Problems with wd setup..Suggestions?

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Badstang79

Badstang79

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Joined
Jun 26, 2012
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3
Location
Iowa
I tow a 2007 K-Z jag 28' JBSS (bunk house/super slide) with my 2004 F150. When I purchased the camper I had the dealership set my hitch up for me, but couldn't get it in to actually match it up so they took the receiver measurments and I was on my way. After doing a little research I realized something was terribly wrong. Unloaded my height to wheel wells is 40.25" in back and 39.75" in front. Withoutthe wd hooked up I'm at 37" in back and 40.75 in front. Then with wd I'm at 37.5 in back and 40.25 in front. So I took it back and had them look at it. They adjusted the head angle, but stated there was nothing else they could do because of my leveling kit in the front of the truck. The camper is level when hooked up now, but is there anything I can do to take some of the weight/sag off my truck?
I forgot to mention dry wieght is 6560 lbs. and tongue weight is around 780. I use a curt trunnion system with 1000lb tw & 10k lb. gross.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
If you use a lower link (hook a chain link closer to the WD bar), this will shift more weight to the front of the truck. Unless you are on the last link now, try moving 1 link at a a time and take measurements until the truck has regained it's original near-level stance. If the trailer ends up nose-high, you will need to drop the hitch head to level it out.

I'm not sure what effect the "leveling kit" in the front end will have on the final weight distribution. If it includes heavier duty springs, this might cause problems. If it's nothing more than a front end "lift", however, I don't think it will have an impact on weight distribution.

Good luck.
 
Agree with Joezeppy.  Could you explain a bit more about this front leveling kit? And why it is there?  But it doesn't sound as though it ought to stop the WD from doing its job. The WD should be able to restore whatever angle the truck has before the trailer is hitched up.
 
The front leveling kit is basically a poly spacer between the coil spring and the mount to bring the front end up level with the back as Ford's had quite a bit of rake in the front from the factory. It really doesn't change ride quality from the front at all so I don't believe that it changed the rigidity of the front suspension.
 
Agree - that front end kit is irrelevant to leveling with the WD hitch. Your dealer is blowing smoke because they either don't know how to adjust WD or don't want to bother. Did they give you the instructions that came with the WD set-up? Typically they throw those away, often even before reading it themselves.

If you don't have the instructions, this downloadable Curt manual probably covers yours.

http://www.etrailer.com/instructions.aspx?pn=17302

This article in the RVForum library summarizes the procedure:
http://www.rvforum.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=195:using-a-adjusting-a-weight-distributing-hitch&catid=26:towing-and-towables&Itemid=45
 
This post had me thinking.  Has anyone actually weighed there front axle with their TT hitched both with and without the WD being hooked up.  It would be interesting to know just how much weight is transfered.
 
Lowell said:
This post had me thinking.  Has anyone actually weighed there front axle with their TT hitched both with and without the WD being hooked up.  It would be interesting to know just how much weight is transfered.
Click to expand...

I am curious about this, too, and have always wanted a complete set of "before, during, & after" weights but since I run about 3,000 lbs under my max towing and GCWR numbers, I have not bothered. Plus, I know the second I unhook on the truck scales, 5 big rigs will pull in behind me!  :mad:
 
You can see that the WD is working as the front suspension comes down and the rear goes up. Who cares what the actual pounds of weight transfer may be? Itwill be somewhere between zero and the rating of the spring bars on the WD, depending on how many links in the adjustment chain you utilize.
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
Who cares what the actual pounds of weight transfer may be?
Click to expand...
I do!  Curious minds want to know if it realy acomplishes what we think it does. 
 
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