Super loud cranking groaning clicking hitch!

[J5MM]

So we are in the middle of a CC&R battle to keep our Airstream at our house. Long story short, when we are backing her up into our driveway I just want to crawl under a rock and hide. The hitch is just so loud that i am sure it brings all of the neighbors to their front windows for a show. We have greased the ball and all other parts of the sway bars and stabilizer to no avail.

Is this just us or does anyone have any suggestions? Our tow vehicle is a Ford Explorer and our Airstream is a 25 foot 2006 Safari. Any suggestions appreciated.

[crazylev]

Which hitch set up? Equailizer by any chance?

[tpi]

Is it practical to run it just on the ball (all the other hitch gear disconnected) for the last block or so at low speed? This is not a substitute for having the hitch properly set up. But it should reduce the noise in any case.

[FreshAir]

Sway bars make a lot of noise also. Mine does. You kinda should disconnect them anyway when manuvering. Disconnecting the WDH setup may lower the hitch to far and it may drag if you are easing you rig up a driveway.
Neil

[Rebee]

Check the mounting bolts on the receiver, at the frame of the Explorer.

[tkasten]

If you have a Friction Sway Control arm just crank off the pressure and it will not make noise.

[CanoeStream]

It's coming from the cams if you have a Reese.


The noise really isn't causing any damage. You can put some petroleum jelly on the cams to quiet 'em down (never grease). Now imagine what the neighbors will say about you clogging the street to stop and put on lube before backing in...

You could take off the spring bars before backing as suggested. The hitch will drop a bit lower -- so the hitch could be more inclined to scrape ground in some deeper gutter/sloped driveway scenarios. Wouldn't hurt to try. Just make sure your tongue jack is raised all the way up.

[Soyboy]

Mammab:We really need to know what type of hitch you have.

[J5MM]

Thank you all for your help, this forum is just wonderful. Such great help!

Our driveway is at a definitely incline, that is for sure. We will most defintely try removing the sway bar next time prior to manuevering since it seems that is the culprit. I am also tempted to try and remove the spring bars too with the the tongue jack raised up all the way -- heck, if it was last night and I knew all of this, you bet I would have tried it all, lol. We have some of the most uptight neighbors *sigh*

I wish I could tell you (CanoeStream and Crazylev) what kind of hitch set up I have. I am totally new to all of this -- where can I find this out and report back to you?

Rebee - thanks for that tip. Will check on that tonight. Do they come loose at times?

Here are 2 pictures of her when she first came home. You can see how our driveway
kind of slopes upwards....

[pmclemore]

That's a sweet looking rig. I think the neighbors should pay you because it would improve any neighborhood.

Pat

[Splitrock]

Sioux Falls has an ordinance against parking RVs in front of homes. The ordinance does not allow residents to park recreational vehicles in front of their property for any length of time. They can park them behind their homes for as long as they choose as long as the area is hard-surfaced. RVs can be hooked up to utilities temporarily while loading and unloading but cannot be lived in while at a residence.

The city of Sioux Falls as well as Minnehaha county have been trying very hard to discourage middle class people from living here. Of course the city owners are rich and absolutely none of their ordinances have any affect at all on them. There are only two poor neighborhoods left and then all of the lower economic level people will either be living in government housing (owned by the city owners) or they will be gone to cities like Sioux City that hasn't torn down everything built before 1957.

Some, like me, are here against their own wills . . . clearly held as hostages.

[J5MM]

Originally Posted by pmclemore

That's a sweet looking rig. I think the neighbors should pay you because it would improve any neighborhood.

Pat

Exactly! This is what we don't understand. It definitely improves the neighborhood!

[J5MM]

So sad, really. Ugh.

Where I live, the city allows it but with a few rules (greenery/shrubbery needs to be at least 6 feet high on the side of neighbors next to the RV). My neighborhood has restrictions against "storing" RV or vehicles in driveways. But we are not storing her. She moves every weekend. But it is okay for the neighbors to leave out their garbage cans and store their cars all over the place (did you notice all the cars on the street in my pics?). These are also restrictions also known as CC& R's. The whole situation bothers me. I feel totally singled out. But we are prepared to fight for our rights.

This is why the noise is so hard for me....I don't want to draw anymore attention to us. Lol.

[Splitrock]

The way you have your trailer parked in the picture is illegal in Sioux Falls. You could park there maybe one day then the cops would issue tickets and if you didn't remove it, the city would tow it.

It's also illegal to park a commercial vehicle on the street in front of your house over night. If it has commercial plates on it, it can't be parked in a residential area unless there is a building permit and then there's a time limit.

But the people are nice here. The neighbors even smile when they flip me off.

[CanoeStream]

Splitrock -- our local ordinances mainly prohibit parking any vehicle at a non-pad location (eg, concrete, asphalt, class 5). They are looking to control cars, boats or RVs pushed to the side yard, parked out of the way & just left there. Also aiming to control multi-tenant occupancy where the owner has not established sufficient parking for folks he is doing business with (is that a sentence? )

It gets extra complicated when homeowner association covenants are thrown in. Not sure any of this is on-topic for what the OP raised. Needless to say -- applicable regulations are as variable as our diverse membership.

[JBinKC]

I was handed a 76-page list of covenants from the home owners association before we bought our home. I immediately said that this was a deal breaker. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of a tough home owners association. Ten years later, our neighborhood looks better than ever -- no campers, boats, storage sheds, weird paint jobs, run-down homes, pin oaks, etc. An Airstream stored in a driveway is a downer for even fellow Airstream owners.

[VIKING]

Whenever I see an Airstream in a driveway I think to myself "there lives a cool person and potential friend" Strange how differently people can view the same thing. To me there is a big difference between having a run-down, unkempt house and yard, and having an Airstream in the driveway.
Having dealt with two HOA's and running a road association for a couple of years I have seen the good and the bad of cc&r's. It can be used as a tool to harass people in the worst cases, especially if the board is scared to take action to protect one HO from another. The best of our neighbors moved away due to threatened lawsuits and constant NIMBY'ing from some of the worst neighbors you could imagine.
Mammab, is the noise more from turning or from just backing up in a straight line? It makes it easier to identify which mechanism is causing the noise.

Cheers,
Rich the Viking

[Wingeezer]

We have similar restrictions in our city with respect to parking RV's in your driveway. I did have occasion once though to talk to a City bylaw officer who told me - off the record - that they don't bother enforcing it UNLESS they get a specific complain. He admitted to often seeing RV's parked in contravention of the bylaw as he drives around.

I would expect that many communities operate this way. Of course all it takes is one neighbour to lodge a complaint.

We can't park ours in our drive anyway because there is a sidewalk and the trailer would block the sidewalk. There is also a bylaw about that and they do enforce that one. Understandable I guess due to needs of folks in wheelchairs or scooters.

We cannot park on the street overnight here either - although they do have a pretty fair system that allows you to apply for overnight exemptions, 15 nights per year per license plate, and you can get an exemption by phone or by internet. Works for us, we only bring the trailer home one night before departing.

Brian

[dkottum]

When backing or driving onto that steep of an incline (that is, when there is a considerable vertical angle between the tow vehicle and the trailer) the weight distribution bars tighten and put a great stress on your trailer A frame and front body attachment. These areas are not that strong and bending of the A frame can occur. The unusually loud noises (although some such noise when turning may be normal) are an indicator things are too tight. If at all possible find a way to disconnect or loosen the weight distribution bars before backing into the driveway.

[J5MM]

Originally Posted by VIKING

Whenever I see an Airstream in a driveway I think to myself "there lives a cool person and potential friend" Strange how differently people can view the same thing. To me there is a big difference between having a run-down, unkempt house and yard, and having an Airstream in the driveway.
Having dealt with two HOA's and running a road association for a couple of years I have seen the good and the bad of cc&r's. It can be used as a tool to harass people in the worst cases, especially if the board is scared to take action to protect one HO from another. The best of our neighbors moved away due to threatened lawsuits and constant NIMBY'ing from some of the worst neighbors you could imagine.
Mammab, is the noise more from turning or from just backing up in a straight line? It makes it easier to identify which mechanism is causing the noise.

Cheers,
Rich the Viking

Just when turning -- quiet as a mouse when headed straight back....