Good and Bad about Blue Ox Sway Pro

JBarca wrote:
Hi Rescue

Maybe can help. I looked up your camper.

http://www.keystonerv.com/cougar-xlite/ Nice camper, congrats.

That 34' 7" long camper starts out at 7,401# dry with a 750# dry tongue weight. That comes out to be 750/7401= 0.101 or X100 = 10.1% dry tongue weight. That is a very light tongue weight for a camper of that length. That means when you load it, you would really want to get it more in the 13% to 15% range. Since you have 1,599# of cargo capacity, if you added 1,200# of stuff, (not hard to do in 35 feet) this could put you up at 8,601# loaded GVW. At 13% loaded tongue that is 1,118# and at 15% that is 1,290# loaded tongue weight.

Tell us what "ride is a little rough" feels like?

In this case a trip to the truck scales can really help sort this out. Need 3 set of weight in progression. TT & TV hitched with WD on, TV and TT hitched no WD (drop the chains) and then truck only. All axle by axle weights.

If you are at 1,000# WD bars now, and you should be up in the 1,100 to 1,200# TW range, you really do not want to go lighter bars.

I have some experience with your truck suspension, mine is a 05, yours and 06 but they are close.

Also tell us, what do you have in the truck bed when towing the TT? and where is it in relation to the rear axle, on top, in front or behind?

Any chance of providing fender heights unhitched and then hitched with the WD bars snapped up?

Do you haul fresh water to camp and if so where is the tank in relation to the TT axles, on top, in front or behind?

Hope this helps

John

John all good questions will take me a few weeks to get back to the RV and get it hooked up with my crazy work schedule. Actual weight of items inside of RV is more like 700lbs with most of the weight in the back of the RV except for maybe 200lbs up front. I haul about 3 gallons of water Fresh water just enough to flush the toilet while on the road. I have a short bed truck with a ARE Deluxe Walkin Cap which does away with the tailgate on the truck but the ARE Cap weighs almost 450 lbs and a Carry probably 600lbs of gear in the back of the truck when towing. I have changed out the shocks and put on the Rancho rs9000xl adjustables.

Rides a little rough is kind of hard to explain. I towed a 6K TT no weight dis or sway control for the dealer on a 25 mile trip on the highway and did not even know the RV was back there it was a smooth ride the same road with my trailer you could feel every bump and the front end of the truck almost seemed like it was bouncing somewhat. Will try and answer the rest of the questions in a couple of weeks although it is going to take a while for me to get to scales. Thanks for any input or thoughts