HELP NEEDED TRAILER HOOK UP

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71newlands

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Jun 10, 2013
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HI  i am very confused with the diff weights of the trailer i own  i am having a problem, when i hook up my 99 2500 suburban to my 298bh sunset creek with a dry gross weight of6615lbs  front of truck andrear of trailer are higher than where trailer is hooked up to truck. this trailer was bought used andi have the hitch and equalizer bars that came with the trailer not sure what to do next  have tried several adjustments with height of ball and angle of ball  i thinkthe weightdistribution bars are not doingthere job  or i am just missing something when i bought this i towedit home withmy 97 gmc 6.5 diesel and hardly knew it was on the back  but theguyibought it hooked it up with me watching so not sure ifi am doing something wrong on hookup i also hooked itback up to my 97 amd the same problem exists any help would be greatly appreciated  jim
 
You need more tension on the spring (equalizing) bars. That should raise the back of the truck. Adjust tension until the truck is more-or-less level, then adjust the ball mount to get the trailer level as well.

See this article in the RV Forum Library:
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
 
i did read that article and when i did originally set it up with my 97 gmc i did all that and it seemed fine,but now when i hook up there is almost no tension on the bars  i could almost put it inplace by hand instead of using my chettah bar    either truck the results are the same  it seems likei need more links on the chain to getthe tension i need  not really sure what to do at this point  would gladly take it somewhere if anyone could reccomend a reputable place in orange county ny    thx again for any help
 
71newlands said:
i it seems likei need more links on the chain to getthe tension i need 
Click to expand...

I'm a bit confused by this statement.  On mine, the more links I use, the less tension I get on the bars.  Or in other words, the fewer links I have between the hook and the bar, the more tension I get.
 
sorry dont mean to confuse anyone    when i originally hooked it up i used previous owners formula and it seemed to work fine which was the 3rd link from the free end of the chain    now i am on the 6th link from the end of the chain and have very little tension
 
Do you know what type of weight distribution system you have?  When you put your weight distribution bars into the hitch, are you inserting that from the bottom or top?  Any chance you could attach a picture of your setup?
 
sorry  just learning to do things on the computer  pictures are out ofmy league right now  the hitch systym is a reese and it all came together so i am guessing that the bars are also a reese  they go in from the bottom and than turn to lock them in
 
It sounds like you are doing everything right regarding the hookup of the weight distribution bars.  I am confused too.
 
will get it figured out at some point  not going away for ten more days    there really is no way to put the bars on wrong is there ??
 
What the previous owner did to level his tow vehicle is irrelevant to yours. Some tow vehicles, e.g. a 3/4 ton pick-up truck, can probably carry the tongue weight without any spring brs at all. Your Suburban, though, obviously needs help. Tighten up those bars until the rear end comes up. If you get the bars all the way to the top and it still isn't leveled out, get stronger (more lb rating) bars. Your trailer is probably putting about 800-1000 lbs on the hitch and that will really settle the back end of a Burb.

Did you do the measurements as described in the library article (URL above)?
 
i have nowhere else to go with the bars there are no links left to tighten what really has me stumped is when i set it up originally on my 3/4 ton pickup  all measurements were on the money but now on both the 3/4 ton pu and the 3/4 ton suburban  i do not seem to have the same tension in the bars that i had in the beginning  so am really at a loss    will make a few phone calls tomorrow and seeif i an get someone with hopefully alot more knowledge than me to take a look at it
 
If your hitch head is adjustable like this one the top bolt holding it onto the hitch bar also controls the front to back tilt of the head.

If the bolt is slightly loose, the head can tilt forward under the pressure of the equalizing bars, making them tilt upwards and requiring less active links (less chain between the bar and trailer tongue) to get the same preloading on the bars.

The two square washers between the bolt and hitch head have an offset hole - you can loosen the bolt and rotate the washers until you get the head at the proper angle.

 
just got back from an RV place  the part of the reciever that the bars slide up into were completely worn away and the ball was at the wrong angle  so it is squared away  THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUGGESTIONS AND HELP  JIM
 
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