These opposite tilts, unload the bending stress on the load distribution bars, making it easier to hook/unhook the bars from the L-brackets on the trailer. Raising the rear of your TV by adding air to your airbags effectively does the same thing. Not only does it raise the rear of the vehicle, it reduces the bending forces on the load bars. The reduced bending load on the bars, effectively reduces the amount of weight being transferred to the front axle (load distribution) and also reduces the sliding friction between the bars and the L-brackets. The friction (resistance to sliding) between the load bars and the L-brackets is what resists sway (side to side rotation of the trailer in reference to the TV direction). So load distribution and anti-sway is reduced.

In summary: lifting the rear of your vehicle with air bags (after WDH was properly configured) changes the pitch of your TV and trailer in regards to each other, which counteracts load distribution and anti-sway properties of the hitch, and can drastically reduce both the load distribution to the TV's front axle and sway resistance.

I learned this by personal experience. I suffered increased trailer sway following installation of air bags until I readjusted my hitch for the increased ride height. It took me a while to understand why my changes had caused the results I was seeing. Being a licensed structural engineer, my curiosity got to me and I actually went as far as calculating the loads and modeling how changes effected the resultant loads.

Hopefully my explanations make sense and are helpful. Good luck and happy trailering!
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Old 07-12-2016, 05:09 PM   #40
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Would like a picture of your sway bar where it tightens. A top view would be best.

Also, the inner bar on the sway bars get glazed fairly quickly. I always power wire brushed both sides of mine and occasionally just a very light grind to give the brake pad material a little more grip. Also ran dual sway bars on our travel trailers. Just have to remember to loosen them when on rain/snow slick highways. Don't ask how I learned that!!!
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