WD conundrum - back of truck sitting higher?

jeeplj8 · 11-17-2012, 03:02 PM

I am working to adjust the Reece dual cam trunnion bar 12K WD kit. Going simply off measurments to bottom of front and rear of truck, in order to get the front back to level (same height loaded and unloaded) I am tilting the head almost to the full 15 degrees. This raises the rear of the tuck 2 inches. Yes, the hitched height of the truck and therefore the coupler, is 2 inches HIGHER than unhooked.

Um - how does that work, and what should I do?

Dave_Monica · 11-17-2012, 03:12 PM

Go back to the point where the adjustment had no further effect on the front ride height and try it there.

Dave

MtnGuy · 11-18-2012, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeeplj8

I am working to adjust the Reece dual cam trunnion bar 12K WD kit. Going simply off measurments to bottom of front and rear of truck, in order to get the front back to level (same height loaded and unloaded) I am tilting the head almost to the full 15 degrees. This raises the rear of the tuck 2 inches. Yes, the hitched height of the truck and therefore the coupler, is 2 inches HIGHER than unhooked.

Um - how does that work, and what should I do?

What are you using as the reference point ??

You can not use the bumpers as the reference points. You have to use a body reference point in line with the wheel axis....albeit the top of the fenders.....and the exact same spot every time.

The bumpers will give you all sorts of weird measurements.

SaskCampers · 11-18-2012, 10:16 AM

Sounds like you may need to buy a longer drop shank to get the head at a level starting point then start your adjustment from there. I had a heck of a time when we had our Dodge trying to get a drop shank that was long enough and eventuayyly welded an extension to the bottom and drilled a new hole in the 11" drop shank I had to get the trailer level. It was well worth it as all my sway issues went away when the hitch was set to work the way Blue Ox designed it to..

jeeplj8 · 11-20-2012, 11:30 PM

Just posted my scale numbers. Got it set close to level. Thinking about one more indent on the head, lost 120 pounds of front axle from unloaded weight.

Noticed a huge difference pulling with this system.

**huntr70** · 11-21-2012, 06:03 AM

If you do have the F350 suspension as listed in your signature, it may actually be tough to get the Excursion leveled out.

Did you also change the front suspension, or just the rear springs?

MtnGuy · 11-21-2012, 08:26 AM

jeeplj8, do have a self leveling system on the Excursion ??

jeeplj8 · 11-21-2012, 09:08 AM

I put the one ton springs on front and rear. Does not have an auto leveling suspension. Looks very level, and drives much better than before. We are here until Sunday, I may dial in one more detent on the hitch head.

cyclepuck · 11-21-2012, 10:03 AM

Did you try taking some of the tilt out of the head.

cyclepuck · 11-21-2012, 11:49 AM

Read it wrong the first time. What does Ford suggest in manual as far as set up. On my Chevy they allow a 1/2" rise in front.

acadianbob · 11-21-2012, 06:01 PM

I don't think that getting your front end back to its unloaded height should be the goal. And if your rear end is 2 inch higher, that is a problem. You are shifting too much weight to the front end. I believe my F150 manual says to shoot for getting 1/2 way back to the unloaded height. So, if the front end went up 1 1/2 inches, you want to get back to within 3/4 inch.

You would wind up with a real squirrelly handling situation as you describe it.

jeeplj8 · 11-21-2012, 06:11 PM

I had already adjusted the hitch so the rear I'd sitting 1.25 inches down.

jeeplj8 · 11-24-2012, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyclepuck

Read it wrong the first time. What does Ford suggest in manual as far as set up. On my Chevy they allow a 1/2" rise in front.

The manual is silent on how to set-up the WD hitch. The Ford towing guide for 2003 is also silent on that subject.

With my heavier front springs, the front end does not actually move up and down as much as I think it would on other vehicles. This first post was when I was trying to setup the hitch. I had to relax the tilt some, but more importantly, back off one link on the chains. I had tried several adjustments without really looking at the back, simply looking at the front. Once I had the front dropped it turned out the rear was sitting high. I dialed it all back and just started going in increments until the rear began to raise and stopped. The in the cul-de-sac measurements the rear had dropped 1.25 inches, and the front was .25 inches higher.

acadianbob · 11-24-2012, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeeplj8

The in the cul-de-sac measurements the rear had dropped 1.25 inches, and the front was .25 inches higher.

That seems pretty decent. Is your trailer nice and level at those readings? That's the other thing to keep an eye on.

jeeplj8 · 11-26-2012, 11:16 AM

couple pictures at a rest stop on the way home. couple notes, the truck has a level ride unloaded so with any weight in the back it tends to look slightly nose high.

The parking area had some incline to it.

MtnGuy · 11-26-2012, 02:15 PM

The hitch setup looks pretty good if you are getting the correct weight distributed. I can see a slight bend in the spring bars, so that means those puppies are working.

A trip across some scales will confirm your axle weights.

Make sure the notches in the spring bars are exactly centered on the cams when the Excursion and trailer are in a straight line. Mark your spring bars so that they go back on the same side every time.

It would be a little concerning to me that the front of the Excursion still looks high, but I don't know how the self leveling systems works, so others will have to chime in on that.

I don't see how the emergency brake cable is run. That should be pretty much in a straight line from the brake box, and not wound around anything.

Ditto for the electrical umbilical From the pictures, it looks like it is making a meandering trip around all sorts of stuff. You don't want that to get "pinched" during a sharp turn.

Dave_Monica · 11-26-2012, 02:58 PM

I'm not very familiar with the Reese, but shouldn't the spring bars be more parallel to the ground so the the bar notch fits better on the cam? You could take some angle out of the htich-head and go up 2 links on the chain.

It may be a bit of an optical illusion, but it looks like the camper is sitting nose up. Perhaps you could drop the hitch head one set of holes.

Does the Excursion measure the same distance top of wheel-well to ground, front and rear unhitched? If so any compression of the rear suspension when hitched gives the appearance that it's squatting a bit.

Dave

jeeplj8 · 11-26-2012, 03:02 PM

Every picture of the trunnion style I have seen has the bars angled down. Because of where they exit the head, and the top mounted coupler on the a-frame, there is no way to get them truly level.

Unfortunately, my height and shank were about 1/2 inch off from perfect. If I turned the shank down, I was too low. turned up and a little too high. I decided it was better to be too high than too low.

Runnign down the road the camper does not look nose high, it looks perfectly level.

The Ex actually sits 1/4 high in the front unloaded. Kinda pre-runner style.

I thought about trying to level the hitch head more and run shorter chains, but when I set it up that way, the tension on the chains was very high. Right now the snap blocks go very smoothly.

MtnGuy · 11-26-2012, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave_Monica

I'm not very familiar with the Reese, but shouldn't the spring bars be more parallel to the ground so the the bar notch fits better on the cam?

Dave, on the Reese square bar system, running the spring bars parallel to the ground doesn't work, since the trunnion fittings are so high on the head assembly. With the 7 chain links used like jeeplj8 uses, that gives plenty of clearance between the spring bars and the dual cam yoke during sharp turns.

With the Reese round bar system where the spring bars come out of the bottom of the hitch assembly, then the bars should run parallel with the ground/trailer tongue.

acadianbob · 11-26-2012, 04:30 PM

It's hard to tell from the picture but it looks to me like the nose of the trailer is up and the tail is down. This can result in a trailer that is more likely to sway. In addition to your truck height readings, your trailer should be level. Measure from the ground to the bottom of the frame in the front of the trailer and at the rear; where the ground is level. You will want the readings to be similar. If anything, the nose should be lower than the tail.

Your ball height may be too high. You might have too much tilt on the ball. The height of the ball on the truck (unloaded) should be about 1 inch higher than the coupler of the trailer when the trailer is level.

It just doesn't look quite right to me in the picture. But it could be an optical illusion.

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