Sagging Truck?

[m.hony]

In the end, it may be a little nose down. I am just trying everything first before I decide that. Heck, even getting slop/play out of the hitch shank/receiver might raise the trailer 1/8-1/4".

[m.hony]

I think that thing-a-ma-jig is called a hitch anti-rattle device.

[switz]

I think we are between ⅛" and ¼" nose down depending on the load in the trailer and where she puts it. I could mess with the level ride air suspension but will leave that as an option if things change.

[SteveH]

Looking at the pictures you posted previously in this thread, I think your truck's receiver hitch is not strong enough and is twisting under the load of trying to distribute the tongue weight of your 30 footer.

[dkottum]

We used an Equal-I-Zer hitch for some time before I realized how little flexibility is available in the ridged square w.d. bars. Inland Andy warns about them and Andrew T. at Can-Am cautioned us to keep an eye on our A-frame when going through steep approaches where the rear of the trailer and the front of the truck are both raised. I had to balance that advice against the long, good history of Equal-I-Zer, but ended up replacing it.

SteveH suggests bending of the receiver causing m.honey's inconsistent w.d. settings. m.honey referred to a rising grade of his driveway. Having no idea how how driveway relates to the street, the factors mentioned here may be something to look at. That is, could the truck receiver or trailer A-frame be flexing from the steepness of the driveway entrance and the inflexibility of the w.d. bars?

[xrvr]

The anti rattle thing can be installed to either raise or lower the hitch a little. Bolts on top or on the bottom. Jim

[m.hony]

Just ordered Stowaway Hitch Tightener on Amazon. That is my last straw. High Rise shank ball is out because the only one I see has a 2" rise. I don't guess they make one with a 3/8-1/2" rise. Taking the slop/play out of the shank may raise the trailer a little. If it doesn't, we will ride nose down until we get $2,300 for a ProPride.
A little nose down with good weight distribution and sway control isn't the end of the world.
I know now by fiddling with it that I can throw Equal-i-zer's instructions out the window. It may work like that with some rigs, but that ain't reality with a Tundra and a 30' Classic.

[m.hony]

Originally Posted by SteveH

Looking at the pictures you posted previously in this thread, I think your truck's receiver hitch is not strong enough and is twisting under the load of trying to distribute the tongue weight of your 30 footer.

There is no twisting or bending going on. If you get on the ground under the truck and look everything is as it should be.
If there were anything amiss, I've spent enough hours down there adjusting on this hitch that I would know it.
It is a Class IV receiver, I think- weight limit 1,200#?

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by m.hony

There is no twisting or bending going on. If you get on the ground under the truck and look everything is as it should be.
If there were anything amiss, I've spent enough hours down there adjusting on this hitch that I would know it.
It is a Class IV receiver, I think- weight limit 1,200#?

Actually, you will only see a receiver hitch twist if you watch it at the moment you apply the weight distribution load to it.

It's not uncommon, as the receivers on the GMC's I used to own would twist under load.

And this may be the reason your rig is not responding as expected to the additional washers you have installed. Strengthening the receiver to prevent this twist is one of the things that CanAm does to get the proper amount of WD.

[SteveH]

Here's a ball with an advertised 1" rise, however I think you would have to have it in hand to measure the exact amount of rise compared to your present ball:

Amazon.com: CURT Manufacturing 40035 2-5/16 In. Diameter Chrome Trailer Ball with 1 In. Rise Shank: Curt Manufacturing: Automotive

[m.hony]

Originally Posted by StehveH

Actually, you will only see a receiver hitch twist if you watch it at the moment you apply the weight distribution load to it.

It's not uncommon, as the receivers on the GMC's I used to own would twist under load.

And this may be the reason your rig is not responding as expected to the additional washers you have installed. Strengthening the receiver to prevent this twist is one of the things that CanAm does to get the proper amount of WD.

I have watched the load go onto the hitch many times. The entire truck goes down.

[m.hony]

Originally Posted by SteveH

Here's a ball with an advertised 1" rise, however I think you would have to have it in hand to measure the exact amount of rise compared to your present ball:

Amazon.com: CURT Manufacturing 40035 2-5/16 In. Diameter Chrome Trailer Ball with 1 In. Rise Shank: Curt Manufacturing: Automotive

1" won't do me no good. That'll make it nose up.
Looks like I'm gonna try another washer and the anti rattle device.
If that don't work, I'll have a nose down trailer till I get a different hitch.

[m.hony]

Nothing bent/twisted/sagging/rusty here. It's all as good as the day it was built in 2007.


That little spot is where the hitch pin was against it.






The upward pitch corresponds to the angle of the driveway.
Remember, I live in Mississippi. My '99 still looks like that underneath.
I am the 2nd owner of the Tundra. The original owner bought it in Tuscaloosa, AL.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, m.hony: I think that your truck's receiver is bent. This is just by looking at your pictures. It looks like the ball is only slightly tilted in relation to the trailer's coupler and the ground. Most trucks don't sit level. They are a bit high in back, but the shank should be at the same angle as the body and yours looks to be bent upward. If I were you, I would take an angle gauge and put it on top of the side of the bed, read it, and put it on top off the shank. It looks like to me that the shank steeper than your truck. About five degrees could make a huge difference since the head is supposed to be angled back about 10 degrees.

This is my guess since I only have a few pictures to look at.

[m.hony]

I don't know why you think that.
I don't know why you think you can see something in photos that I can't see in real life.
I crawled around under the truck and took photos of every weld and mounting point to disprove your theory.
Nothing is bent. Your theory is disproved. Give it a rest. Saying it again won't make it so.

[m.hony]

What I can tell by those photos: robots are better welders than humans...

[m.hony]

I've said it twice already, but I'll say it a third time.
The hitch appears to be going upward. This is an illusion. The truck itself it parked going downhill. Where the slant ends (which the entire truck is parked on- the nose of the truck downhill at the street, the rear of the truck uphill toward the house) is about the rear of the truck- the driveway levels off, so the tail of the truck is sticking up into the air at an angle and the pavement goes from slanted/angled up to level flat at that point. Every house in this subdivision has a driveway like that. I would think that is normal in every subdivision everywhere.

[m.hony]

Seems to me, and I ain't the smartest man in the world, that pressure and force from a trailer bending a hitch would bend it down, not up.

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by m.hony

Seems to me, and I ain't the smartest man in the world, that pressure and force from a trailer bending a hitch would bend it down, not up.

The load applied by the weight distribution portion is what will twist the receiver up, and it is barely perceptible when it happens. It is a temporary twist in the receiver cross tube that effectively reduces the WD forces applied to the vehicle, and when the trailer is unhitched, the tube usually returns to it's original position. This is why you may not be able to see it and why all the pictures you took from underneath will not show it.

The fact that your truck and trailer is not responding to the additional washers tells us the receiver tube is twisting.

But please do not take our word for it, call Andy at CanAm and discuss it with him.

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by m.hony

Seems to me, and I ain't the smartest man in the world, that pressure and force from a trailer bending a hitch would bend it down, not up.

no, not when you apply the WD. Tightening the bars is like taking a big lever, sticking it in the receiver tube, and pulling "UP". If you were Superman, you could lift the back wheels right off the ground, and all the weight is moved to the front axle.
Yeah, you can't tell definitively from the pics; as you say, they don't tell the whole story. But you wouldn't see this flex by just looking at the welds, and it would be really hard to detect unless you were watching that tube while the wd is being applied.
One of the things that they do at Can Am is to take your stock receiver that looks like an I and turn it into an H . That horizontal line in the middle of the "H" is welded to the back of your receiver tube, and then at the other end, to an additional x-member. That eliminates any flex. (and, its the way the factories said it should be done, back in the days before off-the-shelf bolt-on receiver hitches).