Rough Ride

[CACTUS]

I am getting conflicting info with this problem and am hopeing you all can help clear it up. I have a reese dual cam with 1200 LB spring bars on my 2500HD truck and 28' Excella. I know my tounge weight is probably around 700-750LBS.
The truck and trailer rides and handles great except on rough roads, but get on rough road and it beats you to death. Technical support at reese says with 700-750 LB tounge wt. I should be fine. What do you think? I don"t want to spend another $200.00 to buy 800LB bars and not solve the problem. Is it normal to ride this rough?

[balrgn]

Originally Posted by CACTUS

I am getting conflicting info on this problem and am hopeing you all can help me out. I own an 05 2500 hd truck and 28' Excella. I have a reese dual cam with 1200 lb bars. My hitch weight should be around 700-750 lbs. Technical support at Reese says this is the combo I need. The ride with this combo is great on good roads, but get on a rough road and it beats you to death. Is this normal or should I, could I get a better ride somehow. I am not excited about spending $200.00 for 800LB spring bars.

Just a thought, do you have too much pre-load on the bars?

[Coastalview]

I'm thinking you should get the 800lbs.spring bars, as the 1,200 lbs. are little to much for your setup.. We run them with our setup, which is similar to yours, but older combination, without creating a drastic change in ride regardless of road surface conditions. Jeff

[overlander64]

Greetings CACTUS!

Originally Posted by CACTUS

I am getting conflicting info with this problem and am hopeing you all can help clear it up. I have a reese dual cam with 1200 LB spring bars on my 2500HD truck and 28' Excella. I know my tounge weight is probably around 700-750LBS.
The truck and trailer rides and handles great except on rough roads, but get on rough road and it beats you to death. Technical support at reese says with 700-750 LB tounge wt. I should be fine. What do you think? I don"t want to spend another $200.00 to buy 800LB bars and not solve the problem. Is it normal to ride this rough?

The Reese technician at the 1998 WBCCI International Rally was the one who identified a similar problem with my 1999 GMC K2500 Suburban/'64 Overlander. I had 1,000 pound bars (actual hitch weight on Overlander is 750 pounds -- gross) -- switched to the lighter bars (would have to check my records, but think that they were rated at 700 pounds). The improvement was dramatic, especially with the performance of the Dual Cam Sway Control -- with my Minuet, I utilize an old pair of 350 pound bars from an old Reese Light-Weight hitch from 1980 (actual hitch weight 525 pounds -- gross). In both cases, the lighter bars perform well with the heavy-duty suspension in my Suburban. I have heavier bars (800 pound for Overlander and 600 pound for Minuet) that I utilize when towing with my Cadillac.

Good luck in solving your weight distribution bar problem!

Kevin

[john hd]

cactus

i have 1000 lb bars on my 29 excella they seem to ride nice with my '00 2500HD.

how much air pressure are you running on your trucks rear axle?

john

[Bill & Lois Lanio]

Cactus, I have basically the same set-up as you do ( 2500HD, 30' Classic, Reese 1,200 lb bars) the trailer would beat the HD to "death" on rough roads, especially I-10. After our first trip, I returned to the dealer and told him "this can't be right", he re-measured the clearance of the trailer front and back and determined that the back of the trailer was 2" lower than the front of the trailer, he installed a new Reese drop bar, and that solved the problem.

[CACTUS]

Tires are set at45lbs down from 50 this did not seem to change anything. I have measured ball height on trailer and get one reading when leveling the trailer with a level and a different reading when leveling with tape measure< which should I use? Not much feedback from my use of 1200lb bars, I will weigh tounge this weekend. Airstream says
_630lbs, I figure 700-750.

[Tinsel Loaf]

Solved our rough ride with the commercial air hitch. If you have the cash it will solve your problems.

[john hd]

Originally Posted by CACTUS

Tires are set at45lbs down from 50 this did not seem to change anything. I have measured ball height on trailer and get one reading when leveling the trailer with a level and a different reading when leveling with tape measure< which should I use? Not much feedback from my use of 1200lb bars, I will weigh tounge this weekend. Airstream says
_630lbs, I figure 700-750.

cactus

when i have my harley in the back of the truck i run max inflation 80 psi. even then the ride is very nice. without the bike in back i run 55 to 60 psi. i prefer the higher pressure because it prevents tire flex that can amplify sway. tires run cooler too.

try to see if you can get the trailer as level as possible, that should improve the ride. i would skip the level on the trailer and the tape measure. get a 36 inch masons level and put it on the floor in the trailer. this should give you the best reading.

weigh the tounge and let us know what you find!

john

[CACTUS]

Weighed the trailer tounge last night, it came in at 930 lbs! Manuel said 630lbs. I will be going to the rally in Ga the 15th, so I will set tires at 55 and level the trailer with the level. Thanks to everyone for your help. I will report back on the 18th.

[CACTUS]

Learned lots of good stuff at April rally in Ga. After setting tire pressure back up and installing a shorter drop bar(good4") problem solved. Hitch ball on truck is now almost 2" higher than coupling but still able to set up for level trailer with enough load for sway to work and some load (less) on to front of truck.
Thanks to everyone on this forumm and espeachely at the rally for good advice.

[davidz71]

Cactus,
Glad you got the right combination. I knew that running your load range E tires at the lower pressures was not a good idea and the angle of your drawbar sure looked funny.