Dealer WDH Setup Needed Serious Adjustments

I had to adjust mine. When we first hooked up at dealer the chains were at an angle to the rear of the trailer. The next day at home I went to adjust it and found my passenger chain mount was too far back moved it forward. Then went to drive side and the mount was too far forward and I noticed it had been sliding on the frame. They never tightens it down all the way. So after my adjustments it sat great. Glad it did t decide to fall off.
 
Just picked up my new Salem. Brought my own tools to install and set up my WDH. The tech was watching so I purposely skipped a step and he caught it. Kudos to Family RV in SoCal. And a great deal too.
All TT owners should read this tread. I see SO many trailer owners hook with full weight on the bumper then tighten the WDH and think they have it right.
Happy Camping.
 
Just curious as to what you do when you set up your WDH with a full tank of gas...say... 40 gals for big truck at approx...320 lbs, then you drive to a 1/4 tank...now your at 80 lbs on the truck and then you decide to fill you FWT before you get to the campground... lets say 300lbs on the trailer now...50 miles away and figure you'll get gas after you set up. Do you go to a CAT scale first ? or is it the assumption that once you set it up...no matter how you distribute additional weight...it doesn't matter ?
 
Just curious as to what you do when you set up your WDH with a full tank of gas...say... 40 gals for big truck at approx...320 lbs, then you drive to a 1/4 tank...now your at 80 lbs on the truck and then you decide to fill you FWT before you get to the campground... lets say 300lbs on the trailer now...50 miles away and figure you'll get gas after you set up. Do you go to a CAT scale first ? or is it the assumption that once you set it up...no matter how you distribute additional weight...it doesn't matter ?
I just saw this. While transferring my wdh from my half ton to my new one ton I had an idea about this exact scenario. I'm going to do a video about it. I believe that the proper use of a WDH reduces the sensitivity to additional weight added to the truck or trailer. I'll post my results.
 
I also had a thought about the instructions for my wdh. The first part requires putting all the trailer tongue weight on the truck and measuring the front and rear heights. I think this has a possible flaw in that if the suspension bottoms out on the bump stops the measurements will not be correct and you will be under transferring. The OEM manual method for my Equalizer will only work correctly if the truck's suspension can support the entire tongue weight of the trailer without bottoming out onto the stops.
 
I also had a thought about the instructions for my wdh. The first part requires putting all the trailer tongue weight on the truck and measuring the front and rear heights. I think this has a possible flaw in that if the suspension bottoms out on the bump stops the measurements will not be correct and you will be under transferring. The OEM manual method for my Equalizer will only work correctly if the truck's suspension can support the entire tongue weight of the trailer without bottoming out onto the stops.
All the information on this tread is informative and interesting. There is however something A LOT of campers forget. At a campsite a while back I watched about 5 TT hitched to leave. Every one of them dropped the trailer on the hitch ball then locked down the WDH. This makes your WDH useless. Bring the trailer up locked on the ball, then lock in the WDH. I never used a scale (though it would be nice) but your load may change from trip to trip or even from starting your trip to leaving. If I never set up a hitch and read all this info., I would probably be confused. Stay in your weight limits and follow the instructions. Many informative videos out there.
Happy Camping.
 
I also had a thought about the instructions for my wdh. The first part requires putting all the trailer tongue weight on the truck and measuring the front and rear heights. I think this has a possible flaw in that if the suspension bottoms out on the bump stops the measurements will not be correct and you will be under transferring. The OEM manual method for my Equalizer will only work correctly if the truck's suspension can support the entire tongue weight of the trailer without bottoming out onto the stops.
Measure BEFORE you put the weight on. This will give you a measurement to shoot for after adjustments
 
I know it has been many years since you posted this information on this Forum but I am wondering where one person would take their truck and tow behind to have it set up correctly without doing it on our own? I'm not sure I understand how to adjust to make it all level and to have weight removed for the rear end of our truck to reduce the sag. We have a WDH and Suspension air bags already.
 
I know it has been many years since you posted this information on this Forum but I am wondering where one person would take their truck and tow behind to have it set up correctly without doing it on our own? I'm not sure I understand how to adjust to make it all level and to have weight removed for the rear end of our truck to reduce the sag. We have a WDH and Suspension air bags already.
It would help if you posted:

TV- year, make, model number, cab size, bed size, 4x2 or 4x4, factory tow package or not, engine info, just to name a few things.
Trailer- year, make and model number.
WDH- make and model number.
Also you didn't quote who you are asking. The OP hasn't posted here in 6 years.
That's why it's best to start your own thread, instead of resurrecting a 8 year old thread.
 
Last edited:
Already started my own thread. Thanks

I wasn't posted all of the equipment I have because I am looking for someone to set up everything for me. I was asking for recommendations.
 
Last edited:
I haven't read all of the comments (given the 7 pages); but, the ones I did read did not say anything about torquing the bolts to the poundage recommended. I installed mine and had that done initially after getting it set up to my vehicle and TT. My mechanic says I'll need to get new lock washers if I adjust it. Am I the only one that actually "cranked the bolts to spec"? Add that to the point that I may not be able to get them off by myself.
 
I haven't read all of the comments (given the 7 pages); but, the ones I did read did not say anything about torquing the bolts to the poundage recommended. I installed mine and had that done initially after getting it set up to my vehicle and TT. My mechanic says I'll need to get new lock washers if I adjust it. Am I the only one that actually "cranked the bolts to spec"? Add that to the point that I may not be able to get them off by myself.

I never have. Don't have a torque wrench that will go to 300 ft/lbs. I stick a 3' cheater pipe on the end of a breaker bar/ ratchet and pull what I think is about 100 lbs. I think that too high personally, but that's what Husky calls for.
 
I'm going to be adjusting mine this weekend. I don't think the dealer did any more than just slap it on.


In using the measurement method, the front of my truck goes up by about a half inch when I load up without the distribution hitch/bars. Then I put them on and it's still a good half inch, which tells me that it's basically doing nothing. A half an inch isn't much, so it still drives and steers very well, but I think it would be better if I raise the L brackets up one notch and re-measure. I'm just a bit worried that the dealer overtorqued the bolts and I won't be able to loosen them to move it up, but we'll see.
 
Had the same issue. Have a 29ft forest river ultra lite weighs 6142. Dealer put 1200lb eaz wds on it with a tongue wt of 800 +. Camper only calls for 600 or 800lb max wds bars. To level I just really cinched up bars to 6th loop in chain. Tow vehicle is yukon slt 2004 and is fine, but nose can get a little squirrly in windy conditions
 
Last edited:
WDH by dealer????

Hell no i could have done a better job. i have a 2015 f 150 lariat with a tow package and 3:55 rear end. we got in the truck to drive away andallof a sudden two men came around from the right side to me in the driver seat. they began telling me that the back end was sagging!!! and it might effect my steering and began telling about airbags would help? looked like a big con job. then i get home and read the instruction book on the wdh. it says to have both vehicles on level surface no shi! i looked at the whd hitch and could see that the ball was soooo low compared to where the tounge to the trailer was for the trailer. the directions for the wdh says the ball can be the same height of the trailer or 1 inch higher. in order to get that i had to take the wdh off and turn it upside down which put more holes higher than before. i ended up with setting up in the second and third hole for the ball . then i checked the height of the trailer and then the wdh was 1 inch higher. tomorrow i will hook all of it up and that will be the real story. when i got my camper and measured the gap at the front wheel 4 1/2 inches and sagging like hell in the back. i doexpect to have that fixed. sorry about the long post.
 

New posts

Try RV LIFE Pro Free for 7 Days

  • New Ad-Free experience on this RV LIFE Community.
  • Plan the best RV Safe travel with RV LIFE Trip Wizard.
  • Navigate with our RV Safe GPS mobile app.
  • and much more...
Try RV LIFE Pro Today
Back
Top Bottom