WDH Adjustment Needed - Help

[Smiletwice]

We upgraded our trailer to a larger one recently. Brought it home and front end of TV felt very light. Took it back to dealer who adjusted and said "all good now." It isn't. So took it to CAT scales. Here are the ugly numbers. I plan to buy torque wrench and do it myself. Have a couple questions for those of you who have done this.

Enter Truck & Trailer Data Truck: 2014 GMC Sierra 1500 - 5.3 - 3.42 - 4WD Enter CAT Scale Data Trailer: 2017 Flagstaff 26FKWS Pay Attention to These Fields Capacity Remaining % of Rated Capacities Rated Capacities Truck Steer axle 3460 490 88% 3950 Drive axle 2580 1370 65% 3950 GVW 6040 1160 84% 7200 Factory wt. 5445 Current Payload 595 1160 34% 1755 No WDH Steer axle 3100 850 78% 3950 Drive axle 3820 130 97% 3950 GVW 6920 280 96% 7200 Trailer axles 6080 1562 80% 7642 GCW 13000 2000 87% 15000 With WDH Steer axle 3180 770 81% 3950 Drive axle 3680 270 93% 3950 GVW 6860 340 95% 7200 Trailer axles 6140 1502 80% 7642 GCW 13000 2000 87% 15000 Trailer Trailer wt. 6960 682 91% 7642 Tongue wt. 880 642 Factory wt. 6270 6270 Trailer Cargo 690 682 50% 1372 Tongue wt. xfer to trailer 60 % tongue wt. xfer to trailer 7% Tongue wt. % of trailer wt. 12.6% Tongue wt. carried by truck 820 Wt. lifted from front axle 360 Wt. returned to front axle 80 % Wt. returned to front axle 22%

Clearly the WDH is not doing it's job, only returning a small fraction of weight to front axle and transferring very little to trailer. Am I correct that the only adjustment remaining would be the height and/or tilt of hitch ball?

A couple of notable factors so you have all the info needed:

- Front bumper up 3/4 inch and rear down 2 3/4 inches with WDH on.
- The good news is I'm within all rated capacities and tongue weight good.
- WDH is Eaz-Lift Recurve R6. Hitch assembly rated up to 14,000 and bars to 1200 tongue weight.
- Dealer provided instructions for installing WDH. Says 32 inches from coupler to centerline of brackets. They put on short bars (which are available for this hitch at 29 inches. No reason to go short, nothing interfering with bracket attach points. Is this significant?
- Brackets slip slightly under pressure but if you tighten too much they bow.
- Trailer and truck were fully loaded as they would be for travel.

So....just adjust the ball height and possibly the tilt until the steer axle returns to within ~50 lbs of truck only weight? Get long bars instead of short? Buy a new hitch? Appreciate any and all advice!

[Smiletwice]

Well, it looked good when I drew it up. Spreadsheet obviously didn't maintain it's structure. I'll try to figure this out and repost. Sorry...

[clarkbre]

Here is what your spreadsheet looks like. (I had to put it into the spreadsheet then take a picture of it.)

If you're trailer is riding level, do not adjust the height of the ball, only the tilt.

It looks like you're well within the limits of your truck and trailer; however, the WDH needs to be adjusted to add bit more tension. Being that it only replaces 22% of the weight back to the front axle, you will have to add a washer to tilt the ball head down slightly and/or raise the perches on the trailer one or two holes higher. Doing so will add tension to the bars and push more weight to the steer axle and back to the trailer axles.

[lbrjet]

Yes, ball tilt. Probably 3 washers are needed. I would also get the longer bars as you probably paid for them anyway.

[Smiletwice]

Originally Posted by lbrjet

Yes, ball tilt. Probably 3 washers are needed. I would also get the longer bars as you probably paid for them anyway.

The Recurve has a thumb screw so you can tilt the ball down up to 12 degrees and it is already slightly tilted down. But is it also possible the ball needs to be moved up on the shank? I backed the truck up to the trailer where it was stored and leveled the trailer as best I could with a torpedo level on the tongue and the trailer coupler was several inches above the ball. The instructions they left with me indicate that prior to setting up the hitch, the ball should be slightly higher than the coupler. Not very scientific on the leveling aspect, but 2-4 inches off seems pretty extreme. If I do that however, will I be too light in the tongue or does it not make a difference? Thanks.

[lbrjet]

Sounds like you need to move the ball up. Trailer should be as close to level as possible when hooked up and WDH applied. Also put some more tilt on the ball. Be sure you are at a level spot to be making these measurements. From what you described the A frame would be pointed way downward as it is.

[VernDiesel]

That’s possible. It would not be off if it’s been properly torqued. But it’s not hard to set the torque wrench & re-torque it just to be sure. 3 washers & the longer bars should do wonders and maybe get your steer weight back around the 3460. As Ibrjet said get Trailer as close to level as possible when hooked up with WDH engaged. If you can’t get their after adjustments you can take some of the hitch weight off with the jack & apply the WD then lift the jack to get more weight transfer. But I don’t see that as a good long term solution & it suggests you have something else wrong or your WT bars are not properly sized for your application.