Dual Cam Setup

JBarca wrote:

1. The ability to gain more clearance in the DC area so the WD bar does not interfere with the DC arm during compound angle turn.

2. The ability to lower the hitch head on the 6" A frame with the ball coupler on top to help avoid a crash of the trunnion bar lug into the frame during hard angle turn.

I suspect no 2 is going to not get you since you are back on the standard height ball. Since you are on the new 1 piece head, it may help but may not cure. Point: check it out.

We double checked #2 and were able to clear everything on flat ground:



But the frame clearance was a little tight:




I did forget to think about and attempt to test for compound angle issues though. I was excited to be able to flip the hitch shank back over and get back some ground clearance.

JBarca wrote:



A heads up, odds are high going back to the standard ball, while you might have DC clearance on 6 links with the new all cast head, you may have sacrificed getting a trunnion lug hit on the frame in the advance stages of a turn on a compound angle. I would check to see it that is occurring. You helped the ball nut hit going to the new head, just you may have forgot about the cast lug hit on the standard ball.

Yes, you have a point with the trunnion hitting the frame on a compound angle. See the photo above with the regular ball.

JBarca wrote:

Here is a thought that I would investigate. Go back to the 1" hi rise ball on the new head and run at 6 links under tension. This creates all the needed clearance both at the DC area and the trunnion lug and frame area. Now you need to deal with the high trailer nose problem.

I can try this. From my last photo with the 1" ball I was nose down 1" with that setting and 2" high with the shank flipped up. So, it seems like I should be able to simply go UP one hole with the 1" ball and be within 1/4" of level.

It's beyond me why I didn't try that yesterday....

JBarca wrote:

Looking at your pics, I see what I think is the bumper and the rear swinging doors of an Excursion. Am I right? I have helped a few buddies with their Ex's and know some of their traits.

Yes, it's an Excursion 1,200 max tongue weight. Any Excursion specific advice is welcomed.

JBarca wrote:

Your camper is empty I "think" right now, is this correct?

It has some stuff in it, most of what we would bring on a trip sans food and clothes, 49 Gal of water, and a couple of gallons in the grey/black tanks. I did pack some tools and chairs as well as the spare hitch head and trunnion bars and it added about 50 lbs to the tongue weight.

JBarca wrote:

The EX with family on broad is only going to handle a 1,200# TW and stay within the rear axle door sticker rating. As you load the camper you will need more head tilt to shift weight off the rear axle and some to the front EX axle and the TT axles.

Yes, I think we're going to be near the limit on axle ratings. We limited the trailer to under 10,000 GVWR in order to not overload the Excursion.

If I use the WD to get the front suspension back to "unloaded" weight then the tongue weight is really going to be distributed between the TT rear axle and the TT axles right? The WD is just ensuring that TV weight is not transferred to the rear axle.

JBarca wrote:

When you are nose high by a lot, and I consider 1" plus a lot, in some TT's this can cause instability in towing by the way the air current hit the top of the camper. When you are in the slight nose down position the air hits the of the camper different not causing negative handling characteristics.

Would this instability be some kind of up/down motion?

JBarca wrote:

As far as TW and nose high and nose low, it all depends on the center of gravity the way the camper is built. On my camper when fully loaded I raise the nose or drop it by 3" and only change the TW by 50#. Others have reported they dropped the tongue 1" can gain 100#. Others raised it 1" and gain the 100#. All campers are not built the same. So "it depends" on if "your" camper will gain or loose or nothing at all with nose low of high.

This makes sense. I'll have add checking mine to the homework list.

JBarca wrote:

In summary, my thoughts for all conditions are, go back to the 1" hi rise ball, 6 links under load, stick with the new cast head and shim, tilt the head as needed for WD, 1st load the camper and the truck like you are going camping. Then adjust the WD, (with the DC in place) to return the front end of the TV very close to unhitched weight/height. When done, get the correct drop shank to level out the camper for towing. While you can only be accurate within 1 shank hole, choosing between being 1/2" high to 1/2" low, pick low. Being 3/4" high to 1/4" low, pick low. Being 1/4" high to 3/4" low pick hi.

Interestingly enough, the new cast head did not require a shim. It was the old 3 piece head that did. I'll go back to the 1" ball and set it up at the highest setting with this shank in the "lower mode" and see where I end up. I'm a little gun shy on measuring the frame on the front and rear of trailer since I got such varied measurements with the same setup. I'll try a different lot next time too...

JBarca wrote:
Being 1 1/4" plus or greater lower starts raising the concerns front TT axle bearing more weight than it should be for the long haul.

This is interesting. Is this the case no matter what kind of axles you have? I would have figured that axles that have the equalizer between them would not suffer from that problem?

Also, if the axles are of the split type, would the problem be worse because the axle are further apart?

I realize that the stability issue would still hold independent of axle wear.

FYI, it may be next weekend before I get out to do some more measurements.