Greetings,I purchased a used livin lite 7x20 toy hauler. 3500# dry weight, with 425# tongue weight. I pulled it back from Michigan to Illinois. My tow vehicle is a 2017 Nissan Titan with tow package. I test pulled the trailer in Michigan and it pulled well...in Michigan. Once I crossed over in to Indiana on I69, the roads beat me to death. I stopped and filled the holding tank, which helped a little. Ok, I thought, it won't be so bad once I load a couple of bikes and my stuff in the trailer. Ive loaded it with two 400# bikes, no stuff, filled the holding tank, and installed an equalizer hitch. The truck tires have 40# (44# max psi) and the trailer tires have 50# (50# max psi). I have a good test road that is rough, perhaps not as rough as an Indiana interstate, but still rough enough. It is a little smoother, but still has a vertical shake when hitting the highway seams at 60mph, and now has some sway. My wife and I pulled a 23' Avion back in the 80's with a 78 suburban, and I never experienced the roughness that this set up has.I am open to suggestions.Thanks for all replies, Phil

Verify your tongue weight. Loading the two bikes in the rear may have lightened the tongue too much. Your target should likely be in the 750 pound range.

kerrlakeRoo wrote:Verify your tongue weight. Loading the two bikes in the rear may have lightened the tongue too much. Your target should likely be in the 750 pound range.Thanks for the prompt reply. But I gotta ask. How am I gonna get 750lbs of tongue weight, when the dry tongue weight is only 425lbs? I can't put the bikes in the front, its a toy hauler with a rear cargo area. This what I have, without the tip out bed:https://www.rvusa.com/rv-guide/2015-livin-lite-quicksilver-vrv-toy-hauler-floorplan-7x20-tr24616

Next time you pass through Indiana, avoid all interstates! I'm not joking! I've been blazing the alarm for years on these forums for travelers pulling campers of any sort to avoid all Indiana interstates. It's been this way for years and years and seem to be getting worse, in spite of all the attempts at road construction. All they do is smooth the road out, which is a welcome endeavor. But 1 week later they are digging holes in it again and the patch work just sucks! Then, those expansion joints at bridges are enough to break the cabinets off the walls of your camper. Simple solution, avoid the interstates. Now you know why!About the hard hitting bounce, I have found the only way to prevent that is to simply not tow a trailer! That is the only solution (or avoid the interstates).You can try to do anything you want to your vehicle, but the shear dynamics of the trailer, the weight, the suspension, the tires, everything combined, and it will just simply never go away. You simply cannot get a smooth ride when driving over railroad ties. It just won't happen. There have been some interstates I've slowed down to 20 mph and moved over to the right as far as I could because the hard hitting bounce was so bad, it almost caused me to wreck. And there are stretches of interstates in Indiana where it very common to see truck parts laying on the side of the road where things broke off the big-rigs. Your only only options are to slow way down, or avoid the bumps. I avoid the bumps. We always take US highways in Indiana, never the Interstates. I'll drive out of my way 50 miles to avoid them.And oh... an Edit, after reading back through this thread again.Adding weight to the tongue will NOT, I say will NOT help that hard hitting bump and bounce and extreme porpoising. It will make it worse! I've tried.

Trucks beat up the roads in some states, especially interstates. They can have harmonics to them and pound your rig. Try going faster or moving to the left out of the truck lanes. Interstate 80 in California is one of those bad roads that was so rough that it dented the pickup bed of my brand new truck when carrying a camper.

Dutchman, there is bike show in PA next month, and I’m already checking alternate routes.

Harsh bounce on rough roads. | Good Sam Community

Y-Guy
Moderator
May 25, 2018
Kudos, you are in the top 1% of RVers out there that actually know their vehicles weights. Sadly there is not club membership or special discounts, we don't even have a secret handshake (yet). But seriously congrats now you can make informed decisions and not just guess!
10drum
Explorer
May 25, 2018
Ok, I took the round bar WDH back. I just couldn't get it set right. E-trailer was great to work with. I took the rig to the truck scales and weighed everything. When the trailer is loaded with two bikes, and the forward tanks are full, the trailer weighs in at 5100lbs with a tongue weight of 600lbs. (just under 12%). Completely empty the trailer weighs 3940lbs with a 660lb tongue weight. (nearly 17%). That may explain the rough ride I expirienced on the unloaded trip through Indiana. I am looking into an Anderson WDH. More to come.
10drum
Explorer
May 21, 2018
I followed the instructions, as well as watched the etrailer video. Most travel trailers are balanced to tow correctly, especially airstreams. Not so much with toy haulers, because the toys we haul aren't all the same. I looked at a lot of toy haulers, and the one that seemed the best balanced was the falcon 23th. It was really small and had a large queen sized bed in the front with a wet bath and galley over the axles. I wanted a little more open space. I think I'll be able to balance this one out ok for different applications, two bikes, one bike, or no bikes. Filling the forward grey and black tanks today helped a lot. Now I need to figure out how to keep that balance, if my wife was a large woman, perhaps I could haul her on the crapper. Thanks for the replies. Phil.
JAC1982
Explorer
May 21, 2018
Y-Guy wrote:
10drum wrote:
I bought a Drawtite Pro series RB2.

Doesn't matter if you or the dealer setup it, it's a good idea to review the instructions and make sure it's setup correctly. If you havn't yet, I highly recommend taking it to you area scales (CAT Scales) while loaded to see what your real axle weights are as well as your tongue weight. With that information you can setup the hitch better then just an estimate based on book numbers.

100 times this. With our old TT, the dealer set up our Equalizer and they did it completely wrong, which rendered it basically useless. We ended up going on Youtube to figure out the right way to do it.
Y-Guy
Moderator
May 21, 2018
10drum wrote:
I bought a Drawtite Pro series RB2.

Doesn't matter if you or the dealer setup it, it's a good idea to review the instructions and make sure it's setup correctly. If you havn't yet, I highly recommend taking it to you area scales (CAT Scales) while loaded to see what your real axle weights are as well as your tongue weight. With that information you can setup the hitch better then just an estimate based on book numbers.
dedmiston
Moderator
May 21, 2018
10drum wrote:
Do you sell batteries? I'm a retired electrical/electronic technician, I use to maintain big ass UPS systems. I hate batteries. But you're right, can't have enough power.

Hah. Nope. I'm on the demand-side of the equation. I just buy 'em.

I like having a hefty inverter and four six-volt batteries to keep everything running.
10drum
Explorer
May 21, 2018
10drum wrote:
Y-Guy wrote:
Which equalizer hitch did you use? Is it the actual Equal-i-zer brand?

I bought a Drawtite Pro series RB2.

Im sorry, it is a Reese pro series.
kerrlakeRoo
Explorer
May 21, 2018
40 to 60 lbs of propane on the nose, another battery 60 more. Tools for the toys in the front storage, since its a front kitchen you will be adding another 100 or so for that stuff. You'll get close. But I would be careful about adding other stuff in the garage, especially all the way in the back. That should get the little sway you mentioned. Once you are up to your full load you can fine tune your WDH and get it a little more comfortable.
The torsion axles I dont think will allow anything to soften, but you could after loading everything weigh the rig and see if you can soften or even change the tires to make it a little easier.

Sounds like you are about to become a laid back relaxed type of traveller ie; 50 mph limit. :C
At least in Indiana.
10drum
Explorer
May 21, 2018
Just an update. I loaded one bike, aprox 450lbs. Filled the forward black and grey water tanks, took it for a drive on a rough two lane and some interstate driving. It did ok. Most of the time I will carry just one bike, when I go riding, but other times I will carry a couple of show bikes. I think I can work on the loading, to make it acceptable, however, I am wanting to try other things. I don't like using the eq hitch, and may try some suspension modifications on the truck, and or trailer. I am open to suggestions, and I do appreciate all of the replies. Thank you, Phil
10drum
Explorer
May 21, 2018
dedmiston wrote:
Adding more batteries is a good way to add tongue weight.

More batteries are a good thing. Gotta love the power.

Do you sell batteries? I'm a retired electrical/electronic technician, I use to maintain big ass UPS systems. I hate batteries. But you're right, can't have enough power.

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