5th Wheel Leveling

[Franzen0001]

Big Moe my new 3500 Ram with a factory hitch built into the bed has my 5th Wheel hight to high causing my rear of the trailer to be to low. It looks like I have no more adjustment on the King Pin hight. How do I solve this problem.

[RVER]

GREAT thanks.

[Dutch___Di]

Dutch doesn't "do" computers so I have to take the blame for the omission. I put it in the post on another forum but somehow it got lost here. My bad. Di
Ewing Bros Auto Body & Towing
Where body work is done right! http://www.ewingbros.com
(702) 518-7948
1200 A St
Las Vegas, NV 89106

1 Block East of I-15 off Washington

RVER wrote:
Dutch why not give the name of the shop that did the job well and for reasonable money? This is the way we all learn where the GOOD places are like we learn about the bad places.

[RVER]

Dutch why not give the name of the shop that did the job well and for reasonable money? This is the way we all learn where the GOOD places are like we learn about the bad places.

[Cummins12V98]

Really happy your problems are resolved!

Enjoy Vegas.

[Dutch___Di]

Well we are now officially "raised"!

We spent a day and a half at an alignment shop where we had stopped for a 2nd opinion and a quote. We felt their price was quite reasonable and they could start the following day. It was quite an undertaking but I'm so glad Dutch, and I, didn't have to tackle this job ourselves.

While under there, they did find one tire at an angle and between Dutch and them, they felt it needed new new bushings. Of course, Ol` Dutchie just happened to have a spare set so they undertook that job too. It took them awhile to figure out how to easily change the position of the suspension but by afternoon they were on track. It was getting late and while the tires were on, they still had the alignment to do. It was a unanimous decision to hook up and drive over to WallyWorld for the night because if they kept out Carriage, we would be homeless!!!

Back over in the morning, they finished the alignment and lowered the hitch to keep us level. We were very pleased that they kept to their "not to exceed" price quote. The only additional fee was for replacing the bushings which we had expected to pay for.

We pulled out and for the 1st time since picking up our new truck didn't worry about making an uphill turn. We now have 7 inches of clearance.

We pulled into Arizona Charlie's RV Park in Vegas to relax and unwind for a week. The weather is wonderful and we plan on lots of golf!

Our only other "job" while here is to measure the new height of our Carriage. We were at 12'7" so that 2 inches shouldn't be a problem but we want to be 100% sure of our height.
Thank you for all the suggestions, Hopefully now that this is taken care of and we had slide our steps installed so we can get into our truck, we can get back to normal. Hugs, Di

[tegu69]

Since I already dinged the top corner of the bed rail of my 2012 GMC, I thought about cutting 3" off the bed rail to make enough clearance. But then I'd have to do away with the tailgate and solve a few more problems in doing that. So I think I better not (at least until its out of warranty)

[Dutch___Di]

We thought that too & tried to order our truck with it but that "option" won't be available until mid 2014. Di

gasman28110 wrote:
I thought that the 2014 Rams had air bag suspension. Maybe you lower the pressure in the air bags?

[gasman28110]

I thought that the 2014 Rams had air bag suspension. Maybe you lower the pressure in the air bags?

[goducks10]

If your truck sits level when you're hitched to the 5'er then lowering it by removing the spacer blocks will cause it to be low in the rear when hitched up. Airbags will return it level.

[Dutch___Di]

I will print this info out for Dutch to read to see if this might be an option for us. Di

mudmaker wrote:
I really don't know if there are any changes in the 2014 ram rear springs, but on previous models you could remove a spacer block from under the rear springs and place it on top of the rear springs. Rebolt and you can gain about 1 5/8". Makes it easier to work out of my old (03) ram dually.

[Old-Biscuit]

Dutch & Di wrote:
We started out with axels but later changed to Mor/Ryde Independent suspension which eliminated the axels. Di

schlep1967 wrote:

Dutch & Di wrote:
... but I had forgotten that we don't have axles. We have IS suspension so this won't work for us.
.... We have a triple axle Carriage

Now I am really confused. Your trailer has triple axels, but you don't have axels?

You don't have traditional axles with leaf springs, hangers and 'U' bolts.........

Mor/Ryde axles are welded to frame......still axles but with out the 'U' bolts, hangers etc.

You would have to cut the Mor/Ryde axle tubes off frame......weld on some box tubing (in the size of needed height increase 2", 3" etc.) and then weld the Mor/Ryde axle tubes back onto the box tubing.

[Dutch___Di]

We've already spoken to Gary. He is finishing up a show and hopefully will have answers for us when he gets back.
Thank you for the info. Unfortunately, it is much easier to do these things when ordered then try and change/modify at 15 year old suspension.

lillyputz wrote:

Dutch & Di wrote:
Thank you for the link and the info. It does sound like a good alignment bonus but I had forgotten that we don't have axles. We have IS suspension so this won't work for us.
Our brand new 2014 2 wheel drive Ram sits as high as a 4 wheel drive giving us only 5" of clearance at the bed of the truck which is not enough. Dutch is investigating the different bolt patterns on our Mor/Ryde IS which would allow us to raise it, but according to Mor/Ryde gain only 1". He is also investigating another way to gain more clearance by using steel tubing between the chassis and the IS. That should give us 2inches or more of clearance. This would be very extensive and expensive work.
Has anyone out there done anything other than these 2 options? If so, what did you do? We have a triple axle Carriage
We had to leave Montana to beat the snow & cold so until we can get this taken care of, we are making sure we are on as level ground as possible when we make a turn.
Any suggestions will be appreciated. Di

Di,
Call Gary Wheeler at MorRyde. His #574-293-1581 ext.222. Cell 574-370-9135.He will be able to give you advise.
On the Lifestyle RV I special ordered with the I.S. suspension, MorRyde is adding 2 inch's to the system to give me the needed clearance.

Lillyputz

[Dutch___Di]

Yes, unfortunately for us they raised the height of the 2 wheel drive in 2014. The 2013's that we looked at were still lower as was the picture in the 2013 brochure so we had no knowledge ahead of time that the 2014's were higher.
We are going to explore if lowering the truck is an option but it would possibly void the warranty but we are checking on that later today.
We can't flip axel's as we don't have any.
We are looking at all options and suggestions but what we would really like to know is IF anyone has actually raised their 5th wheel. If so, what was done and if you are willing to share: what was the cost. Di

SmittysRV wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Lower hitch.....
Raise pinbox....
Adjust springs in shackles......
Flip axles.......
Cut off shackles. Weld square tubes on to frame. Weld shackles back on.

That's about it for choices to adjust 5vr height

Is the truck stock height? This is the only other option I see is to lower the truck if it is lifted. I had to do this even after flipping axles on our last 5th wheel. Now with our new one I have a new truck to tow it and there are no hieght issues. Good luck!!

[Dutch___Di]

We started out with axels but later changed to Mor/Ryde Independent suspension which eliminated the axels. Di

schlep1967 wrote:

Dutch & Di wrote:
... but I had forgotten that we don't have axles. We have IS suspension so this won't work for us.
.... We have a triple axle Carriage

Now I am really confused. Your trailer has triple axels, but you don't have axels?