Just got my first 5th wheel, moving from a bumper pull. I bought a 12.5k trailer with 2500 pound pin weight. I am pulling with a 2018 Ram 3500 diesel which has a pay load of 4200. I am well within the payload of the truck and with good margin and the truck appears to be pretty level when hooked up with the trailer. I only drove the setup once coming back from the dealer and noticed a lot more sway than I would have anticipated. Would air bags be a good investment for me and would they help with this even though the truck does not necessarily require leveling? thanksmatt

Haven’t heard of using bags for sway. Tail wagging dog sensation? 5th wheels rarely sway. Start with basics ie tire pressures at max, brake controller setup. If the truck is nose high you may need bags to level

I would check tire pressure, truck and trailer. You should not have sway issues with a FW. If you are towing nose-high, maybe a little movement, but still should not make you uncomfortable. You should not need air bags towing your empty weight you mentioned. If you load the trailer heavier, with pin much heavier, you may need support to level the load.Jerry

By your quick numbers Im guessing your spouting brochure numbers. Totally worthless.You need to load the trailer up and hit the scales. Get true accurate weights, then let us know what you have. I suspect with fiver sway, youe either not level or way pin light. The only other possability is that your trailers axles are not true to the pin. If that were the case that fiver would be back to the dealer in a heart beat. That is a rarity though so Im guessing your setup is not level.

The dealer set it up. It is pin high. They said it was ok that way and that's load in trailer should bring it down. Now that its loaded I will try it again. The sway was quite noticeable and worse than I ever has with my 29 foot TT and I towed that in 35 mph winds before

Having FW loaded up, will increase pin wt, which will help. If you are towing more than 2 inches nose-high, it is not going to tow right. It will shift wt to the rear axle, and can cause chucking/trailer jerking the truck. You need to get it level as possible for best towing.Jerry

First 5th Wheel--Do I Need Air Bags??? | Good Sam Community

24 Replies

bowler1
Explorer
Apr 18, 2018
The dealer set it up. It is pin high. They said it was ok that way and that's load in trailer should bring it down. Now that its loaded I will try it again. The sway was quite noticeable and worse than I ever has with my 29 foot TT and I towed that in 35 mph winds before
donn0128
Explorer II
Apr 18, 2018
By your quick numbers Im guessing your spouting brochure numbers. Totally worthless.
You need to load the trailer up and hit the scales. Get true accurate weights, then let us know what you have. I suspect with fiver sway, youe either not level or way pin light. The only other possability is that your trailers axles are not true to the pin. If that were the case that fiver would be back to the dealer in a heart beat. That is a rarity though so Im guessing your setup is not level.
MFL
Nomad II
Apr 18, 2018
I would check tire pressure, truck and trailer. You should not have sway issues with a FW. If you are towing nose-high, maybe a little movement, but still should not make you uncomfortable. You should not need air bags towing your empty weight you mentioned. If you load the trailer heavier, with pin much heavier, you may need support to level the load.

Jerry
Paul_Clancy
Explorer
Apr 18, 2018
Haven’t heard of using bags for sway. Tail wagging dog sensation? 5th wheels rarely sway. Start with basics ie tire pressures at max, brake controller setup. If the truck is nose high you may need bags to level

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First 5th Wheel--Do I Need Air Bags???

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