Do all lightweight large TT's tow terribly, or just ours?

[BoilerEE]

Hello RV.net forums friends! It's been a while, but I'm back, and with a completely different rig now. We've had a couple of different large truck campers, a 42' Titanium 5th wheel, and multiple cargo trailers up to 10k# and 30', so I consider myself a fairly experienced RVer.

Thinking I knew what I was doing, we decided to try an SUV/TT combo, and I'm happy that we're only trying it (will be driving back to Alaska for the summer so my wife and I can do our Guard/Reserve duty for the year and then selling the rig up there and flying home). The reason I'm glad is, it tows terribly!!! Here are the details:

2015 Suburban LTZ
2013 Passport Ultra Lite 3220BH
14K Equal-i-zer hitch (tried a 6K on the dealer's advice, and it was way too sloppy, so I just setup my 14K I had from previous setups, and it's better, but still floaty).

So, I spent some time at the scales today and here's what I learned:
Suburban is right at 5980# empty, with Steer axle 3080 and drive 2900.
The height to the front wheel well unloaded is 35 1/2"

I didn't run across without the WD bars attached, but the wheel well height was 36 1/8" with no weight distribution.

With the Equal-i-zer adjusted, my weights are:
Steer: 2840 (240# less than unloaded) and height of wheel well is 35 7/8"
Drive: 3960
Trailer: 5960
Gross: 12760

I'm thinking I could probably put in one more washer to dial in a little more WD and get the Steer axle closer to the unloaded weight, but I'm wondering if not matter what I do the real problem is that I've got a ton of surface area and very little weight. Is this just the way it is with a light and large TT? Is there anything I'm missing?

As you can see, it's dead-nuts level (which makes my OCD happy) -- I just wish it was as nice to drive as it is to look at!

M%Eo6MepSZWYAax5bVlnXA by BoilerEE, on Flickr

[BoilerEE]

ScottG wrote:
It's amazing how a little adjustment can make such a big difference. One washer may make all the difference in the world.
However, I do believe that once you get up above thirty-ish feet, a fifth wheel handles better.

That's my conclusion as well after one shake-down trip - this thing is 35' long and really, really light, so it's like trailering a sailboat with the sail up!

[ScottG]

It's amazing how a little adjustment can make such a big difference. One washer may make all the difference in the world.
However, I do believe that once you get up above thirty-ish feet, a fifth wheel handles better.

In my own case, the equive. difference of 1 of your washers means the difference between terrible and good.