Forum Discussion

tvfrfireman's avatar
tvfrfireman
Explorer
Jun 18, 2013

Will adjusting B&W pivot arms forward help ride?

I have a B&W with a Companion Fifth Wheel hitch and am trying to improve the ride. Our fiver has about 3800 pounds of pin weight and the trailer is just over 17K. When we hit those bridge and overpass transitions in the pavement, the bounce gets pretty violent on some. I have installed air bags which helped a little and some stable lift spacers that engage the overloads that did the most good. It is still a rough ride and was told by someone on another form that I should move the pivot arms two inches to the forward adjustment which will put the king pin about four inches in front of the rear axel. I wrote B & W and they said they had no idea if it would help but said to give it a whirl. Do any of you have any experience with this? Thanks in advance.
  • fj12ryder's avatar
    fj12ryder
    Explorer III
    Jun 18, 2013
    Is this on a 1-ton SRW or DRW? I was able help the ride considerably on my DRW by adding enough air to the air bags to get the truck off the overload springs. With the truck on the overloads the ride was extremely rough.

    Improving the ride of the 5th wheel can help the ride of the TV too. I noticed a huge improvement when I installed the Dexter EZ Flex system on our toyhauler. We no longer get bounced around by bridge transitions because the trailer handles them better.
  • MFL's avatar
    MFL
    Nomad II
    Jun 18, 2013
    You are not saying anything about your tow vehicle, but it sounds like the load may be too much for the truck.

    If you have the clearance, I would agree with B&W, move the arms ahead to see if it helps. It should shift some weight forward, off the rear axle.

    It is easy to pull the head off the B&W, and move the arms. I have moved mine several times.

    Jerry

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