Reese WD head clarification
Hey Guys I have a Reese weight distributing hitch with trunnion bars along with dual cam setup. It was purchased in 2010 may but wether it was made in that era is unknown. It came with 1200/12000 b...
Forum Discussion
well john im beat,
spent 7 hours today leveling, checking, re checking, moving to a different parking lot, doing it all over again, moving to a flat piece of road, checking again to make sure my measurements were perfect. went to scales once installed and verified my weights were alright.
however hitch is not setup correct, as per your instructions of having hitch ball head 1"-1 1/2" higher
matter of fact i was out huge...
trailer level top of ball mount = 31.5"
hitch height top of square= 20 3/4" (slip tank empty, maybe 100 pounds of wood and tools if that)
tv Ball height = 29 1/2" (same weight as above, 1 inch raise ball)
now i was baffled when i got trailer level and realized it was a lot higher then the hitch and i wasted $150 on a shank that in the meantime is useless to me.
anyways i took lots of pics for you to see, i used a 4 foot level, on 4 points on the frame as well as inside on the floor to determine level. took pics as best i could in 1 inch increments from trailer level with ball height all the way up to trailer level and even 1 inch higher. the ground i used to determine my final heights and level is going to be the spot i continue to make adjustments to keep a constant.
in the meantime i need to tow about 350 miles tomorrow and i need the hitch setup as trailer feels super unsafe without it.
now i did not adjust head tilt at all from where i guessed off the bat, and couldn't go any higher without buying more stuff and at 9pm at night that wasn't going to happen, as well as not having the time before i leave in the morning.
now i got the TV front fender measurements once setup up to rise 1/4" on both sides, back end dropped 1 3/4" on driver side 2" on passenger side. dont know whats up with that just my measurements. this was later on into the event so numbers could have started to have human error.
the 1/4" rise in the front resulted in a 250# decrease in weight on the scales opposed to hitched without the WD bars.
i now flushed the black, grey and water tanks, have them totally empty as im towing to full hook ups, filled my propane bottles for all of this process. ended up giving me the same tounge weight right in the 1400# ball park.
realistically what i learned today is you want my ball height 3" height to be proper. i can see how trailer being level will make towing "nicer" on the TV
trailer length is 21 feet from center in between axles to the ball.
first picture TV ball(29.5") 1" higher then trailer(28.5")
TV ball(29.5") level with trailer(29.5")
TV ball(29.5") 1" lower than trailer(30.5")
TV ball(29.5") 2" lower than trailer(31.5" trailer is now sitting in this picture perfectly level according to my level)
TV ball(29.5") 3" lower than trailer(32.5")
TV ball(29.5") 4" lower than trailer(33.5")
this is now hooked up with TV ball originally at 29.5" i did not get the measurement after it squat prob important but oh well.
these next two are just how my setup looks right now the way i will be towing tomorrow, took 3 tries to get the cam lobes dialed in.
these last two are just more pictures i took at how the camper sits level (TT hitch height of 31.5")
as frustrated as i got today and how mad i was i bought the wrong shank, i made it work i think and it should not have any negative effects besides there being more weight effecting my tounge and the trailer not riding level. i really do not like how the truck squats, im definitely going to opt for air bags in the near future, then im guessing you set up your WD perfectly once and then just adjust PSI on the bags to obtain the exact same height as original setup. if my theory is correct this would be an awesome way to deal with my varying loads and not wanting to readjust hitch all the time. learning a lot about this hitch and i really appreciate your help for that john, will be a lot easier to fix in the future or adjust knowing exactly how the hitch is working.
fwiw in my opinion this hitch greatly improved my confidence behind the wheel. i went on the highway and got the girl moving to 85 mph, felt comfortable, didnt stay there long just wanted to see, without the hitch on i was scared to break 60mph, now cruising at 70mph is a breeze. i cant wait to have it setup perfectly and get bags in there to add a whole new component to the ball game that i have no understanding on how it will effect.
steve
spent 7 hours today leveling, checking, re checking, moving to a different parking lot, doing it all over again, moving to a flat piece of road, checking again to make sure my measurements were perfect. went to scales once installed and verified my weights were alright.
however hitch is not setup correct, as per your instructions of having hitch ball head 1"-1 1/2" higher
matter of fact i was out huge...
trailer level top of ball mount = 31.5"
hitch height top of square= 20 3/4" (slip tank empty, maybe 100 pounds of wood and tools if that)
tv Ball height = 29 1/2" (same weight as above, 1 inch raise ball)
now i was baffled when i got trailer level and realized it was a lot higher then the hitch and i wasted $150 on a shank that in the meantime is useless to me.
anyways i took lots of pics for you to see, i used a 4 foot level, on 4 points on the frame as well as inside on the floor to determine level. took pics as best i could in 1 inch increments from trailer level with ball height all the way up to trailer level and even 1 inch higher. the ground i used to determine my final heights and level is going to be the spot i continue to make adjustments to keep a constant.
in the meantime i need to tow about 350 miles tomorrow and i need the hitch setup as trailer feels super unsafe without it.
now i did not adjust head tilt at all from where i guessed off the bat, and couldn't go any higher without buying more stuff and at 9pm at night that wasn't going to happen, as well as not having the time before i leave in the morning.
now i got the TV front fender measurements once setup up to rise 1/4" on both sides, back end dropped 1 3/4" on driver side 2" on passenger side. dont know whats up with that just my measurements. this was later on into the event so numbers could have started to have human error.
the 1/4" rise in the front resulted in a 250# decrease in weight on the scales opposed to hitched without the WD bars.
i now flushed the black, grey and water tanks, have them totally empty as im towing to full hook ups, filled my propane bottles for all of this process. ended up giving me the same tounge weight right in the 1400# ball park.
realistically what i learned today is you want my ball height 3" height to be proper. i can see how trailer being level will make towing "nicer" on the TV
trailer length is 21 feet from center in between axles to the ball.
first picture TV ball(29.5") 1" higher then trailer(28.5")
TV ball(29.5") level with trailer(29.5")
TV ball(29.5") 1" lower than trailer(30.5")
TV ball(29.5") 2" lower than trailer(31.5" trailer is now sitting in this picture perfectly level according to my level)
TV ball(29.5") 3" lower than trailer(32.5")
TV ball(29.5") 4" lower than trailer(33.5")
this is now hooked up with TV ball originally at 29.5" i did not get the measurement after it squat prob important but oh well.
these next two are just how my setup looks right now the way i will be towing tomorrow, took 3 tries to get the cam lobes dialed in.
these last two are just more pictures i took at how the camper sits level (TT hitch height of 31.5")
as frustrated as i got today and how mad i was i bought the wrong shank, i made it work i think and it should not have any negative effects besides there being more weight effecting my tounge and the trailer not riding level. i really do not like how the truck squats, im definitely going to opt for air bags in the near future, then im guessing you set up your WD perfectly once and then just adjust PSI on the bags to obtain the exact same height as original setup. if my theory is correct this would be an awesome way to deal with my varying loads and not wanting to readjust hitch all the time. learning a lot about this hitch and i really appreciate your help for that john, will be a lot easier to fix in the future or adjust knowing exactly how the hitch is working.
fwiw in my opinion this hitch greatly improved my confidence behind the wheel. i went on the highway and got the girl moving to 85 mph, felt comfortable, didnt stay there long just wanted to see, without the hitch on i was scared to break 60mph, now cruising at 70mph is a breeze. i cant wait to have it setup perfectly and get bags in there to add a whole new component to the ball game that i have no understanding on how it will effect.
steve
