Gdetrailer wrote:
jmtandem wrote:
I suspect that his Dad's truck will be much more stable towing since it is 5 inches lower and therefore the problem is most likely the OPs truck with lift and oversized tires.
Pretty well known that lifted vehicles with oversized tires tend to not make for as good of a towing rig.. This is where "Boulevard Queens" are more for looks.. Rather than heavy work..
Somewhere along the way the OP said that he tows other trailers with his truck and they tow fine. I suspect the problem is with the trailer and it would be easy to figure that out with using his dad's truck for a short tow.
It is entirely possible that the OP's truck could tow other trailers perfectly fine BUT not tow the trailer in question without problems due to the design of the trailer. This particular trailer design may have a higher center of gravity (COG) and or more rearward center of gravity (COG) which places a lot more dynamic weight higher in the air and further back towards the axles of said trailer..
Add in a lifted truck (5" of lift) and larger diameter tires which also creates a truck with a much higher center of gravity and you now have the "perfect storm" for a very unstable combination..
Center of gravity is pretty tricky and most likely is the issue..
I suspect the OP's Dads truck (IE no lift and standard tires) towing this trailer will result in a much more stable tow..
Alright, So Here is the days recap.
I removed everything from the trailer again (found another box of tool I had under the bed), and put the spare tire on the back (it was in the truck). I added 52 gallons of water and checked the tongue weight. At this point I ASSUMED that the weight of the trailer is about 8,900 lbs. I removed about 416 lbs of tools, Added 416lbs of water, and the trailer spare tire. (I did not weigh the trailer in this configuration, and the scales were not open on Saturday) At this point I weighed the tongue and it was
900 pounds! So the TW did not go in my benefit.
At this point we spent a while adjusting the height of the ball, the angle of the bars, the air bag pressure, and how many links out of the chain. We found (YMMV) that I could have the front stay the same height, and the back only drop a 3/4" if I only had 5 psi in the bags (just about no assistance), and the bars with three links lose. But to get 3 links lose, we had to lift the back of the truck up about 3 inches, and put a hurting on the bars. This was a significant difference than I have ever done before. At this point I would really like to find a scale to see the weights of the axles, the TV, & TT.
We then went to a big level parking lot and I drove through like a drunk man, this way and that way, and that way and this way, then straight.... I was trying to get the trailer suspension into a neutral position to measure it. I found that the axles were only about 1/16" out of parallel (better than the other night), and one axle was only 1/2" out of perpendicular over the length of the trailer, as the other was perfect. I was able to see that there was a camber, but I did not bring my angle finder. The one thing I found odd, was the axles were both shifted to the driver side of the trailer about 3/8".
So feeling confident that we had the system checked, we went on a 30 mile loop. It consisted of a fast highway, a secondary highway less traveled, and a two lane road returning to town. It represented a good amount of the driving situations we find ourselves in.
The first trip (still my truck) everything went well, and the trailer did OK, it was sensitive, but it was OK. It never went into a situation of fish tailing, but you could feel the cars pass. Feeling confident. We went home.
Once home we added a box to the back of the trailer. We weighed it out to 400lbs of wood. This was a good representative load of the wood or the combination of my generator and wood that I would take on most trips. The TT weight at this point would be previously figured 8,900lbs + 400lbs = 9,300lbs, and the TW at this point was 800lbs, therefore 8.6% TW.
You Tongue Weight guys win! Kinda.
At this point we took the TT for the same ride and it was back to normal. My dad felt it as soon as we got on the highway and said that it was noticeable, then a station wagon passed me doing about 70mph. As we danced down the highway for a bit, Honked and waved at a Farmer that we knew, and then I was able to regain the control; He looked over at me and said he now understood. I replied, that he hadn't seen anything yet. We drove on and at any chance it got the fish tailing showed it's ugly head, and we went home.
He did not want to try it with his truck, and felt that it would do the same with his, since I didn't know his truck as well as mine, and since he wasn't use to the FTing, he didn't want to drive. So his truck stayed home. And we were done.
We concluded that the trailer was better without anything on the rack. We mainly do dry camping, so I always travel with water in the tank. This also means that when we leave the CG we can't always empty the tanks, which are at the very back of the trailer. We also would normally have more personal items and food in the trailer, but since that would mainly be over the axles there would be no addition to the TW, but an increase to the TT weight, so the TW% would go down. Since I do not have any storage in front of my axles to add camping weight, I can not adjust my TW like most TT with similar floor plans.
We figured the wife was on to something about getting the PP/HA, or adding Tractor Weights to a front bar like the tractor pullers.The other thing that we discussed was that even if I could ADD WEIGHT to the front of the TT, the truck hitch receiver is limited at 1000lbs.
I figure I am on or near that fine line of dangerously driving down the road in the current situation. I called PP and talked to Sean, awesome Customer Service, and asked the important question: is the action and performance of the Propride dependent on the TW or the TW%? His response: NO.
Recap:
I have bad fish tailing, the best was at about 9% but not any more or less. It is still sensitive at about 9%. My TW has been anywhere from 800lbs to 1300lbs and my TV receiver is rated at only 1000lbs. I'm not happy, & my friend now say I'm "sensitive". I need to regain some margin of safety, and therefore I am selling a child (we still need to row sham bow to figure out which one) and then I'm buying a new hitch receiver and a Propride.
I have pushed my luck too long and need to get on the safer side of living.
***Flame Suit On*** Let me have it.
Thanks,
Joe Zeppe
