*Truck and Towing thread........ask your questions here.*

[tripleb]

Yeah, know what you mean. I can't see my hitch either but after about a year and a half, I've "learned" where it is

 

[PaHunter]

Sluf, I don't think it will make any difference. My pin box is as high as it will go and hitch as low as it will go … still have the bucking you have mentioned. I think it's the nature of the beast, so to speak. I also have a MorRyde cushioned pin box. I have considered replacing the hitch with a cushioned hitch system to help eliminate the bucking but those hitches are expensive and heavy.

Sluf, if you reverse it, it may help some. I will look to see if I have the weight balance information here on my computer. Although "chucking" is more common with fifth wheel towing. An air hitch, or urethane hitch would help, but you are talking a 2-3K investment, and yes they are heavy. Anderson, ET, and a host of others will help some, but not completely eliminate chucking.

 

[Teamubr]

I never had this problem (I've read of many that have) until I bought my current truck and towed my old 5er. My prior trucks were short beds with a shorter wheelbase. My old 5er had almost the the same pin to axle length as my dually's wheel base. It seemed because they were the same distance from pin to axle, it set up a weird harmonic that caused the truck and trailer to oscillate. Think of holding a long board in the middle and lift it up and down. The ends of the board will go up and down opposite of the middle. My new 5er is much longer and I've never had the issue with it. The race trailers never did it either, but they were even longer than my 5er.

Raising the hitch may help some with changing instant center or roll center. These are things we set on the race car suspensions to make the car handle differently. I'm not an engineer, but it gets pretty complex fast. The easiest way to explain it is raising the hitch will change the angle of weigh transfer from the pin into the truck and may have an impact. For anyone that is interested, here is a graphic that shows it on a race car rear suspension. We can dramatically control the up and down motion on the rear axle by manipulating this. Your hitch height should do the same.

 

[tripleb]

I'm no engineer either but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express a couple of times One would tend to think that the weight relationship between the FW and TV can contribute to the "bucking" that Sluf is referring to. A FW is almost always heavier than the TV, except in PaHunter's case. With this weight difference the FW is somewhat "man-handling" the TV attributing to the "bucking". With regards to the pin height vs the hitch height I can't wrap my head around any appreciable difference in handling either way. Unless the FW is extremely "nose" high. There again, PaHunter can disregard any of this, LOL.

 

[Sluf]

I haven't changed anything yet. No time off work. Today was day 7 of 12 in a row, 12hr shifts. I'll have 2 days off (Saturday and Sunday) and then I'll work another 8 days in a row. That'll pretty much wrap up my overtime for the rest of the year. The good thing is, Christmas is paid for, and as of next Thursday, I'll pay off the balance on my campsite and pay for seven 6-day tickets. All of that funded with overtime from the past 6 weeks.

I had a little scare Thursday with my truck while on my way to Thanksgiving dinner after work. I'm ashamed to say it, but this is the first vehicle I have EVER bought that I didn't change the oil and replace every filter as soon as I got it. Well, with the tune making my 7.3L hungry for air, it sucked the filter into the outlet of the air box lid! Shame on me. Anyway, I have a new filter now, and I'm going to upgrade to a 6637 filter very soon. That won't happen again.

 

[Teamubr]

Well, with the tune making my 7.3L hungry for air, it sucked the filter into the outlet of the air box lid!

I forgot about that little bit of fun. Had the same thing happened to mine. It is amazing how hard these diesels can suck air.

j

 

[Sluf]

Well, I think my truck is finally ready for the trip in February. Almost... I still need to do an oil change and have my tires installed. The tires were delivered from the North Pole yesterday by UPS Claus. I also took my truck to a local diesel shop yesterday and had my new water pump, upper and lower radiator hoses, thermostat, and belt tensioner put on. The new serpentine belt that I ordered was the wrong one, so I'll have to get another one before I leave to have in the tool box.

 

[cinderellagirl2280]

Well...fingers crossed, if all works out over the weekend, I'll have a new TV. I went with a Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk edition. I test drove one yesterday and one was supposed to come into the dealership today. I'm hoping they call me to say I can pick it up by Monday!

 

[PaHunter]

Well...fingers crossed, if all works out over the weekend, I'll have a new TV. I went with a Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk edition. I test drove one yesterday and one was supposed to come into the dealership today. I'm hoping they call me to say I can pick it up by Monday!

congratulations on the new TV, may it give you many years of trouble free camping fun.

 

[bama_ed]

Well...fingers crossed, if all works out over the weekend, I'll have a new TV. I went with a Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk edition. I test drove one yesterday and one was supposed to come into the dealership today. I'm hoping they call me to say I can pick it up by Monday!

Congrats!

I'm starting to consider future TV, cinderellagirl2280, for my popup. My ol' 2005 Suburban is still hanging in there but who knows for how long. How much does that Trailhawk tow in the configuration that you're getting and what other vehicles did you consider along with it before you pulled the trigger on this one?

I looked back two pages and saw where you had posted about the popup you bought. Since not many of us have popups on the Camping Board, I wonder if I can pick your brain.

Bama Ed

 

[cinderellagirl2280]

Congrats!

I'm starting to consider future TV, cinderellagirl2280, for my popup. My ol' 2005 Suburban is still hanging in there but who knows for how long. How much does that Trailhawk tow in the configuration that you're getting and what other vehicles did you consider along with it before you pulled the trigger on this one?

I looked back two pages and saw where you had posted about the popup you bought. Since not many of us have popups on the Camping Board, I wonder if I can pick your brain.

Bama Ed

With a factory tow package the Trailhawk can tow up to 4500 pounds

 

[cinderellagirl2280]

Main reason I'm getting this is because of the tow rating and I love Jeeps. Even the Wranglers can only tow up to 2500 pounds now. There's very few SUV's that I could get that would tow my trailer.

 

[bama_ed]

Main reason I'm getting this is because of the tow rating and I love Jeeps. Even the Wranglers can only tow up to 2500 pounds now. There's very few SUV's that I could get that would tow my trailer.

I get that.

I am looking at the mid-range TV and there aren't very many. Like you, with a popup, I don't need a TV/truck like vehicle that can haul 7k-10k pounds up Pike's Peak at 70 mph. Those that are under consideration are the Honda Pilots, Hyundai Sante Fe, etc. Guess I can add your Jeep to the watch list. Mostly crossovers with the tow package or wheel drive config.

One thing I would miss in a smaller TV versus my Suburban I have now is the instant reflex to say, "I can do that". As in, "Ed, can you haul 6-7 people somewhere?" or "Is the back end of your truck big enough to carry all that stuff?"? Now I can say "yes" right away.

But for now I'm trying to stretch my Suburban as far as I can (currently 227k miles).

Bama Ed

 

[sirenia88]

***Disclaimer**** Not bashing anyone nor planning to. Thank you

The only thing I will say is most modern SUVs and CUVs are not really meant to tow. @cinderellagirl2280 is on the right track trying to find something with a good towing rating. I am actually shocked something as expensive as the Trailhawk (as I understand the trailhawk is a premium level) didn't have a higher tow rating cause IIRC that should have a hot rod engine and a tow package available. So the tow rating should be much higher than 4500 pounds. My thoughts would be if you decide to move up a notch on the RV front, the vehicle you spent a good chuck of coin on might be the limiting factor. I would make sure it had a max tow package and options installed. SUVs are not cheap.

I loved my F250 but I also knew it was going to be close on weight when we bought our next trailer. When it was truck shopping time, I knew what I wanted and found a 350 since the weight ratings were going to be much higher for anything we were going to buy. I knew both trucks would pull the same trailer or any same load for that matter. It's just nicer to say I got the capacity for this.

@bama_ed Have you thought about getting a mid size pickup? It's like a mullet business up front and party in the back. Most of them got good tow ratings and good power plants for those tow ratings. Pricing is in line with many SUVs and to boot have better utility than an S Utility V. Just putting it out there.

 

[2goofycampers]

We are on I-10 almost to I-295 first time towing with the new 2500 diesel Ram. We love it! We are getting 10.5 MPH.

 

[sirenia88]

We are on I-10 almost to I-295 first time towing with the new 2500 diesel Ram. We love it! We are getting 10.5 MPH.

Take it back to the dealer if the truck can only get to 10.5 MPH. Sounds like the truck has gone into limp mode! LOL

 

[bama_ed]

@bama_ed Have you thought about getting a mid size pickup? It's like a mullet business up front and party in the back. Most of them got good tow ratings and good power plants for those tow ratings. Pricing is in line with many SUVs and to boot have better utility than an S Utility V. Just putting it out there.

Well Alan, no I haven't and no I won't. The main thing is I like having and using the enclosed back end of my tow vehicle versus an empty truck bed. Yeah I know I could throw a bed cover/hard shell over it but that's not what I want. Which is why I bought the Suburban (used) in the first place many years ago and not a Chevy Silverado. That is why I'm looking at enclosed smaller suv's or crossovers. Based on my lifestyle, it fits us.

I'm not in any danger of upgrading to a bigger trailer, either. I like my small popup as it's closer to "real camping". I have nearly a year of tent (nylon, canvas) camping under my belt (as in HUNDREDS of nights) and I want that closeness to nature (in my head anyway) but like being up off the ground, protected, and light/small/agile. Our DIS group at our Gulf DIS Meet laughs at me because I have this teeny tiny trailer among their big, beautiful, LONG campers and RV's. That's just me.

Bama Ed

 

[PaHunter]

Well Alan, no I haven't and no I won't. The main thing is I like having and using the enclosed back end of my tow vehicle versus an empty truck bed. Yeah I know I could throw a bed cover/hard shell over it but that's not what I want. Which is why I bought the Suburban (used) in the first place many years ago and not a Chevy Silverado. That is why I'm looking at enclosed smaller suv's or crossovers. Based on my lifestyle, it fits us.

I'm not in any danger of upgrading to a bigger trailer, either. I like my small popup as it's closer to "real camping". I have nearly a year of tent (nylon, canvas) camping under my belt (as in HUNDREDS of nights) and I want that closeness to nature (in my head anyway) but like being up off the ground, protected, and light/small/agile. Our DIS group at our Gulf DIS Meet laughs at me because I have this teeny tiny trailer among their big, beautiful, LONG campers and RV's. That's just me.

Bama Ed

Ed,

No one was laughing at your tiny trailer, until the wind picked up to 10mph and it almost blew away.

Ours is the other extreme, a small house, but our nephews travel with us sometimes and as I always tell people, it needs to work for you.

 

[bama_ed]

Ed,

No one was laughing at your tiny trailer, until the wind picked up to 10mph and it almost blew away.

< sigh > See what I mean, Alan?

PS - hey, Chris, the forecast was for 60 mph winds in less than 12 hours and DW was psycho-scared. So I chose the wise husband thing to do and did what she said-because I like being married.

PPS - the next smallest trailer in our DIS Meet is/was tiggerdad's bumper pull Jayco at 38 ft but he has since sold it and is looking at 5ers (bigger I am sure). This is the kind of thing I am up against.

 

[PaHunter]

< sigh > See what I mean, Alan?

PS - hey, Chris, the forecast was for 60 mph winds in less than 12 hours and DW was psycho-scared. So I chose the wise husband thing to do and did what she said-because I like being married.

PPS - the next smallest trailer in our DIS Meet is/was tiggerdad's bumper pull Jayco at 38 ft but he has since sold it and is looking at 5ers (bigger I am sure). This is the kind of thing I am up against.

You and many others made the right choice for that weekend. Had we still had our one ton we probably would have left early also. Bigger tow vehicle I don't need to worry so much about the tail wagging the dog.