Sidewinder Hitch Issue

[lawnspecialties]

I have a friend who has a Sidewinder hitch he uses to pull his Momentum toy hauler. The reason he has the Sidewinder is because he has that Rambox truck bed on his Ram 2500. Obviously, he bought the truck before he thought of buying a fifth wheel toy hauler.

First, we know he's overweight on the rear axle. Maybe 500 lbs., give or take. But since he brought it home, he has had a horrible ride on the interstates with expansion joints. They recently went to Tennessee (6 hr. drive one way) and everything went great except the bouncing and chucking. It was so bad coming home, they had to stop multiple times to get out and take a walk because his wife was getting almost sick.

I-40 in western NC is terrible. Its been mentioned here on this forum. And traveling 55 mph roads is no problem. Its only interstate travel.

I went over there this afternoon so we could try it with my F350 SRW. I pull my Vengeance with no issues at all and a good ride. Both out campers are similar in weights but he has the Sidewinder attached to his. When we got out on the interstate, it definitely did the chucking and bouncing at times but it wasn't terrible. But to me, I can't explain it but the truck did feel like there was more weight at the rear of the bed. I know that seems odd but that's how I would best describe it.

The Sidewinder has really good reviews from what I know. But the design appears to put more weight further back in the bed versus a traditional hitch set-up.

1. Has anyone heard of this issue with chucking using a Sidewinder hitch?

2. If he sells the Momentum and gets a lighter weight fifth wheel, would you think that would solve this problem even though he has to still use a Sidewinder with that truck?

Again, we know he's overweight. He's just contemplating the pros and cons of buying a bigger truck which means more money or buying a smaller camper but that also means less money. They both have good sides and bad sides.

[Bedlam]

The hitch point relative to the fifth wheel does move, so it could be an issue with too much or too little weight on the pin. Has he tried to load weight in the front or rear of the FW to see if ride quality changes with a shift in weight?

Does his 2500 use conventional leafs? If so a set of Torklift StableLoads will pretension the suspension sooner and help the chucking.

Does his 2500 have aftermarket airbags? Try letting some air out of them so the spring carries more of the weight and less on the bag. If this is the cause, SuperSprings or Timbrens may keep him level without the chucking.