Shorter pin box, dimension recommendations?
Picked up a new to us 2007 Kz Sportsmen 3551lx. I'm new to camping in general so there's a bit of a learning curve. As you can see the camper is a bit low on my stock height Ram. I'm thinki...
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1) 6" is not magic. It's a minimum. You still have to be careful if going over rough ground. 8"-9" is much better if you can get it (not a free for all off roading but significantly less chance a pot hole results in the your trailer meeting the bed rails.
2) A shorter pin box will put no extra weight on the front axle. A 5th wheel hitch is normally centered (at least within an inch or two) over the rear axle. As such there is no leverage to shift weight to the front axle. You would have to move the hitch forward to shift weight to the front axle (and no it's not recommended).
3) What a shorter pin box will do is increase the pin weight. With a shorter distance to the center of the trailer axles, you have less leverage to keep the front of the trailer up.
4) 7" from the rear bumper to the lower front of the trailer is way too short. Any time you go around a sharp corner or back in, it will hit. Related to this, you need to make sure the overhang won't hit the truck cab when turned sharply when backing into a tight site.
5) Do you have a picture on level ground. It appears the truck is on level ground and the trailer is on a slight hill, so it's hard to say how much out of level the trailer is. It looks a little out of level but nothing extreme.
6) Why do you want more weight on the front axle? Is there some towing issue? A 5th wheel is generally much better than a bumper pull. We can't help you fix an issue if we don't know what the issue is.
Assuming the picture is representative of the out of level, your answer is to get the axles flipped. That should address all your issues without creating new ones.
2) A shorter pin box will put no extra weight on the front axle. A 5th wheel hitch is normally centered (at least within an inch or two) over the rear axle. As such there is no leverage to shift weight to the front axle. You would have to move the hitch forward to shift weight to the front axle (and no it's not recommended).
3) What a shorter pin box will do is increase the pin weight. With a shorter distance to the center of the trailer axles, you have less leverage to keep the front of the trailer up.
4) 7" from the rear bumper to the lower front of the trailer is way too short. Any time you go around a sharp corner or back in, it will hit. Related to this, you need to make sure the overhang won't hit the truck cab when turned sharply when backing into a tight site.
5) Do you have a picture on level ground. It appears the truck is on level ground and the trailer is on a slight hill, so it's hard to say how much out of level the trailer is. It looks a little out of level but nothing extreme.
6) Why do you want more weight on the front axle? Is there some towing issue? A 5th wheel is generally much better than a bumper pull. We can't help you fix an issue if we don't know what the issue is.
Assuming the picture is representative of the out of level, your answer is to get the axles flipped. That should address all your issues without creating new ones.
