Newbie Towing Questions

slashnburn wrote:
I finally just picked up our Apex 288BHS last Friday. We also had an Equalizer hitch installed. On the drive home, I had a couple of concerns and was hoping to get some advice here.

First, when driving, it felt as if my truck was kind of jerking forward and back. I tending to notice it a bit more with wind gusts, but it seemed fairly persistent. After doing some research it sounds like it could be because there is actually too little weight on the hitch. It could have potentially been the road bumps, but they weren't significant and again, it was pretty persistent. With that said, we live in a rural area, so the roads are fairly rough anyway. I just wanted some advice on if this is normal and if there is anything I can do to combat it. We are towing with a 19 F150 Lariat Max Trailer.

Second, I am interested in learning more about the proper gain setting for the brake controller. The guy at the dealership said that it should be pretty low. I had it set on 2 on the way home and it seemed to slow everything down, but I don't want to unnecessarily wear out the brakes on the truck. According to the owners manual for the truck, it should be driven and applied by hand until the brakes lock up on the trailer and then go down one setting. Is this the best process, or is it better to keep it low and apply the trailer brakes manually when needed?

Third, how sharp of an angle is safe to back up? Is it as much as I can while still leaving enough room to get back in front of the trailer?

Fourth, should I air up my tires a bit when I am towing? I know all of the stuff about amount of tire that is actually on the road, but wasn't sure how that is related to the actual load on the back tires. The recommended cold pressure is 35 (which I think is where it is supposed to be for the max towing capacity), but I normally keep mine at about 38-40.

I am new to towing, so please pardon the newbie questions. As always, your advice is greatly appreciated.

Congrats on the new trailer!

1. Dry, that trailer is sub 600lb hitch weight, so very little load distribution is required. Actually none, but RVers seem to swear by wdh's. Go drive it without the wdh or loose some weight transfer and see. Could needing tuning in the setup, could be you don't know what to expect while towing.
2.Set the gain where you "feel" like the truck is only stopping itself and not the trailer. 1 step below lockup is umm, bad advice? Not rocekt surgery, just adjust until it feels "right".
3. ??? Don't jackknife the trailer into the truck. Anything else is fine.
4. Air them to the weight you have on the wheels + a little. Stiffer is better when towing. Rears mostly, fronts shouldn't be carrying any more than running bobtail, but slightly stiffer is preferable maybe. Look at a tire load chart if you don't understand. And weigh the setup if you can't reasonably calc what your weights are. Again, not an exact science. Towing with a decent tongue weight and some weight in the truck, I'd run em up to 40+. Maybe more depending on weight.