Reese Dual Cam

kwlincoln wrote:
A few obvious things that stand out to me are the following... You may be over-tight on the WDBars transferring too much weight to the front of the truck. Whoever says that the truck needs to be level doesn't understand how this works. You need not worry if the rear of the truck squats. You need to worry if your front axle weight get lighter when you are hitched.---

Did you mean to state, You need to worry if your front axle weight get heavier when you are hitched.?

In spite of what the etrailer video says, the OP's front end should not be heavier when hitched.

Ford specifies that approximately 50% of the front-end rise should be eliminated.
That implies that the WDH should be adjusted to restore only about 50% of the front end load.

Ron

A few obvious things that stand out to me are the following... You may be over-tight on the WDBars transferring too much weight to the front of the truck. Whoever says that the truck needs to be level doesn't understand how this works. You need not worry if the rear of the truck squats. You need to worry if your front axle weight get lighter when you are hitched. More tongue weight typically reduces sway. Make sure you are not loading too much weight behind the trailer axles.

Second - Truck tires - more plys, the better. Stiffer sidewalls the better. Don't underestimate how big of a difference this will make.

Longer the wheelbase of the tow vehicle, the better for sway. Esp when you have a long trailer. The tail will wag the dog on smaller trucks.

sunofabeach wrote:

mjost wrote:
I will take some pics this weekend, and revisit the scale (it is only a mile from my house). I did send some pics to Reese, and they told me it looked correct. While I understand a 3/4 ton or one ton truck will always tow better, I only tow 4-5 times a year. It doesn't make economical sense to have a 3/4 ton (that is why I got rid of my 2013 F250).

ignore the suggestion about getting a bigger truck. your truck is more than capable of towing that trailer, it will just take some adjusting of the hitch and tongue weight to get it right.

Plus to OP stated it exhibited the same behavior with the F250 so I think we can eliminate the TV as a variable.

mjost wrote:
I will take some pics this weekend, and revisit the scale (it is only a mile from my house). I did send some pics to Reese, and they told me it looked correct. While I understand a 3/4 ton or one ton truck will always tow better, I only tow 4-5 times a year. It doesn't make economical sense to have a 3/4 ton (that is why I got rid of my 2013 F250).

ignore the suggestion about getting a bigger truck. your truck is more than capable of towing that trailer, it will just take some adjusting of the hitch and tongue weight to get it right.

The video here helped me 9:20.

I will take some pics this weekend, and revisit the scale (it is only a mile from my house). I did send some pics to Reese, and they told me it looked correct. While I understand a 3/4 ton or one ton truck will always tow better, I only tow 4-5 times a year. It doesn't make economical sense to have a 3/4 ton (that is why I got rid of my 2013 F250).

I have never had an issue dialing in the set up on a Dual Cam. It does take a bit longer to properly install and set up a Dual Cam and most dealers do not take the time to set it up properly.

Get the DC instructions out and start with step one. Also, increase the hitch weight and the main thing would be a 3/4 ton truck.

Ken

myredracer wrote:

mhsmith wrote:
How long/heavy is the TT?

specs here

You're about 1000lbs. lighter than mine and a foot longer. I am using 1200lb. bars and it tows great. I agree with others that something is not set-up correctly. Took me a couple tries but I got it. Ended up tilting the head back a little bit towards the trailer and using the fifth link down on my chains. Remember...you also have to account for weight in the bed that is behind the rear axle.

A photo or two or more would really help. Closeup of the WDH and the TV & TT hooked up. Pending more info., you really must have setup issues with the Reese DC.

Where did the 700 lbs for tongue weight come from? Was it calculated from doing 3 separate passes through the scale? If you did the three separate passes correctly, you could calculate the weight distributed between steer, drive and TT axles which would be very helpful info.

The drop in the rear of truck sounds okay but you need to measure the before and after front fender heights. Sounds like you may not have done that yet?

So if it is the dual cam, you need to pay more attention to how it needs to be set up and adjusted. I have yet to read about a dealer who got it right from the get go. How the cam arm brackets are mounted to the frame is important too, but won't cause sway.

Yes, where the cams ride in the "detent" of the spring bars is very important. They should be dead center with the TT & TV in a straight line and you can easily check. If the dealer mounted the brackets in the correctly, there should be room to move the cam arms forward and back with the big nuts.

My experience with the DC DWH is when we initially started out with 800 lb bars on our DC before upgrading to 1200 lb bars. The actual scaled weight of our TT was way higher than anticipated based on the dry tongue wt. 800 and 1200 lb bars are slightly different length. The 1200 lbs are about 1/2" longer. I installed the cam arm brackets 19 3/8" from the center of the hitch ball to center of the end of the cam arm brackets as per Reese specs. BUT... This did NOT leave any room for adjusting the cam arms and the ends of the arms were tight up against the through bolt in the bracket. Going to 1200 lb bars gave me lots of adjustment room.

I would see if the cams are riding correctly in the bars. Check the distance between the hitch ball and through bolt on the bracket, and if there is any adjustment space left on the cam arm bracket.

When the DC WDH is properly installed and adjusted, it is awesome and definitely worth the trouble of fiddling with it. Funny, in the 2 seasons that we've had our DC hitch, I have not seen a single one at a CG anywhere. I keep wanting to find one so I can find out somebody else's experience in person.

The Reese dual cam system is picky about the detents on the WD bars centered over the CAM lobes when driving straight. You can appear to have everything else adjusted correctly, but sway control design of those cams can fight each other.

My TT tows great behind my friend's dually without WD. Both my prior F-150 and current Suburban need WDH for the TW and I have the Reese Strait Line with 1200 pound bars. When the system is adjusted poorly, 60mph is uncomfortable. When it is adjusted correctly, 75mpg is rock solid.