2009 Cardinal 5th Wheel 31RK

[Fishbait1]

We just purchased a 2009 31RK Cardinal a couple of months ago - love the floor plan; however, having difficulty towing with our 2005 F250 Diesel 4X4 short bed. We are getting alot of bad "porpoising" or "up and down" in the hitch when hitting a bump in the road. We have had air bags installed in the truck - but doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions? Thanks,

[dezolen]

Are you travelling with full or empty holding tanks? Which brand of hitch? slider?
Ours pulls like a dream with 2009 F250 V10 short bed,no mods to suspension whatsoever, reese signature slider hitch which has never been slid back yet,\. Sounds like a hitch or weight distribution problem

[cardinal4fun]

I had the same problem ended up getting a 5th Airbourne pin box. That put an end to most of the problem.

[LadyWindrider]

You didn't say how many miles on the truck. 2005 model times 15000 miles year equals 75000 miles. Time for new shocks. Just changed mine to Rancho RS5000 on my F150 after purchasing a tag trailer. Made a world of difference. I don't care if you got a factory tow package with factory heavy duty shocks, they are usually shot around 50000 miles. Hard to do a bounce test on a F250 because the suspension is so stiff to begin with, but I would look at new shocks. Cheaper than a new hitch, and won't hurt.

[Fishbait1]

Originally Posted by dezolen

Are you travelling with full or empty holding tanks? Which brand of hitch? slider?
Ours pulls like a dream with 2009 F250 V10 short bed,no mods to suspension whatsoever, reese signature slider hitch which has never been slid back yet,\. Sounds like a hitch or weight distribution problem

Our hitch is a Husky 16K Easy Roller. We have two slideouts - one in the LR and one in the MB. We also have 2005 F250 with less than 40K miles - but have never used extension on our hitch - had a 29' Alpenlite before the new Cardinal. Never had a problem with the porpoising before.

[Fishbait1]

Thanks for the info - sounds like your vehicle is bigger than ours. Are you still seeing a bit of a problem?

[Fishbait1]

Originally Posted by windrider

You didn't say how many miles on the truck. 2005 model times 15000 miles year equals 75000 miles. Time for new shocks. Just changed mine to Rancho RS5000 on my F150 after purchasing a tag trailer. Made a world of difference. I don't care if you got a factory tow package with factory heavy duty shocks, they are usually shot around 50000 miles. Hard to do a bounce test on a F250 because the suspension is so stiff to begin with, but I would look at new shocks. Cheaper than a new hitch, and won't hurt.

Thanks for the info - but we have less than 35K miles on the truck.

[Fishbait1]

Originally Posted by dezolen

Are you travelling with full or empty holding tanks? Which brand of hitch? slider?
Ours pulls like a dream with 2009 F250 V10 short bed,no mods to suspension whatsoever, reese signature slider hitch which has never been slid back yet,\. Sounds like a hitch or weight distribution problem

We never travel with full tanks - always empty. We have a 16K Husky Easy Roller - with 2 slideouts. Thanks for responding.

[Bird Hauler]

Originally Posted by Fishbait1

We just purchased a 2009 31RK Cardinal a couple of months ago - love the floor plan; however, having difficulty towing with our 2005 F250 Diesel 4X4 short bed. We are getting alot of bad "porpoising" or "up and down" in the hitch when hitting a bump in the road. We have had air bags installed in the truck - but doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions? Thanks,

More air and adjustable shocks. Especially the shocks. Remember that rear kitchen rigs are notorius for the problem you are having, especially with a short bed tow vehicle. I have the same exact fifth wheel, a 2002 F250CC, long bed 4X4 (a bus) with air bags and adjustable Rancho shocks. When I tow I adjust the shocks to position 9 and put 40# of air in the bags and NEVER have water in the fresh water tank or galley holding tank. On the Cardinal RK the water tank is in the rear as is the galley holding tank. If you have either of them partially or completely full there lies a major part your problem. Keep them empty, get some good shocks and you "should" do much better. Also remember that in an RK model to tie everything down in the kitchen because it just simply moves more up and down in the rear.

Larry