Rough31
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Re: Sway Fatigue
The traier is set up for travel, we keep most of our belongings on board throughout the camping season, Only thing missing is the duffel bags, and fridge food. The heaviest kitchen items sucj as bottled water were refilled on purpose before weighing. I may very well be wrong but my understanding of why it was two passes instead of three was because of the three seperate pads. And the numbers dont add evenly because they area conglomerate of two sets of numbers. GCWR is 7940 + 5700lbs not the 6800 GVWR which includes the tongue weight on the truck. The weights were obtained in the following two passes... First weight Truck on steer axel pad, nothing on Drive axel pad and trailer on trailer axel pad. 6800 lbs, 0lbs and 6980lbs with gross weight of 13780. Second pass ... unhitched... Truck on first pad, hitch on second and trailer axels on third. 5700lbs, 1200lbs, 6740lbs with gross weight of 13640lbs. The way it was explained to me. The first pass gave me the GVWR (6800lbs) and GCWR(13780). The second pass provided the tongue weight (1200) a GCWR (13640 - noted 140lb differential) and the trailer weight (13640 - 5700 = 7940).539Views0likes0CommentsRe: Sway Fatigue
LarryJM wrote: From reading your posts in this thread it appears you have the 5.3L crew cab "short box" configuration and according to the information in the table referenced above on page 9-92 (2WD version) and page 9-95 (4WD version) your tow capacity is between 6,000 (4WD) (6,100 for 2WD) with a 3.08 rear end and 6700 (4WD)(6800 for 2WD) with a 3.08 rear end and the K5L HD Cooling PKG (7,000 for 2WD K5L HD Cooling Pkg XFE) upto 9500 (4WD) (9600 for 2WD) with the 3.42 rear end and K5L HD Cooling Pkg. Biggest issue I see is also in that the GCWR varies from only 11,500 to 15,000 as a max and with a trailer having a "dry wt" of 7,000 and a wet wt. of probably closer to 8500 attached to a 1/2T TV with a max. GVWR of 7300(4WD) or 7100(2WD), I bet you are most likely over or VERY, VERY close to all your ratings .... GCWR, GVWR and probably RAWR and maybe even tires. There is also a chance you have exceeded not only your WDH rating of 1,000lbs, but the factory receiver max tongue wt. for using a WDH setup. Larry Ok.... So first my vehicle (I was wrong regarding tow capacity)... I do have the 5.3L, Crew Cab, Short box, 3.42 Axel ratio with the HD cooling package.My tow capacity is 9500lbs, GCWR is 15000lbs and GVWR is 7300lbs. I located a CAT Scales near my home. The Tech directed two passes to obtain weights. Now my weigh in results - Combined Weight - 13640lbs, Tongue Weight - 1200lbs, Trailer weight 7940lbs. GVWR - 6800lbs. My wife and daughter were not with me so I was missing about 200lbs which would have brought the GVWR up to 7000lbs. My understanding of those numbers is that I am at the high end of my limits, but have not exceeded them??? I do think the TW is probably heavier then i want as it does slightly exceed the 15% mark. I do have lumber for levelling and some other removable items in my front hatch that could help in bringing those numbers down. Tongue weight is also an issue for my hitch. I have the Equalizer 10K, When I plug the numbers into their web site it indicated I should be using the 12K... If I reduce the TW to 1000 it advises the 10K is sufficient. What I can't tell from the site is if there is a difference in the Hitch heads or would I just need new torsion bars? I will have to call them during business hours next week. My storage yard actually had a poured concrete pad which they have no built on yet. So i took advantage of the perfectly level surface. I pulled onto it, ripped my hitch apart and started from ground zero. My hitch height moved the trailer from slightly above level to slightly below. Test drives post changes seemed strong, but a coupe hours of driving time will be needed to be confident in the changes.539Views0likes0CommentsRe: Sway Fatigue
What the OP understands... Is that I have experinenced on two specific occasions driving challenges that were not consistent with approximately 9000km of towing time. Something was different and I am attempting to figure out what might have changed on those two days that effected the vehicles performance. Could my set up require tweaking, of course it could, no hitch setup is going to be 100% perfect. That being said, I have followed the manufactures specs for setup and remeasured during this year to ensure I was still getting appropriate transfer from rear axel to front. Could I benefit from knowing my weights, of course I could. But I do trust the certified weights I was provided by the dealer and am very cognizant of what I carry in my rig. A search of persons who have posted details of the Sunset 31SS tongue weight I have found results between 750 and 850 (Within 10-15%). I will be taking Turtles advice on how to check mine and expect it will exhibit similar results. Fatigue was my term, because to the 99% of the populaton who are not engineers, It means tired and in need of rest. I admit to not being an engineer and wondered if parts such as my torsion bars, shocks or suspension could in fact simply be tired and in need of rest after 3 straight days of towing. Based on my driving history with the vehicle this is a fairly logical hypothesis, one which an engineer could probably confirm or deny for me. And as for being ok when everything is NOT severe... My driving conditions were actually far more severe when it was driving well. When I experienced the most significant sway I was on a Pin straight section of highway in Georgia on a clear sunny day, travelling at approximately 65 MPH, a speed which I have been able to consistently tow at without challenge. If is had happened when things were severe... I would probably had a very different hypothesis.421Views0likes0CommentsRe: Sway Fatigue
Turtle... Thanks for the link... I know where i will be this weekend, figuring out TW 8iron - It is a 2013, this was my first full year pulling this rig, I picked it up a year ago today. Coyote - I did consider me just being overly sensitive, but on both of the travel days that I experienced problems my wife commented unsolicited on how much it was moving. For her to notice it with out the input of the steering wheel in her hands told me the movement was fairly significant. The road grease theory is interesting and certainly a possibility. Anyone have thoughts on the trucks factory rubber and how that contributes to sway? I am actually looking at replacement tires now and considering brands built for heavier loads.421Views0likes0CommentsRe: Sway Fatigue
Turtle... I have not measured the tongue weight. Not even sure there is anywhere near me with the capability of doing that. TXIce... Sunset trails ships there trailers with a certified dry weight equipment included. Each unit is weighted on delivery and individually marked. I am going on memory because the rig is not at home but mine came in at 6982lbs. When I bought the rig I assumed 1500lbs in cargo/people/stuff and wanted plenty of room to spare which was why I went shopping with a 7000lb limit. I have towed this set up this year with 6 grown men and a weekend of beer in the truck, easily outweighing my family trips by 1000lbs and had no issues at all. I know my towing weights are the obvious easy answer to this issue. And if the sway problem was consistent I would suspect that was the correct answer. But reality is out of 9000km of travel the sway problems have only occured on two days and both times after three straight days of towing. Truck length is an issue, the short box wheel base is going to struggle with a longer trailer, but again that does not account for the inconsistent performance. Tire pressure was checked prior to the trip on both vehicles and was in very good shape, as noted my only concern there was when we hit record temps inthe South that expansion may have over inflated the tires.421Views0likes0CommentsRe: Sway Fatigue
Water was not a consideration... Only fluids I carry are about 5 gallons in my fresh tank for roadside emergencies, and i carry that consistently on purpose to not change my balance. My grey and black tanks were emptied each morning before travelling... Again to not change my balance,and because I am cheap and don't want to waste fuel hauling dishwater around the country :) We don't take much gear with us, and what we do take is generally stored in the same position on all of our previously successful trips. The only place we might have been a little heavier then normal is the pantry and that is centered over my wide-stance axels. Even clothing would have balanced out because the parents gear is mainly in the front or center coat closet and the kids is in the rear.421Views0likes0CommentsRe: Sway Fatigue
Campigloo... Not offended at all... would love to upgrade to the 2500 Diesel. And the torsion bars are definetly a consideration... My first thought when the issues started were that after three days they were feeling the strain... One of my first solutions (unsuccessful) was to flip them around to reverse the load on them.421Views0likes0CommentsRe: Sway Fatigue
I actually checked the bolts several times on the trip and everything was tight. My trucks payload capacity is 1928lbs. My family is young, so even with my fat butt we only total 600lbs. The listed hitch weight for the trailer is around 850 lbs, leaving me 500lbs to spare on payload capacity and 150lbs on the hitch spring arm capacity. I know the real numbers will be different, but I would be surprised if I exceeded those guidelines. And I have to go back to.... My set up was working. I am very careful to not significantly change my payload between trips and keep things as balanced as possible. And nothing changed in my payload between the first and third days of the trip. Even through the downhill portions in the mountains of West Virginia I had no concerns. It was not until the straight highways of Georgia on day three that I started to have sway concerns.421Views0likes0CommentsRe: Sway Fatigue
I appreciate the input. This was not my first trip with this rig. I have put 9000km on with this set up, I log every trip and pay a great deal of attention to how it drives each time and had tweaked my set up during a long trip to Washington DC earlier this year. Subsequent trips continued to feel good. I promise my rig is set up for 10500 and yes I estimate my wet weight at 8500lbs... Still very much within my tow rating. Driver fatigue was not the problem, I did the trip over three days specifically to avoid that issue. The sway was worse with a full tank of fuel so weight does seem to have some involvement, but again it was only on the third straight day of towing each time. Full tanks on day one and two did not appear to impact the problem.173Views0likes0Comments
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