I'm new to FW rv's... Have many miles in commercial semi's...We have a Husky 26K articulating hitch...When we leave from a stop I get a clunking sound/feel... Same when we come to a stop... Sounds like the king pin is banging back and forth maybe 1/8" in the jaw...Contacted Husky... They suspected the bolt for the articulating head wasn't snug enough... (I have very little fore/aft movement in the head...just enough so I can feel the head moving as I shake the head)One thing I did find was the legs of the hitch have some play up and down where they attach to the rails. . Normal?The Husky rep also advised me to adjust the brake controller to come on a bit sooner... Might keep the clunking from happening as the trailer would then have constant rearward tension...Or is this clunking I'm experiencing part of the FW experience... Just ignore it?

IMO, there should be virtually NO play anywhere in the hitch/pin box. I'd be concerned about the play in the hitch/rail connection. Any play like that will only get worse as it wears.Lyle

My previous Pullrite Super 5th hitch had some play in the upper cradle where it mounted to the base. It could slide front to back a fraction of an inch (1/8"?) on the mounting bolt. But that was enough to cause that clunk. I tightened the bolt holding the cradle and reducing that gap and the clunk stopped.My current Reese Elite had the same play, and the same clunk. But the shaft holding the cradle is fully welded and no way to take up that slack. So I put a plastic disc around the shaft between the cradle and the base to reduce the gap. Greatly reduced the clunk.Both of these hitches have wrap around jaws.Others have reported a similar clunk was due to some slack in the base mounting to the rails. Don't remember how they eliminated that, but some did.I think some clunking is just part of the experience and not to worry about unless something is actually wrong. But it is still annoying and probably can be eliminated or at least significantly reduced if you can isolate the cause.

What pin box do you have? Some of the Trail air tri-glides and demco may clunk as well

Or is this clunking I'm experiencing part of the FW experience... Just ignore it? ----------------------------------------------------------------No it's called "Chucking" and will damage the hitch eventually. Some hitch brands are notorious for it (Reese) but I don't recall Husky being one of them. It's often a sign of a problem with the hitch.Wrap around jaw hitches like the Pullrite or B/W rarely have a problem with it and if it does happen on one of them it's a sign to stop and figure out what the problem is.

You probably have a 9200 GVWR and max payload of 2400# for that truck so you are running at/over trucks ratings with that GD 5vr.When towing heavy.......ANY slop in hitch/5rv connection will result in amplified clunking(Have you weighed truck/5vr??)When hitch jaw is closed it should wrap king pin....king pin should not move inside jaw.Hitch should sit in bed rails TIGHT.Sounds like you have too much movement at rails.Pull hitch out of railsLoosen bolts in railsThen tap rails away from each other.....spreading them so that hitch has to be 'helped' to fit in rails (I need to use a light whack with ball peen hammer to get tabs on hitch legs to drop into slots on rails)Also check pin box mounting bolts......any movement in pin box will cause clunkingThen re-adjust trailer brakes (manually adjust so they slightly drag) and then readjust brake controller so that 5vr brakes come on just before truck brakes so

Clunking on take off/stopping | Good Sam Community

23 Replies

dapperdan
Explorer
Jan 23, 2016
Old-Biscuit wrote:
KnowNuthin wrote:
The only hitch the dealer sells is the Husky 26K W... I'm not sure what rails they sell... But they installed them too...

Truck previously had a FW hitch... Only the old universal mounting brackets (under the bed) were used during installation...

I think I'm going to call the dealer and ask about the "north-south" movement... As far as I can tell there isn't much if any fore-aft movement of the hitch legs in the rails...

Reused the 'universal' mounting brackets.

Rails are not positioned so hitch legs/tabs fit tight in rail slots.
When you start off hitch moves within rails....clunk
When you break hitch moves within rails.....clunk

Have some one drive truck trailer.....
Sit in back seat and watch out window for hitch movement
OR sit in bed of truck and watch it

I couldn't have said it better. You'll know EXACTLY whats going on then.

Dan
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Jan 22, 2016
KnowNuthin wrote:
The only hitch the dealer sells is the Husky 26K W... I'm not sure what rails they sell... But they installed them too...

Truck previously had a FW hitch... Only the old universal mounting brackets (under the bed) were used during installation...

I think I'm going to call the dealer and ask about the "north-south" movement... As far as I can tell there isn't much if any fore-aft movement of the hitch legs in the rails...

Reused the 'universal' mounting brackets.

Rails are not positioned so hitch legs/tabs fit tight in rail slots.
When you start off hitch moves within rails....clunk
When you break hitch moves within rails.....clunk

Have some one drive truck trailer.....
Sit in back seat and watch out window for hitch movement
OR sit in bed of truck and watch it
dapperdan
Explorer
Jan 22, 2016
Judgerr wrote:
Mine clunked when I got new trailer. Same hitch and truck at the time, never clunked on old trailer dealer, claimed brakes were fine. I took service mgr. for a ride. hit brake control and no braking was felt. Only braking was from the truck. They adjusted them and clunking disappeared! might not be your problem but worth a check. If you haven't already!

The OP says he "thinks" he has movement, I would check that out first and see if indeed there is slop in the jaws. If not the jaws I'd make sure I could figure out for sure if there's slop or whatever. As stated earlier movement isn't good and should be addressed.

It's unnerving listening to something as substantial as a hitch and "hoping" everything is alright. Just my two cents. ...As mentioned before "silence is golden".

Dan
Judgerr
Explorer
Jan 22, 2016
Mine clunked when I got new trailer. Same hitch and truck at the time, never clunked on old trailer dealer, claimed brakes were fine. I took service mgr. for a ride. hit brake control and no braking was felt. Only braking was from the truck. They adjusted them and clunking disappeared! might not be your problem but worth a check. If you haven't already!
goducks10
Explorer
Jan 22, 2016
Try the pads between the hitch and rails. I made some rubber pads from an old bicycle inner tube for my B&W and older Reese rails. Eliminated all the clunking sounds.
Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Jan 22, 2016
dapperdan wrote:
I'm NOT saying the OP should get a new hitch but I know that when I still had my 20k REESE hitch it made a little bit of noise, mostly "rattling" when I wasn't pulling the trailer, maybe a slight amount of "clunking" pulling.

Ever since I bought the B & W RVK3600 for the new RAM I have NO noise, NO slop and NO movement. Extremely well built hitch. Maybe it's time to look at new hitches.

Dan

I went thru all the snapping popping rattling with my previous RBW hitch, it was very unnerving!

Now all I can say is silence is GOLDEN!
KnowNuthin
Explorer
Jan 22, 2016
The only hitch the dealer sells is the Husky 26K W... I'm not sure what rails they sell... But they installed them too...

Truck previously had a FW hitch... Only the old universal mounting brackets (under the bed) were used during installation...

I think I'm going to call the dealer and ask about the "north-south" movement... As far as I can tell there isn't much if any fore-aft movement of the hitch legs in the rails...
dapperdan
Explorer
Jan 22, 2016
I'm NOT saying the OP should get a new hitch but I know that when I still had my 20k REESE hitch it made a little bit of noise, mostly "rattling" when I wasn't pulling the trailer, maybe a slight amount of "clunking" pulling.

Ever since I bought the B & W RVK3600 for the new RAM I have NO noise, NO slop and NO movement. Extremely well built hitch. Maybe it's time to look at new hitches.

Dan
sayoung
Explorer
Jan 22, 2016
Cummins12V98 wrote:
It's called hitch slop. When attaching to rails that is one point for slop. Some hitches have slide bars they tend to have slop and some with jaws have slop. Chucking is a completely different condition than hitch slop.

We agree on this.All of the chucking,banging ,& clanging went away when I got rid of my Reese hitch.
I am surprised you are having trouble with this brand ,they have a rep as being top notch.
Sport45
Explorer II
Jan 22, 2016
Old-Biscuit wrote:
You probably have a 9200 GVWR and max payload of 2400# for that truck so you are running at/over trucks ratings with that GD 5vr.

I read that and thought wait, isn't the problem with the GD hitch?

Then it hit me... Grand Design :S

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Clunking on take off/stopping

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