ttavasc
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Re: Sway Control options - help please
I'm assuming you have an Outdoors RV trailer from the Timber Ridge family line. Which specific model is it? ORV trailers are known to be somewhat tongue heavy which is why we went with a 3/4 ton instead of a 1/2 ton for our recent Timber Ridge upgrade. Our 23DBS is about 900lbs heavier as delivered compared to the published full featured dry weight. Lightly loaded at around 8000lbs the tongue weight is 1180lbs which is close to 15%. We are using a Blue Ox SwayPro 15K hitch with 1500lb bars. Excellent sway control, easy to hitch up and pulls very nicely. As others have suggested you should get everything weighed so you know exactly what your weights are and what your actual tongue weight/percent is. That will help to make an educated decision about which hitch and sway control to use.569Views0likes0CommentsRe: Hitch Release Tips w Gas Strut Truck
obedon wrote: I seem to be having a challenge getting the hitch/tongue to release the ball when disconnecting my trailer. The hitch lifts the truck as the jack raises the trailer tongue. I have tried hitting the hitch with a rubber mallet, or lowering and raising over again, or standing on the truck bumper to bounce it all with some success but I would appreciate better guidance. The truck is a 2016 RAM 1500 limited so the option to raise it's level seems to be working against me for hauling a travel trailer. Many thanks. If your RAM is equipped with the oem air suspension you should be disabling that before hitching and unhitching to prevent exactly what you describe - unwanted movement by the suspension when hooking or unhooking the trailer. This is done via the Uconnect settings by placing the suspension in Tire Jack mode. I had the same system on my '14 RAM Big Horn and it worked great when towing, but it does require a little different handling.526Views0likes0CommentsRe: Hot brakes and Tall trailers
TowBo wrote: I wondered if the brakes might be sticking. Thanks for the heads up. It helps to have others who know what to look for. It is the 195rb baja. We just picked ours up a few months back. How is yours holding up? Do you like it? So far so good, though I think this is the last season we are going to use it. Just upgraded the TV to the F-250 in anticipation of upgrading the trailer over the next off-season. We bought ours new in early 2015. Only had a couple of minor warranty issues - other than that it's been pretty much routine maintenance/repairs along with some minor modifications. We have had a couple of minor leaks on the front - surprisingly none of which were actually the window. I think we'll be close to 30K miles on it by the end of this season. Overall quite happy with it.579Views0likes0CommentsRe: Hot brakes and Tall trailers
That looks like a 195RB Baja - if so we have the same year and model. One of the problems we ran into early on with it was sticky brakes which caused similar situation to what you are describing. In my case there was a chalky sort of build-up accumulating where the edge of the shoes contact the back of the drum as well as various places on the brake magnet arm. I wire brushed all those areas clean and now use CRC Brake and Caliper Grease on all those touch points every year when I re-pack the wheel bearings.579Views0likes0CommentsRe: 6.4 ram gasser? General gas towing questions
JBrady5555 wrote: Lantley wrote: JBrady5555 wrote: Any insight on adding a secondary gas tank to a gas vehicle? I know your asking about aux. tanks,However diesels have the advantage of being able to use aux. tanks. Aux. tanks for gasoline are generally illegal and unavailable. Diesels also have a greater fuel range which means you can go farther on a tank of gas. With a diesel you can fuel up at trucks stops when towing, and avoid tiny gas stations and the anxiety that comes with finding a station you can fit into. Lastly all modern diesels now come with exhaust brakes, that really make a difference when towing in the mountains. Yea I still would like to have the extra tank even if it has to be manually pumped. Titan Fuel Tanks makes a small 15-gallon aux transfer tank called the Sidekick which is certified for use with gasoline as well as most other flammable liquids. You use a shaker siphon to transfer the fuel to your main tank. At ~$470 it's not cheap though. Titan Sidekick Aux Fuel Tank400Views0likes0CommentsRe: Weight distribution hitch with ram auto leveling
Terryallan has it right. You need to be level and disable the suspension before hooking up. While you don't say what RAM model you have, if it's the 1500 with the 4-corner active suspension which is what I have you can temporarily disable the suspension by placing it in "Tire Jack Mode" through the U-Connect settings. Once disabled then configure the WDH per the manufacturer recommendations with one exception - set the ball height about an inch below the level coupler height instead of slightly above level coupler height. This will prevent the trailer being slightly nose high once the suspension is re-engaged after hooking up as it will immediately return the truck to level. If you start out with the ball slightly higher to account for some sag the suspension will push it right back up there when it levels the truck out. Also, I would disable the suspension before unhooking as well to ensure that it's not adjusting while you are trying to lift and remove the tongue. After you have set up the hitch I highly recommend visiting the CAT scale and verifying your axle weights to ensure that the proper load has been restored to the front axle.236Views0likes0CommentsRe: Considering the Andersen Weight Distribution Hitch
Just finished up our 4th season with the Andersen on our Jayco Jay Flight SLX 195RB Baja (3750gvwr/450lb tw). We've towed almost 23K miles during that time and the only real issue we've had is the original friction cone came from a bad batch that had some metal shavings embedded in it. That caused the hitch to seize up a bit when turning and was very noisy. Customer Support was very responsive and overnighted a replacement friction cone no charge. I was more interested in the sway control than the weight distribution as the ~450lb tongue weight doesn't really pull that much off the front axle. The combination is very stable when being passed by semi's at freeway speeds as well as in moderate to severe winds. The light weight and ease of hook-up were also a consideration as I wanted something that the DW could hitch up herself if needed (she can quite easily). Based on our experience I think this is an excellent hitch for small to medium trailers. We are starting to look at upgrading to a larger trailer - around 6K GVWR - and I'm planning on sticking with the Andersen for that as well.1.6KViews0likes0Comments
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Prefer to camp in a travel trailer? You're not alone.Apr 19, 201944,027 Posts
