Step One of setting up a combined rig is in acquiring information. Step Two is in making adjustments to the WD hitch and to TV tire pressure to establish
a mechanical baseline to find the range of likely future adjustments. The range of adjustments is small, but knowing where to start is key. How the combined rig feels, so to speak, with a numerical basis both as starting point, and for future adjustments.
As a fulltimer whatever travels with you should stay with you for purposes of hitch adjustments and TV tire pressure corrections. A TV that is slightly tail-down with a properly-adjusted hitch isn't a problem, per se, but as you note, a nose-down TT is not.
2Airishuman thread on the Hensley Arrow is your starting point. At least the last few contributors who have used a scale to set up their HA hitches. A relative set of adjustments can be done anywhere using TV fender height measurements prior to using a scale.
Contributor
Ron Gratz wrote out a handy "weighing chart" in a post on WOODALLS,
here, in 2010 that shows the relationships of weight distribution. Another [name & link?] has created a computer spreadsheet to allow ease of use of same.
BRIDGESTONE TIRES, in cojuction with the RV Safety Foundation, has a .pdf file on
How To Weigh an RV that deals specificlly with individual tire/wheel loads.
Where the rubber meets the road is that with which we are concerned. That the the combined rig acts in a predictable fashion without abrubt transitions of oversteer or jack-knife.
Information from the vehicles is the starting point for purposes of adjustment and advice.
I. TT: Weight placard and manufacturer numbers on tongue weight [TW], and axle gross.
II. TV: Same info. Axle loads [GAWR], Gross Combine Weight Rating [GCWR] and tire load/pressure info from door placard. The FORD instructions from the operators manual, is vital.
An example, but not specific to YOUR vehicle] There are some differences among manufactures in how to set up a WD hitch.
III. A CAT SCALE
[Locator] is the best place to obtain
specific vehicle information about weights. I would scout the locations online or in person to find the scale that is closest to flush-mounted and that is located at the newest truck stop with the greatest amount of room and smooth paving. Often, these are located next to the fuel island which makes for easy trips back and forth to the scale master (at fuel desk, just inside doorway at a LOVES or FLYING J/PILOT chain truckstop). A pair of helpers, one to spot you onto the scale, and another at fuel desk to pay for separate weighings, would work most efficently.
This is a painstaking approach, granted, yet it has the advantage of answering questions that have not yet arisen. Those come with time behind the wheel and over the many combined conditions of road, load, traffic and weather. Others seem to me to have a resistance to using CAT Scales, so this approach also cuts down on multiple trips. A long initial bit of information-acquistion on the first trip, and far less time in the future to make any needed changes.
.
Hi, probably stuff that you put in the bed of truck has brought it down a bit. Shocks only dampen the bounce and have nothing to do with ride height.
Linear Mode
