Trailer Pitch While Towing

[jamoody]

The rear jacks of my 19' Clipper occasionally drag when going in/out of driveways. When connected, the trailer is pitched 1.5 inches lower in the rear as measured at the bottom of the front/rear sidewall. My hitch has adjustment holes so I can lower the front end to make the trailer level and thus raise the backend. Is there a reason (stability, etc) that the RV dealer installed the hitch so the rear is lower than the front or can I simply lower the hitch to level the trailer in tow so I reduce the chances of dragging the jacks?

[DaGrinch]

Yeah, laziness on their part! Or the person installing the hitch didn't know any better.

[jamoody]

So my assumption that the trailer should be level, rather than small pitch forward or aft, is valid?

[rp53]

you are correct as close to level as possible seems to work best for me

[Canadiancrew]

Yes it should be level. Now if you go and change it to make it level you will also need to re adjust your torsion bars as well. If you start by levelling the trailer without the tow vehicle attached you can then measure what the height to the top of the ball should be. Now you can match that to the hitch ball on the TV again without the trailer. You can then measure your fenders front and back then attached the trailer. It's going to drop the rear but your need to adjust the bars so that the rear only drops slightly more than the front. The front of the trailer will drop but your properly adjusted bars should bring it back up to level again. The full detailed procedure is posted many times on this site.

[Briorick]

Originally Posted by jamoody

So my assumption that the trailer should be level, rather than small pitch forward or aft, is valid?

Here is one of the many good videos detailing the WDH install procedures. This video explains the set up perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnO_9hd5SA0

[LandJ]

I haven't seen an RV dealer set up a hitch correctly, yet. I don't know why that is, but it is in your best interest to get a copy of the hitch manual, set it up correctly, and then weigh everything to ensure proper weight distribution.

[Oaklevel]

x100 Trailer should be level and will tow better that way !!!!!!

[rsdata]

level trailer, not tail dragging is good... adjust the hitch ball on the shank down...
if you have chain links on the WDH hitch torsion bars, you may have to do one less link...

as mentioned, measure the bottom of the front TV fender at the center of the wheel from the ground before hitching, then adjust the torsion bars to get back close to that same height after you hitch up your TT... my 1500 RAM, goes up 1.5 inches after dropping the TT on the hitch ball, but after the torsion bars are adjusted and hooked up, the measurement goes back down to within 1/4 to 1/2 inches of the original measurement and tows great.

Stepping back and looking while parked in a flat parking lot, the whole rig looks to be level.

[Tcdoughboy]

Trailer should be almost perfectly level when towing, as that is how you put equal weight on both axles.

[mbbutler]

Yes

[tomrob1161]

If the trailer isn't level, you are putting more weight on the front/rear axles, which could cause premature tire wear on your tires, plus exceed the weight ratings of the axles