Little nose high - adjust hitch or pinbox?

[rctoyguy]

Just took our first trip with our new 5th wheel this past weekend. It's a little nose high when hooked up - see pics




I have a Patriot 16K hitch that I can adjust down one more hole - and/or I can adjust the pinbox on the camper up - which would be better?

[Lwiddis]

Sure doesn't look like 3 inches.

[alexleblanc]

seems to me like you need to adjust your hitch and pin box to around 6-6.5" of clearance and raise the fifthwheel as well - might be able to upgrade to 16" wheels and if you have enough room run a taller tire, I did this and gained a little over an inch of lift by doing so. Also you may have adjustment on the spring hangers but be careful that if you put them on the lowest run that the hanger should be at minimum boxed so it won't fold over.

[Cummins12V98]

rhagfo wrote:
Well how much clearance do you have above the bed rails? You can do either change, but keep at least 6" between rails and 5er.
You look to be in range of 4" to 6"' nose high or it is the angle of the photo.

I agree! The RV is MUCH more out of level than thought. It took adding 3" risers to level my RV, pic does not show that much.

I had about 1,600# more weight on rear axle!

[NMDriver]

You might want to go weigh each axle to see if you even need to lower the front.

Put one axle on the drive wheel plate and one on the trailer plate at a CAT scale. You should do this loaded for a trip or as close to your normal load as practicable.

If you are only a 100 lbs different from one axle to the other then I would not change anything.

Equalizing the weight on the axles is better than being perfectly level when hooked up, especially if you are over 400 lbs heavy on one axle versus the other.

[rhagfo]

MFL wrote:

rhagfo wrote:
Well how much clearance do you have above the bed rails? You can do either change, but keep at least 6" between rails and 5er.
You look to be in range of 4" to 6"' nose high or it is the angle of the photo.

Yes, the pic does look like nose is too high. The OP does not give bed rail clearance, but looks to be well over 6"s. If that is the case, you should drop the hitch the final inch first. The Patriot is easy to adjust. Now measure bed rail clearance. If clearance is still more than 6"s, I'd raise the pin box to get as close to level as possible, while keeping the clearance to the 6" minimum.

An inch or two nose high is acceptable IMO.

Jerry

Yes, but nothing feels better than towing level! ??

[MFL]

rhagfo wrote:
Well how much clearance do you have above the bed rails? You can do either change, but keep at least 6" between rails and 5er.
You look to be in range of 4" to 6"' nose high or it is the angle of the photo.

Yes, the pic does look like nose is too high. The OP does not give bed rail clearance, but looks to be well over 6"s. If that is the case, you should drop the hitch the final inch first. The Patriot is easy to adjust. Now measure bed rail clearance. If clearance is still more than 6"s, I'd raise the pin box to get as close to level as possible, while keeping the clearance to the 6" minimum.

An inch or two nose high is acceptable IMO.

Jerry

[tinner12002]

I would adjust pin box up on the RV if it were me. Dropping your hitch one hole will move your pin box lower into your truck bed cutting down on clearance around your pin box when turning.

[rhagfo]

Well how much clearance do you have above the bed rails? You can do either change, but keep at least 6" between rails and 5er.
You look to be in range of 4" to 6"' nose high or it is the angle of the photo.

[Greene728]

Either adjustment would work fine. Whichever one is easier on you is the one I'd pick. However, as others have already stated, it looks ok to me. The one inch of adjustment isn't going to make much difference IMO. And your bed clearance looks good.

[laknox]

Double-check your spring hangars and see if you've got any adjustment there. If only 1-2" nose-high, I wouldn't worry about it, especially if you've got adequate clearance with the truck bed.

Lyle

[Lwiddis]

Nice! If nose high not by much.