Bucking when towing

[ladun6]

Hi. We have a 2014 23ikss. We love it. We also recently purchased a ford f250 so that is our tow vehicle. We have the blue ox sway bars as well. When we tow we get a lock of bucking and jerking. Since this trailer isn't that heavy everyone told us we shouldn't even feel that we are towing anything. Does anyone know why we have this issue? Is there something we need to adjust? Thanks for your help!!

[Brother Les]

Originally Posted by ladun6

Hi. We have a 2014 23ikss. We love it. We also recently purchased a ford f250 so that is our tow vehicle. We have the blue ox sway bars as well. When we tow we get a lock of bucking and jerking. Since this trailer isn't that heavy everyone told us we shouldn't even feel that we are towing anything. Does anyone know why we have this issue? Is there something we need to adjust? Thanks for your help!!

The 'bucking' is caused by the Spring Bars not having enough tension on them and 'lifting' the front of the trailer and back of the TV enough. Take the chain up another link and see if that helps tighten the bars and gets rid of the bounce.



SwayPro By Blue Ox

[AquaMan]

Do you have a WDH? If so, that could be your problem. You may be taking too much weight off your truck. Unload the bars or remove completely, if your truck's hitch is rated for the weight. Make sure all hitch components are tight.

[AquaMan]

Originally Posted by Brother Les

The 'bucking' is caused by the Spring Bars not having enough tension on them and 'lifting' the front of the trailer and back of the TV. Take the chain up another link and see if that helps tighten the bars and gets rid of the bounce.



SwayPro By Blue Ox

Wouldn't it be just the opposite? Too much tension raises tongue.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by AquaMan

Wouldn't it be just the opposite? Too much tension raises tongue.

I agree, take the spring bars completely off or and try it with only the sway control or at least take more tension out of the bars.

[Brother Les]

Originally Posted by AquaMan

Wouldn't it be just the opposite? Too much tension raises tongue.

Pulled Quote from:How To Properly Load And Tow An RV Travel Trailer (Hint: Get An Equalizer Hitch!) | The Fun Times Guide to RVing

"How An Equalizer Hitch Helps
To correct this situation, an Equalizer Hitch is used to redistribute the weight of the trailer over the entire tow vehicle.

Here’s an example.

When you set the chains on the bars of your Equalizer Hitch, you are transferring some of the tongue weight to the front axle of your tow vehicle.

Finding the “sweet spot” or exact correct link point may take a couple of tries.

If you don’t apply enough tension on the bars, you’ll find yourself “see-sawing” on poor highways. Setting the chains one link tighter will probably transfer enough weight that the whole unit will even out and ride up and down together.

If you go to the other extreme and set your chains with too much tension, you’re taking weight off the rear wheels of your tow vehicle. A dangerous situation as you will lack traction on rain slick roadways and you may find yourself spinning your wheels when maneuvering on gravel or grass."

[OldCoot]

Bro Les, keep in mind that he has a 3/4T and a relatively light trailer and probably only needs sway control as the truck will more than handle the tongue wt without assistance of a wdh.
Shocks on the trailer would probably help also.

[Brother Les]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Bro Les, keep in mind that he has a 3/4T and a relatively light trailer and probably only needs sway control as the truck will more than handle the tongue wt without assistance of a wdh.

I posted a link to the Blue Ox and it looks as if the 'sway control' is provided by the tension bars. There is a video on that link of how it works.

[Brother Les]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Bro Les, keep in mind that he has a 3/4T and a relatively light trailer and probably only needs sway control as the truck will more than handle the tongue wt without assistance of a wdh.
Shocks on the trailer would probably help also.

This... I would agree on, but the lift bars seem to be the sway control. The F-250 could handle this camper with no lift bars or sway bars at all, just a plain ol' ball. Did he waste his money on a Blue Ox? The Blue Ox looks like a nice set up to have.

[OldCoot]

If it were me, I would remove the wdh and put a pr of friction sway controls on and shocks on the trailer.

[MtnGuy]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Bro Les, keep in mind that he has a 3/4T and a relatively light trailer and probably only needs sway control as the truck will more than handle the tongue wt without assistance of a wdh.

With a tongue weight of over 600 lbs. (ready to camp), a WDH will improve the handling of any truck, whether it be a 1/2, 3/4, or even a 1 ton truck, and may even be required depending on receiver hitch stats.

Once the WdH is dialed in correctly, then improvements will be seen.

[mlong]

I have the Blue Ox WDH. I drive a Silverado 1500 so it is smaller than the OP truck but I had the bucking the first time I took the camper out. I'm towing a 30' Avenger ATI. I was told at the TT dealer that the Blue Ox is designed to stop the sway before it starts. The tension is critical. Not only does it distribute the weight it is also intended to tie the 2 units together more as 1 unit. I still have a little sway due to my P rated tires. The first trip out loaded I had some bucking so I tightened up the tension on my trunion bars. This helped greatly. This past weekend I experienced a little more bucking. I had moved some thing around in the front and rear storage compartments and also inflated my tires to the max pressure. On the way home added more tension to the bars and now I think everything is dialed in. I think taking tension off of the bars would cause more bucking on any vehicle as you are placing more weight on the rear shocks which, in my opinion, are meant to dampen the bounce not prevent it.

All in all I am happy with the hitch. The ball height and bar tension are the only adjustments to worry about. It is easy to hook up & very little maintenance. It's relatively clean also. I have the 1000 lb bars for mine. If I need to go up to the 1500 lb hitch all I need to buy are new bars not a whole new WDH. I don't know if others are that way. Oh, while others are driving by with other WDH's I hear a lot of cracking and creacking. The Blue Ox has very, very little noise.

[Brother Les]

Thank-you for your post mlong. You have been there and done that with this type of hitch.

[ladun6]

Thank you everyone for the thoughts. We are taking it out this weekend so I guess we will just play around with the tightness.

Mlong I see what you are saying about adjusting according to the load also. How much bend is in your bars when you hook it up?

[mlong]

Originally Posted by Brother Les

Thank-you for your post mlong. You have been there and done that with this type of hitch.

I'm new to it. This is my first WDH but, a friend of mine has a Reese. I've seen him struggle getting tension on the bars. I've heard the sounds that it makes. It would scare the crap out of me every time for a while if I had to deal with that noise.

One tip/trick the dealer showed me (a few of the TT dealer techs were at a Blue Ox seminar shortly before we got ours). They had me back the truck up and drop the coupler down on the ball enough to lock the coupler in place. Then crack the tongue back up to reduce the amount of force you need to apply to the bars will getting the chains hooked up. Once everything is hooked up lower the tongue all the way. Use the reverse process to unhook. Works great!

[mlong]

Originally Posted by ladun6

Thank you everyone for the thoughts. We are taking it out this weekend so I guess we will just play around with the tightness.

Mlong I see what you are saying about adjusting according to the load also. How much bend is in your bars when you hook it up?

I'm not sure. I'll be taking it out again next weekend so I'll try to remember to take a snapshot of it. When I brought the TT home from the dealer they had it set so there were 6 free links on the slack side of the chain. My second trip I added a link to the to have 7 hanging free. This last trip I had a free links. I wish I had a better answer for you but I did not pay attention to how much bend there was. I guess it would also depend on the capacity of the bars you are using. I know the Blue Ox comes in 350lb, 550lb, 750lb, 1000lb, 1500lb, 2000lb Bars. So I think the 1000 lb bars would bend more than the 2000 lb bars. I could have probably gotten away with 750 lb bars but, this is what my dealer recommended for the camper.

[Brother Les]

Manual helps a lot.


http://www.blueox.com/Uploads/Docs/B...,1500,2000.pdf

CUSTOMER SERVICE COMMITMENT
Blue Ox® is committed to providing you with exceptional customer care throughout your lifetime
with our products. Our team is here to assist you with any questions you may have regarding the
performance of your product. Simply call (402) 385-3051 and you can speak with our customer care
team.

[bikendan]

if Blue Ox is anything like Equal-i-zer, they'll have a great customer support line that might help you more than posting here.

[Bryce]

Originally Posted by MtnGuy

With a tongue weight of over 600 lbs. (ready to camp), a WDH will improve the handling of any truck, whether it be a 1/2, 3/4, or even a 1 ton truck, and may even be required depending on receiver hitch stats.

Once the WdH is dialed in correctly, then improvements will be seen.

The OP said they have a F-250. the newest ones have the most capacity vs something like my old MY2001.

Ford Towing guide.
http://www.fleet.ford.com/resources/...TTgde_Sep9.pdf

If it's a gasser, then a F-250 has a max tongue weight of 600lbs withour a WDH and 1250 with
if a Diesel, then 850lbs without WDH and 1400 with (and back down to 1250 if they use a 2.5" top 2" receiver adapter).

for a short distance (like from storage to the house a few miles), I may not put the bars on, but I can notice the truck will porpoise. with the bars snapped up, it smoothed it out. mine has a tongue weight of 805lbs.

Same as MtnGuy, I would not recommend towing without a WDH with a 3/4 ton or 1ton

[epicloopers]

If your tongue weight is less than what your truck will do without the wd hitch, I would take it off. Your ride will never be as good with spring bars as without it. I pulled a camper about your size before I got my new one and I have a F250 and The old one pulled way better without the WD hitch.