Would air shocks help?

[BandJCarm]

06 Silverado 1/2 ton, 3.43 rear end, pulling 26' Grey Wolf TT....... TT new.

It pulls ok, but I am going to HAVE to get a 3/4 ton truck with a 4.10 rear end or so............Chevy, Ford, something. (no diesels, ugh). I think that will make all the difference.

In the meantime, when I hook up and look at the setup, it looks like the letter "V". Sunk on the tongue. It does drift a little, and porpoise a little, but neither is bad.......honestly, it pulls about like I expected it to, and I'm not really disappointed.

BUT, would air shocks help (or hurt)? Seems if I could get it back to level, once hooked up, it'd do better.

Never had air shocks on anything.......so don't know. Just seems to me to be a possibility for an interim fix till I can get a 3/4 ton.

Thoughts?

[TURBS]

Air bags.

How far does your fender measurement drop when loaded vs unloaded?

Is your wd hitch set up properly?


Turbs

[BandJCarm]

air bags???? huh?

I haven't measured it. Way more than I'd like. Chains almost drag the ground. I will try and measure it next time I hook up.

I think it is. I don't know what I could do differently. I do understand it and believe I'm hooking up correctly. Not sure the question.......what would be done wrong to cause this???

[TURBS]

Air bags vs air shocks.





There's a lot of adjustments to a wd hitch.
One being the weight rating on the bars.
They effectively take weight and move it to the front of the tv.

To heavy of bars puts to much weight on front.
To light of bars don't put enough weight on tv bars.

Best way to find out if your set up is right is by scaling your truck and tv.
With and without wd hitch hooked up.

Turbs

[jeeplj8]

air bags will only help some, more often the hide a different problem.

What WDH are you using, and how is it set-up? With a good WDH, even with way more tongue weight than most trucks should ever have, they do not look that bad. Air bags are not going to increase load capacity and they will simply put pressure on other things.

[TMK]

I pull a 35' TT with a 1/2 ton Ram (with WDH of course) and I installed a 'Total Load Control Suspension' system on my truck and it has made a huge difference in the pull and ride. The soft suspension that 1/2 ton truck usually have and using weight distribution hitches you still have a bounce in the rear over bumbs in the road. I hope you are using a WDH...this should level out the truck to trailer if ALL the variables are correct during install. Just research the TLC suspensions and see if this may help.

[BandJCarm]

I feel like a first grader here.

I didn't know what 'air bags' were. I had to Google it. Never heard of it.

I have a Husky WDH. At least that's the only brand name I can find on it. Here are two pics of it.





The vehicle is also my 'around town' truck.........and at times it pulls my boat to go fishing, no TT involved...........

Right now we are about to decide to compromise. Her Tahoe is old and she wanted another. But we may just let her drive this 1/2 ton truck and then get a 3/4 to pull TT with. That will work, she's a country girl!

I just wanted something to bridge the gap until I can get bigger TV.

The Total Load Suspension thing looks pretty neat. Not sure who would install it though (it won't be me!!!)......and not sure what degree it would help.

[wyo700]

I am guessing you probably still have a lot of adjustment with your hitch you won't even need air bags. You can probably go up more on your chain links and probably add more washers to your hitch and get it level and stop the bouncing.

[jeeplj8]

what size/weight capacity load bars are you using? And who set-up your hitch.

It is of course very hard to judge angles from pictures, but it appears your ball is very vertical. I would think you could adjust the angle quite a bit to get better load distribution. The point of a WDH after all is to distribute the tongue weight.

maybe some light reading:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...450,bs.1,d.eWU

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...wdh-38638.html

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ale-39388.html

[BandJCarm]

I appreciate all this.

I have four washers now. Is there a normal quantity that works, or is this about right?

Also, I have 3 more available holes to move the entire ball-shaft up quite a bit. I am pretty confused with all this, but it does seem that raising it would help, wouldn't it? I can raise the ball about 5 inches total.......shouldn't I try that, a little at a time?

[08flagvlite]

That 06 Silverado should be fine pulling that 26 foot Grey Wolf. If you feel the need for more pull, just change the gear in the rear, or the whole rear end swap it out for a lower geared rear. My 06 Ram 1500 has the 5.7 Hemi engine, with 3:55 rear end, and 265 17 inch LT tires. I put Hellwig pro series helper springs on my leaf springs, which adds a few more leafs, and that helped a little. My tongue weight is probably a bit more than that 26 footer you have, as mine is 34 feet overall. I think you need to research the hitch/ weight distribution setup you have, that small ball off to the side is a friction brake for sway, not much good at all for what you have there. They work good for pop ups, though. Your Husky set up pics didn't show any weight distribution bars or chains. Do you have them? They are what you'll need for that length of camper. I have a Reese WD hitch, and when properly set up, it will lift the rear of your truck up when you lock down the chains on the snap-up brackets. Good luck, and hope this helps, Randy

[BandJCarm]

Yes, I have all that. It's just not installed. This was the truck just sitting in driveway. I have the torsion/spring bars, they are just in the TT storage. So is the sway bar that goes on the little ball. It just isn't all in that picture.

I did not know these hitches had so many adjustments. I think maybe you are right, that I need to somehow figure out the adjustments to it before I worry about another vehicle.

Never knew you could just change the rear end either............that's another thought!!

But again, would raising the ball height help (or hurt)??? Seems to me it would help. And I can add washers and see, but man, that seems like a lot of trouble (but necessary) to just see if it works or not, and then have to undo it all. But I get it.

Thanks again.

[wyo700]

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

Yes, I have all that. It's just not installed. This was the truck just sitting in driveway. I have the torsion/spring bars, they are just in the TT storage. So is the sway bar that goes on the little ball. It just isn't all in that picture.

I did not know these hitches had so many adjustments. I think maybe you are right, that I need to somehow figure out the adjustments to it before I worry about another vehicle.

Never knew you could just change the rear end either............that's another thought!!

But again, would raising the ball height help (or hurt)??? Seems to me it would help. And I can add washers and see, but man, that seems like a lot of trouble (but necessary) to just see if it works or not, and then have to undo it all. But I get it.

Thanks again.

I had to take mine apart and put it back together 3 times before I got mine where I wanted it. Ya it took a while but it's worth it. If you said you have 4 washers in your hitch I would go to six and add 2 or 3 links up on your bars and I bet you will see the difference right away.

[avolnek]

To set the position of the ball you should first level the trailer without being on the truck. Then measure to the top of where the ball would contact the coupler. Suppose that is 24" then I would subtract an inch or two for squat of the truck and set the ball on the truck at that height.

The more washers you put behind the ball will tip the head rearward applying more pressure to the bars which in return distributes more weight from the tongue to the front of the TV and the rear of the trailer. I have had 5 washers in mine with a couple different setups. Definitely sounds like you need to increase some of the torsion on the bars to help distribute the weight and level the truck.

as 08flagvlite said, your truck should be more than enough to pull and handle that load.

to review: to level the truck add more washers to the back of the receiver head. To level the camper adjust the ball height on the shank...

I'd suggest leveling the truck out first with a loaded camper and bed of the truck... then level the camper off of that!

[BandJCarm]

If some of you guys weren't Yankees, I could kiss ya! I swear.

Thanks. Is there ANYTHING ELSE about this thing that I know zero about??? Anything???

sheesh.

(Thanks again. When it is not 102 outside, I will go deal with this).

P.S.
IN the future, please get Avolnek to answer all my questions. If he doesn't know, inform him first, and then let HIM answer. I can follow his step by steps, and he answered it all. I give him an A plus.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

If some of you guys weren't Yankees, I could kiss ya! I swear.

Thanks. Is there ANYTHING ELSE about this thing that I know zero about??? Anything???

sheesh.

(Thanks again. When it is not 102 outside, I will go deal with this).

P.S.
IN the future, please get Avolnek to answer all my questions. If he doesn't know, inform him first, and then let HIM answer. I can follow his step by steps, and he answered it all. I give him an A plus.

Use the thank button if your using the web browser.

[BandJCarm]

I did. And thanks for reminding me!!!

[OldCoot]

Not to be argumentative, but I always leveled the camper for ball height and then tilted the head to get that height back within a fraction of an inch with the torsion bars. I guess I did it backwards, but when finished, the truck and trailer were level.

[avolnek]

I imagine it can be done either way with the same end result. From my experiences I seemed to have better luck doing it by leveling the truck first... Just my thought...

Glad you found everyone's advice helpful on here! I'm fairly new here and have learned there are a few of great guys on here that you can always seem to count on! Oldcoot and turbo are couple of the better ones on here hands down! There is a ton of experience behind their words and I for one have been greatful they've been willing to share...