Critique my PP Hitch Set Up

[Rich Jenkins]

I've been meaning to try a CAT scale to adjust my hitch, but so far just haven't had the opportunity.

I was at a Costco outside of Austin TX today and snapped a few pictures.

My TV is my 2016 Ram 2500 4x4 CC wth the Cummins diesel. It was full of fuel; wife and mini-Schnauzer were on board. I have the Ram boxes, and keep maybe 30# of tools / RV stuff in each. Truck bed is empty except for our Weber Q1200 grille.

TT is a 27' FC FB with 50A service and two ACs. Fresh water tank was 25%, black and gray empty. Both propane bottles were full. I have Michelin P235/15 M/S2 tires fitted.

Hitch is a ProPride 3P. I have settled on 6" of Jack height as the best combination of ride and smoothness. Meaning, at 5.5", I get a bit of porpoising. At 6", it is pretty stable and feels good.

I'd appreciate any comments based on the pictures. I don't have any experience trailering other than the 4,000 miles or so we've put on the AS since picking it up at Colonial, so some of what I've done is a 'best guess'.







Thanks!!

Rich

[dkottum]

Looks good from here, if the trailer is level and the height of the truck front wheel well is close to where you started without the trailer on.

I've had to add washers on the rivet to tilt the hitch head back and the w.d. bars down. Otherwise I could not get enough lift on the w.d.bars, just run out of travel. Yours look pretty good but is desirable to have them run downward just a bit toward the back so there is some vertical travel in them going down the road.

We bought a new Ram 1500 last month while far from home on a trip, so we did a quick hitch exchange from our previous Ram, and ran over the scales with the truck alone and with the trailer to ensure we are not overloaded as we started out on a 2500 mile trip. All is good, but we need a couple more washers in the hitch head tilt.

You may want to make a similar weighing to check things, at least check before and after wheel well heights, and to ensure the trailer is level, but I think it looks pretty good in the photos.

Beautiful combination.

Any other thoughts from the forum?

[dkottum]

Just looking in the shadows, I think your chains are in-between the w.d. bars? That's where they should be.

You most probably know this but always be sure your trailer tongue jack is raised plenty high to clear the w.d. bars in turns. Also looks good in the photos.

Some will say your trailer disconnect safety brake cable should be hooked to somewhere else than the hitch, in case the hitch breaks loose with the trailer. Makes sense, I've done it both ways.

[Rich Jenkins]

Thank you ^^^. Much obliged.

Rich

[cwf]

Looks set up is good. If you want a public scale there is one a block away from I35 in around Rock.

[m.hony]

Looks good to me.
I want a ProPride hitch!

[69SoulShine]

We got a 2014-F-350 and 2013 27' International with PP and also settled on 6 inches on 1400# weight distribution bars. Everything is working fine.
Nice setup you have there!!!

[akjam]

Rich,
I did the same with your pic showing the truck and TT as I had done with mine setup previously - imported the picture into PowerPoint and drew a straight line through it. It looks like your trailer is dead level but your truck is down a little bit in the rear. That would lead me to think you might want to raise the jacks up a bit more.

We towed a 27' FB with a F250 and I put 7" on the jacks to get a good ride and bring the front fender back to the original elevation. Not saying that is what you need but it worked for me. When we acquired our 30', I installed air lifts in the rear of the F250 and I can get both truck and AS dead level and have my front axle to within about 200 lbs of the unloaded weight.
Jim

[Echelon73]

When everyone quotes how many inches they run their ProPride jack stands up, is it just understood what hole they are using (the holes in the bar that hooks to the jack stands)? I think there are five holes on each bar if memory serves me right. Do most people use the middle hole? I am actually using the 2nd hole down instead of the middle one, so that would affect how much I run up the jacks. When I added more downward tilt to the stinger that also reduced how much I run up the jack stands. I guess what I am saying is there are other factors that can affect how far you need to run up the stands to get the proper weight distribution.

As far as Llando's setup goes, it looks good to me from what I can tell from a picture. The trailer is level, the ProPride head is just about level, and the truck appears to set about like my Ram 2500 when I have it balanced out.

[dkottum]

We have used everywhere from 5 3/4" to 7" lift on our ProPride jacks depending on which of the trucks we have, the load in truck and trailer, how we have configured the trailer (bench seat storage or moveable recliner conversion w/o storage), and the number of washers in the head head tilt.

Once established for a normal travel mode, it's really nice to have this reference to set the jacks at each time. And still have the ability to "tweak" it a bit for small changes in load. We make a quick check of wheel well heights and trailer level with a tape measure after each hookup if on level enough ground.

[cwf]

Originally Posted by Echelon73

When everyone quotes how many inches they run their ProPride jack stands up, is it just understood what hole they are using (the holes in the bar that hooks to the jack stands)? I think there are five holes on each bar if memory serves me right. Do most people use the middle hole? I am actually using the 2nd hole down instead of the middle one, so that would affect how much I run up the jacks. When I added more downward tilt to the stinger that also reduced how much I run up the jack stands. I guess what I am saying is there are other factors that can affect how far you need to run up the stands to get the proper weight distribution.

As far as Llando's setup goes, it looks good to me from what I can tell from a picture. The trailer is level, the ProPride head is just about level, and the truck appears to set about like my Ram 2500 when I have it balanced out.

The ProPride uses "Bal adjusters".. You crank them up or down as needed. They are very precise, not like "chains" or specific holes you must use... Once you see, it is easy to understand...

I neglected to mention the bars work "both ways"! The BAL adjuster keeps the bars from m going "slack"... Like chains can do..

[Echelon73]

ProPride does use jacks or "Bal adjusters" for tensioning the weight distribution bars, but there is a piece of flat bar that connects the bars to the jacks. This flat bar has five holes in it which allow you even more adjustment when you set it up. Everyone quotes how much they raise the jacks, but without knowing which hole they use in the connecting flat bar, the jack height does not really tell me much about how much weight they are distributing. As Doug mentioned, the amount of washers used to put tilt on the stinger also greatly affects how much you have to raise the jacks (or at least it did on mine). I'm just curious how much relative weight everyone is try to distribute. I guess it really does not matter. It is just my curiosity kicking in.

[dkottum]

" . . . curious how much relative weight everyone is trying to distribute."

I have seen at least three different opinions, all expert, on how much weight to distribute to the truck's steering axle. Restore original weight, restore 50% of original weight, and restore more than original so the trailer tongue weight is distributed evenly on steering and drive axles (sometimes called "equal squat" if using measurements).

I have given up trying to defend any method because you have at least three chances at being wrong from the start. Posting anything concrete is often fodder for the trolls who cruise these forums, posting tongue or truck/trailer scale weights is only as good as the quality of the Airstreamer's technique when doing the weighing. Some good, some not so good results in the widely divergent weights you will see.

So our idea to bring the steering axle back to its original weight because it tows, steers, brakes, and feels comfortable going down the road. Some will argue that will introduce oversteer and not enough rear axle traction, but if we distribute less some will argue we will have understeer and too much weight on the drive axle.

You can't win the arguments but you can set up your combo with a reasonable weight distribution method, weigh it to look for overload conditions, and your towing experience will tell you if you are satisfied with it.

[dznf0g]

Doug,
I used to try and restore the original height to the front, until my company's engineers changed that to 50% of original height. I only use weight restored as a reference now. I note no ill handling with the 50% height restoration and feel more comfortable that I'm not over-stressing the receiver and A-frame.

[Rich Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Echelon73

... It is just my curiosity kicking in.

Very good point. My (late 2015) PP hitch has bars with three holes. For the sake of anyone else following, they were set up in the middle hole by the installer at Colonial.

(Jeez I need to get some black rustoleum lol)

[ghaynes755]

Looks good but for fine tuning it's worth getting it to the CAT scales for some weighing. Do a search on Ron Gratz and my user name. Ron has a well used process for weighing and I took that and put it in a spreadsheet. Basically 3 weights over the scales, truck only , trailer with weight bars engaged, trailer with weight bars loose.

[cwf]

CAT scale spreadsheet and thread:
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...sis-19236.html

Spreadsheet somewhere around post 69.

[Rich Jenkins]

^^^ Excellent, thank you very much. Filed away for future reference.

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by dkottum

" . . . curious how much relative weight everyone is trying to distribute."

I have seen at least three different opinions, all expert, on how much weight to distribute to the truck's steering axle. Restore original weight, restore 50% of original weight, and restore more than original so the trailer tongue weight is distributed evenly on steering and drive axles (sometimes called "equal squat" if using measurements).

I have given up trying to defend any method because you have at least three chances at being wrong from the start. Posting anything concrete is often fodder for the trolls who cruise these forums, posting tongue or truck/trailer scale weights is only as good as the quality of the Airstreamer's technique when doing the weighing. Some good, some not so good results in the widely divergent weights you will see.

So our idea to bring the steering axle back to its original weight because it tows, steers, brakes, and feels comfortable going down the road. Some will argue that will introduce oversteer and not enough rear axle traction, but if we distribute less some will argue we will have understeer and too much weight on the drive axle.

You can't win the arguments but you can set up your combo with a reasonable weight distribution method, weigh it to look for overload conditions, and your towing experience will tell you if you are satisfied with it.

Pretty easy to start at 100%. Work the TV tire pressure.

Then try the 1/3 equal squat approach.

I think the 50% thing is good enough to take a trailer to a repair facility. Limp home mode. Fits with low quality OEM hitch receivers and where to stow spare tire on pickups.

Experiment. Tire pressure changes alter the thing.

Not hard to determine which approach best for transient response and braking, IMO.

Most seem to choose on ride quality.

Probably doesn't matter much for a short distance vacationer, overall.