Horrible Bumpy Ride in 1/2 ton pulling TT
Hello to all! We are newbies and just bought a 2014 chevy Silverado Z71 1/2 ton with towing package and a 32 foot 7000lb Springdale Travel Trailer. We love the TT but the ride towing is miserable! We ...
Forum Discussion
Oh my my my... People on RV.NET can spend 20k of your money really fast... so please be careful. Your truck may work just fine.
Lets do some simple and cheap things first.
1) Air your tires up to the MAX psi on the sidewall... Not the PSI on the payload sticker which likely says 35 psi or something stupid like that... the sidewall should say 44-50 psi or something like that. MAX THEM OUT!!!! Ditto for the TT tires.
2) Make sure that you are loading the TRAILER evenly...don't load the heavy items in the back of the trailer.. Try to put the weight over the axles or in front of the axles. You need TONGUE WEIGHT to tow stable
3) Make sure you are loading the TRAILER and not the TRUCK BED... Move heavier items into the TRAILER... Yes, you can put some light stuff in the bed.. but preferably.. for a half ton.. the truck carries people and the tongue weight.. thats IT.
4) Break out the tools and redo the WD hitch... Its NOT set up correctly. NOT AT ALL. Worry about getting the front fender wells to their unloaded height... this is easies to do by adding hitch head tilt and letting leverage throw that tongue weight forward to the front axle. You want the trailer to be towed at a relatively flat orientation or slightly nose down... Nose UP is BADDDDDDDDD
Okay... Now you are ready to.. as safely as possible... get to a CAT scale and see where your weights are at
5) Remember you need three weights across the CAT scale. One with the truck an trailer and WD... this gives you a base line... Once with the truck and the family and you... once with the truck and trailer with NO wd... the last two will give you your tongue weight.
6) Hopefully Enjoy your rig that now handles better. Upgrade as necessary.
Here is a Pic of my superbly handling 1997 F150 which pulled my 7700 GVWR Travel Trailer all over Tennessee with ZERO sway, ZERO bucking, ZERO chucking.. after I got it set up correctly. There is NO reason why a 2014 Silverado 1500 can't tow a 7,000 lb TT comfortably.
And yes... I did the whole HD upgrade and increased my comfort level by a factor of zero... so just upgrading the truck doesn't automagically make everything Okay.. Not at all.
Think this through, learn everything you can.. read your WD hitches manual... then do it again..
You can do this.
Thanks!
Jeremiah
Lets do some simple and cheap things first.
1) Air your tires up to the MAX psi on the sidewall... Not the PSI on the payload sticker which likely says 35 psi or something stupid like that... the sidewall should say 44-50 psi or something like that. MAX THEM OUT!!!! Ditto for the TT tires.
2) Make sure that you are loading the TRAILER evenly...don't load the heavy items in the back of the trailer.. Try to put the weight over the axles or in front of the axles. You need TONGUE WEIGHT to tow stable
3) Make sure you are loading the TRAILER and not the TRUCK BED... Move heavier items into the TRAILER... Yes, you can put some light stuff in the bed.. but preferably.. for a half ton.. the truck carries people and the tongue weight.. thats IT.
4) Break out the tools and redo the WD hitch... Its NOT set up correctly. NOT AT ALL. Worry about getting the front fender wells to their unloaded height... this is easies to do by adding hitch head tilt and letting leverage throw that tongue weight forward to the front axle. You want the trailer to be towed at a relatively flat orientation or slightly nose down... Nose UP is BADDDDDDDDD
Okay... Now you are ready to.. as safely as possible... get to a CAT scale and see where your weights are at
5) Remember you need three weights across the CAT scale. One with the truck an trailer and WD... this gives you a base line... Once with the truck and the family and you... once with the truck and trailer with NO wd... the last two will give you your tongue weight.
6) Hopefully Enjoy your rig that now handles better. Upgrade as necessary.
Here is a Pic of my superbly handling 1997 F150 which pulled my 7700 GVWR Travel Trailer all over Tennessee with ZERO sway, ZERO bucking, ZERO chucking.. after I got it set up correctly. There is NO reason why a 2014 Silverado 1500 can't tow a 7,000 lb TT comfortably.
And yes... I did the whole HD upgrade and increased my comfort level by a factor of zero... so just upgrading the truck doesn't automagically make everything Okay.. Not at all.
Think this through, learn everything you can.. read your WD hitches manual... then do it again..
You can do this.
Thanks!
Jeremiah
