Dealer WDH Setup Needed Serious Adjustments

[FrankMor]

Our dealer did a great job setting up the hitch, but then we loaded things in the trailer. have to adjust the bars up one hole on the L bracket.

 

[G-reg]

This may be a dumb question, but how would you know this adjustment needed to be done?

I will be taking our 30ft long Catalina this Thursday for the first time since buying and having the wash installed so I'm a little curious if it will need adjusting.

Thanks!


16 Coachmen Catalina 273dbs
13 Ford F-150 6.2/3.73 max tow

 

[MtnGuy]

This may be a dumb question, but how would you know this adjustment needed to be done?

I will be taking our 30ft long Catalina this Thursday for the first time since buying and having the wash installed so I'm a little curious if it will need adjusting.

Thanks!

The 2 ways to determine if your WDH is setup correctly is to do the fender measurements as outlined in the instruction manual, or to weigh the combo, with and without the spring bars in place, plus 1 with the truck only. When weighing, make sure each axle (considering that 2 trailer axles are weighed as 1) are on separate sections on the scales, and all cargo and passengers are in the same position every time.

 

[Brewhedd]

The 2 ways to determine if your WDH is setup correctly is to do the fender measurements as outlined in the instruction manual, or to weigh the combo, with and without the spring bars in place, plus 1 with the truck only.

Set mine up following instructions in the manual, no problem.

 

[ccsvolsfan]

Our first TT a Catalina 303rls was a nightmare pulling home, plus we had a flat tire in worst part of Nashville. I had to completely re-install WDH per instructions. Still not right though. Undersized bars. Went to Andersen WDH. Happy camper now. Pull great in my underpowered, up hill, f150.

 

[Platokidd]

My dealer dont know how to set up a wdh either. In fact they got it wrong with both times they tried. Now I do that myself thank you.

What i did was get 3 weigh ins at the cat-scales.

Truck & TT w/o wdh bars on
Truck & TT with wdh bars on
Truck all by itself.Now you can crunch numbers.

With that info you can see just how much weight your shoving forward back to the front axles.
Now I know GM per my owners manual," says get the front back to but not to exceed going lower then stock height in the front".

Here is a link from the FRF library going into the details http://www.forestriverforums.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=128

 

[Ken K.]

Shocker!

 

[OK3wire]

Had a similar issue with my dealer incorrectly installing my Equalizer WDH. Not only did they fail to install the minimum number of washers (they only used two versus the manufacturer's minimum of 4), the dealership also installed the wrong tow ball! The one they installed had s shank that was too long and would have damaged the hitch (and subsequently voided the warranty) if I did too sharp of a turn. Only a tow ball manufactured by equalizer has a shank that is short enough for the hitch. I wasn't able to find the correct tow ball anywhere except from the hitch manufacturer. Cost me $27 plus another $20 to purchase a wrench socket large enough to remove the old and install the correct new one. Frustrating to say the least.

 

[Mark and Linda-FRF]

Our first TT a Catalina 303rls was a nightmare pulling home, plus we had a flat tire in worst part of Nashville. I had to completely re-install WDH per instructions. Still not right though. Undersized bars. Went to Andersen WDH. Happy camper now. Pull great in my underpowered, up hill, f150.

What part of Nashville was this...the whole county of Davidson would be bad. Glad everything worked out. We live in Smyrna, TN..

 

[ccsvolsfan]

That would be Brick Church/Trinity Lane

2011 Ford F350 fx4 6.7 SRW
2016 Sandpiper 360PDEK

 

[Mark and Linda-FRF]

When we bought our trailer it was used, the dealer set up the hitch that came with the trailer, a ProSeries with SC built in. At the time the trailer was not loaded, I have finally gotten it to where I am comfortable with it. It takes some tweaking...as far as loading the trailer and adjusting.

 

[Wicked1-MGRV]

They usually do, mine was so bad on my first Trailer 2012 Shasta Revere 27RLSS 6700 dry and hitch 900#'s that if I had not reset mine from scratch I would have stopped camping it was so bad to drive with. I have learned to measure, set, test and reset so well now, that our Anderson makes towing a dream. Never rely on the dealer especially when they throw in the wrong size hitch for free. I will use my Anderson until I go to a 5er

 

[dave16509]

I have a 2011 frontier sv cc and am considering selling my popup and going with a rockwood mini lite 2109s.do you ever feel underpowered? need more truck or less camper.

 

[FrontierRookie]

I have a 2011 frontier sv cc and am considering selling my popup and going with a rockwood mini lite 2109s.do you ever feel underpowered? need more truck or less camper.

I have a 2306 and pull it with my '11 Frontier Pro4x crew cab. I don't have any problems with power. Just be sure to get an equalizer hitch. Also average around 11mpg when towing - which I consider to be good. Where will you mostly be towing?

 

[sgtSmokdU]

I am pretty sure that my WDH (fastway e2) is setup wrong from the dealer.

Edit: yep, I'm 100% sure that it's wrong, unless the L-brackets are supposed to move!!

 

[dave16509]

mostly in the ny,oh pa area but i just retired and would like to visit southern states..way back in the late '70s and early '80s I was stationed at ft stewart and the ft rucker areas and I loved the locations.would like to visit those areas again.

 

[FrontierRookie]

mostly in the ny,oh pa area but i just retired and would like to visit southern states..way back in the late '70s and early '80s I was stationed at ft stewart and the ft rucker areas and I loved the locations.would like to visit those areas again.

I think you'll be fine, honestly. I'm moving up to a Titan, but not for power reasons. It's for payload reasons. My tongue weight is also higher than the 2109s. I do really like the layout of the 2109s.

 

[updhaul]

sgt, if your brackets are moving on your trailer with the fastway e2 it is an indicator of problem, perhaps even loose bolts. or too tight bolts Check your manual and make sure they are positioned perpendicular to tt frame at the correct distance on both sides. It's common to realign and check proper tightness of bolts, don't overtighten as they can cause the "hanger-plates" to bow if over tightened.
Have a large torque wrench and sockets if you go further
I wish I had assembled my hitch from scratch before pdi with a little supervision.

 

[sgtSmokdU]

sgt, if your brackets are moving on your trailer with the fastway e2 it is an indicator of problem, perhaps even loose bolts. or too tight bolts Check your manual and make sure they are positioned perpendicular to tt frame at the correct distance on both sides. It's common to realign and check proper tightness of bolts, don't overtighten as they can cause the "hanger-plates" to bow if over tightened.
Have a large torque wrench and sockets if you go further
I wish I had assembled my hitch from scratch before pdi with a little supervision.

Both of the "hanger brackets" look bowed out like this. I'll dig out a torque wrench this weekend and do it properly.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Too Tall]

So my question is this, (I have a husky weight distribution hitch with the round bars and the chains.) When you transfer weight from the tongue to the vehicle drive axle, are you also transferring weight back to the trailer axles? This is something I really don't want to do as my axle load is already where I want it. I have a 860 pounds of tongue weight which I can easily handle on the TV. I don't want to transfer any of that back to my trailer axle if possible.