Driveway Incline Issue
Greetings, new RV owner here. 18ft KeyStone Light 2016 and 2003 Tahoe with sway bar kit. We purchased our RV from Camping World and they delivered which allowed me to learn not to drive on the highw...
Forum Discussion
Hi Grit,
I stated this to the OP, allenECUUNC
You stated
Not sure why you picked the wording you did, and I don’t want to jump to assumptions about the wording. How do you know my background, the GM truck frame, and GM hitch failures I have seen, researched, and dealt with? Being open-minded, I will give you the professional curiosity to explain your point of view. Please provide details to support your position that there is no stress on the truck receiver or frame.
First, I agree with you. If the truck in question came with and still has the original GM autoride (air shocks) on a 1500 SUV, (auto adjust shock damping on the 2500 with the Suburban/Yukon XL) and the air shocks are still original, they could be into a stressing situation. I am not disputing this; I agree with it.
If the OP’ers “older” truck still has original air shocks that still work on a 19-year-old truck), it’s a rare thing. Many can’t afford to replace the OEM parts and convert to a helper spring shock (coil spring over a more standard gas shock) and deal with changing the system program not to have air shocks. No dispute here. But we do not yet know if he even has the autoride feature. My 2002 Tahoe did not come with autoride, it was an option. Leaf springs in the rear with good gas shocks was it.
I do not recommend suggestions to fellow campers without prior knowledge of the topic. I do not shoot from the hip. And, I have learned long ago from doing enough machine failure analysis, not to assume one knows everything about the failure. I keep an open mind and listen to any input, then make up my mind from all the data. And admit if I made a mistake. In this situation, I still stand behind my recommendation.
After looking closely at allenECUUNC’s truck and camper picture, I can see someone has changed the original GM receiver with an aftermarket one. From this pic I zoomed in on, this is not the GM receiver.
We both need to know more about his truck history, the rating sticker off the aftermarket receiver, and the brand and size of the WD hitch he is using. Then we can talk more specifically about the issues of backing uphill without WD bars on.
allenECUUNC, , can you please provide us with this info so I can explain where I’m coming from on your specific situation?
We need some info on the truck history, as you know it.
1.Did you buy the truck new or used? If used, what year did you acquire it? I'm after the prior towing history if obtainable and if they used WD or not when towing. And if you used it, what weights did you tow?
2.Do you know when the truck receiver was changed? It might have come with it if you bought it used; just asking to get some background on what the owner found to change it.
3.Can you get a pic of the rating sticker and brand on the receiver? There should be two ratings, max tongue weight in weight carrying mode and one for weight distributing mode?
4.Do you know if the truck was ever driven in a northern state where road salt is used? A good sign if the truck was driven in the rust belt in the winter is, the condition of the truck frame. Have a look at it. Trucks from non-northern snow states look very different under the truck than ones never driven during winter months with salted roads. The GM’s of that era are known for brake lines, transmission lines, and fuel lines rotting out from road salt, not to mention frame corrosion.
5.If you can post a picture of how the aftermarket receiver bolts to the frame of the truck would be helpful. Looking for a shot like the two below. Ideally an inside and outside the main frame pic. This is off my 2003 2500 Suburban with a changed out GM receiver to a Putnam receiver. Don’t mind the dial indicator in the pic; I was measuring frame deflection back then.
Outside the frame
Inside the frame
6.The brand, model, and ratings on your WD hitch.
7. Tell us if you have rear air shocks and they are still working, or what you have for shocks.
These answers can help me talk specifics about the concerns and failures I have seen and if they exist on your setup.
Hope this helps
John
I stated this to the OP, allenECUUNC
JBarca wrote:
Snip...
I have a few comments/thoughts.
First, from my background on GM truck receivers, I recommend you to “not” take the bars off your hitch with that style of GM truck receiver you have. You are overloading the receiver by the name tag, and worse, you are backing up hill putting excess downward force into the truck receiver. Both are not doing any good for that style of receiver.
You stated
Grit dog wrote:
@Jbarca, what you said couldn’t be further from the truth regarding damage to the hitch or receiver back into the driveway. The only part of that equation getting stressed is the (presumably) old factory air shocks. They’re pretty reliable but…OLD.
Not sure why you picked the wording you did, and I don’t want to jump to assumptions about the wording. How do you know my background, the GM truck frame, and GM hitch failures I have seen, researched, and dealt with? Being open-minded, I will give you the professional curiosity to explain your point of view. Please provide details to support your position that there is no stress on the truck receiver or frame.
First, I agree with you. If the truck in question came with and still has the original GM autoride (air shocks) on a 1500 SUV, (auto adjust shock damping on the 2500 with the Suburban/Yukon XL) and the air shocks are still original, they could be into a stressing situation. I am not disputing this; I agree with it.
If the OP’ers “older” truck still has original air shocks that still work on a 19-year-old truck), it’s a rare thing. Many can’t afford to replace the OEM parts and convert to a helper spring shock (coil spring over a more standard gas shock) and deal with changing the system program not to have air shocks. No dispute here. But we do not yet know if he even has the autoride feature. My 2002 Tahoe did not come with autoride, it was an option. Leaf springs in the rear with good gas shocks was it.
I do not recommend suggestions to fellow campers without prior knowledge of the topic. I do not shoot from the hip. And, I have learned long ago from doing enough machine failure analysis, not to assume one knows everything about the failure. I keep an open mind and listen to any input, then make up my mind from all the data. And admit if I made a mistake. In this situation, I still stand behind my recommendation.
After looking closely at allenECUUNC’s truck and camper picture, I can see someone has changed the original GM receiver with an aftermarket one. From this pic I zoomed in on, this is not the GM receiver.
We both need to know more about his truck history, the rating sticker off the aftermarket receiver, and the brand and size of the WD hitch he is using. Then we can talk more specifically about the issues of backing uphill without WD bars on.
allenECUUNC, , can you please provide us with this info so I can explain where I’m coming from on your specific situation?
We need some info on the truck history, as you know it.
1.Did you buy the truck new or used? If used, what year did you acquire it? I'm after the prior towing history if obtainable and if they used WD or not when towing. And if you used it, what weights did you tow?
2.Do you know when the truck receiver was changed? It might have come with it if you bought it used; just asking to get some background on what the owner found to change it.
3.Can you get a pic of the rating sticker and brand on the receiver? There should be two ratings, max tongue weight in weight carrying mode and one for weight distributing mode?
4.Do you know if the truck was ever driven in a northern state where road salt is used? A good sign if the truck was driven in the rust belt in the winter is, the condition of the truck frame. Have a look at it. Trucks from non-northern snow states look very different under the truck than ones never driven during winter months with salted roads. The GM’s of that era are known for brake lines, transmission lines, and fuel lines rotting out from road salt, not to mention frame corrosion.
5.If you can post a picture of how the aftermarket receiver bolts to the frame of the truck would be helpful. Looking for a shot like the two below. Ideally an inside and outside the main frame pic. This is off my 2003 2500 Suburban with a changed out GM receiver to a Putnam receiver. Don’t mind the dial indicator in the pic; I was measuring frame deflection back then.
Outside the frame
Inside the frame
6.The brand, model, and ratings on your WD hitch.
7. Tell us if you have rear air shocks and they are still working, or what you have for shocks.
These answers can help me talk specifics about the concerns and failures I have seen and if they exist on your setup.
Hope this helps
John
