What have you done to resolve the choppy ride when towing on concrete roads?

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DonPam said:
Scottydl
The choppy ride I am talking about is the sensation that we feel in the cab passing over joints. On one particular divided state route in Wisconsin this summer headed east toward Sturgeon Bay, we actually had to get off the road, the chop was so bad.
The source of the problem is the joints in the concrete roads. You see, the concrete slabs are curling as they age. That is, despite all the rebar that goes into those joints, the slabs curl up at the ends. Some worse than the others. I could bore you to death with the science of it, but trust me. If not Google ?concrete curling.?
As we pass over the joints, having tried differing speeds, we get the truck reaction, and the trailer reaction, that will rattle your teeth loose. The truck isn?t bottoming out or anything like that - in fact it may be too rigid. Since the trailer doesn?t have shocks, it?s trying to bounce. I?m contemplating shocks for the trailer, but am waiting to see if someone says YES THAT WILL IMPROVE IT to a 5on a scale of 1-10.
One minor thing that could be contributing in a small way is the hitch socket on the truck. The 2500HD comes with a larger socket, I think 2 1/2? and an adapter at 2? that has a little play (less than snug) and the trailer hitch fits typically (somewhat loose)in the adapter. I?ve thought about welding the adapter to the main socket to make it permanent and tight, but I?m going to try set screws on all 4 sides between the adapter and hitch tongue to make the hitch and adapter perform like a single unit. This is minor in the big problem, but nonetheless a contributor.
Click to expand...
I had the adapter welded to my hitch bar instead of the truck hitch. It did take a lot of play out of it.
 
The road to Sturgeon Bay is pretty bad.  I know I live in WI.  I take the left lane.  However, I believe every state has a section that is pretty bad. I slow down. Non worse than I-10 in the Lafayette, LA area.
 
Gary RV Wizard,
I always love your responses! They are always thoughtful, informative and thorough! You must teach in a college somewhere!
Thank you
 
LOL! I was a computer systems design engineer by trade, so "thorough" goes with the territory. Never taught in a college, but have taught some professional training classes.
 
DonPam said:
Scottydl
The choppy ride I am talking about is the sensation that we feel in the cab passing over joints. On one particular divided state route in Wisconsin this summer headed east toward Sturgeon Bay, we actually had to get off the road, the chop was so bad.
The source of the problem is the joints in the concrete roads. You see, the concrete slabs are curling as they age. That is, despite all the rebar that goes into those joints, the slabs curl up at the ends. Some worse than the others. I could bore you to death with the science of it, but trust me. If not Google ?concrete curling.?
As we pass over the joints, having tried differing speeds, we get the truck reaction, and the trailer reaction, that will rattle your teeth loose. The truck isn?t bottoming out or anything like that - in fact it may be too rigid. Since the trailer doesn?t have shocks, it?s trying to bounce. I?m contemplating shocks for the trailer, but am waiting to see if someone says YES THAT WILL IMPROVE IT to a 5on a scale of 1-10.
One minor thing that could be contributing in a small way is the hitch socket on the truck. The 2500HD comes with a larger socket, I think 2 1/2? and an adapter at 2? that has a little play (less than snug) and the trailer hitch fits typically (somewhat loose)in the adapter. I?ve thought about welding the adapter to the main socket to make it permanent and tight, but I?m going to try set screws on all 4 sides between the adapter and hitch tongue to make the hitch and adapter perform like a single unit. This is minor in the big problem, but nonetheless a contributor.
Click to expand...

I am assuming you are using a WDH to pull your trailer? If so change out your 2" shank on the WDH to a 2 1/2 inch shank. Not sure if it will help your ride but it makes a lot more sense to use the right shank instead of welding an adapter....
 
Growing up in Florida in the 50's and 60's I drove on many "wash board" roads. There were two ways to alleviate the tooth shattering ride; slow down to a creep-effective but takes hours to get where you're going; go as fast as possible so tires only skim the tops of the ruts. When we fulltimed in a 5th wheel we encountered some really rough concrete highways. I had to find a place in the road to drive that was the least offensive to our comfort. Sometimes this was in the left lane which irritated the big rig drivers, but I didn't care too much about their feelings. I would posit the most effective solution would be to plan your trip so as to avoid these highways.
 
The problem definitely exists almost nationwide on concrete roads.  The curling problem is being addressed in many areas for the past few years by removing concrete about 3 feet on each side of the joint and then laying in 6 foot sections of rebar to join the two sections together after repouring the concrete (no joint).  This does dramatically smooth out the highway but time will tell if the curling now occurs at the new joints on each side of the old joint. 

Bill
 
One minor thing that could be contributing in a small way is the hitch socket on the truck. The 2500HD comes with a larger socket, I think 2 1/2? and an adapter at 2? that has a little play (less than snug) and the trailer hitch fits typically (somewhat loose)in the adapter. I?ve thought about welding the adapter to the main socket to make it permanent and tight, but I?m going to try set screws on all 4 sides between the adapter and hitch tongue to make the hitch and adapter perform like a single unit.
Click to expand...

There are devices available for this that do not require welding. etrailer.com offers  a couple different varieties.

https://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Hitch_Anti%7ERattle-sz-Accessory_Anti%7ERattle-pc-Fits_2%7E1%7C2_Inch_Hitch.aspx
 
Gary,
I think one of these could do the job! It accomplishes, if it works as advised, and I see no reason why it won?t. It will eliminate the play in both pieces, shank to adapter and adapter to hitch socket. The set screw idea I had only tightens the shank to the adapter.
I had forgotten e-trailer.

Thanks again!
 
DonPam said:
Gary,
I think one of these could do the job! It accomplishes, if it works as advised, and I see no reason why it won?t. It will eliminate the play in both pieces, shank to adapter and adapter to hitch socket. The set screw idea I had only tightens the shank to the adapter.
I had forgotten e-trailer.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

I don't think that will eliminate the discomfort you experience on concrete highways. We had a fifth wheel and it was tight in the hitch and we still experienced a great deal of discomfort on those highways.
 
If you have airbags on your truck, my trick works!

I found that airing up the bags to their limits and basically removing any rear end suspension movement will eliminate almost all of the bouncing. To do this, you will need an on board compressor though.
 
lone_star_dsl said:
If you have airbags on your truck, my trick works!

I found that airing up the bags to their limits and basically removing any rear end suspension movement will eliminate almost all of the bouncing. To do this, you will need an on board compressor though.
Click to expand...

Which is what I said back in my post, however, I don't know if the same thing applies to a TT as opposed to a 5th wheel. 
 
Gary, I ordered the hitch rattle device from etrailer. At a minimum it will show me what results I might get by bumping up to the 2 1/2? shank by Equalizer that John97031 located.
Lastly, someone suggested air bags on my truck. Currently I do not have air bags on my truck, but if I move that direction, I will consider an on board compressor setup.
The next step I will take will be the rattle bracket at the hitch, then shocks on the trailer.
As I have progress with results worthy of sharing, I will update this post.
What I have heard is that I can improve the ride a little, but not eliminate it. For now, I?ll take improvement!?
Thank you ALL for your recommendations and humor.
 
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