5th wheel bucking question

[TowPro]

My brother has a problem towing his 30' Lorado (keystone?) 5er behind his short bed ford. He was complaining about his back hurting, the camper is always "bucking". So we took it out behind my dodge. I have had 3 different 5ers and none of them have done this, the camper seems to be jurking the truck forward and back while towing it. ITs got to be the front of the camper bucking up and down. My feeling are the toung weight is to low. Next we got to get it on a scale, he is thinking of putting a bunch of bags of concrete into the front to see what the weight does. yes its level on both trucks while towing.



any ideas?

 

[TPoulsen]

Does it by chance have a goose neck adapter on it ?



Tyler

 

[YFZBOB]

He may need a set of Air-Bags...

 

[Hoefler]

Being a short bed truck, his pin is probably setting too far back on his truck, not putting enough weight on the front axle or, if the pin sets behind the center of the rear axle, he is taking weight off the front axle and transferring it to the rear.

 

[Jumbo Jet]

I have a 30' Keystone Laredo and pull it with my LWB. Sometimes I almost forget it is even back there. Check my truck specs below.

How does he load the rear of the RV? On mine, the fresh water tank is located at the rear also.

 

[RustyJC]

Generally, adding more pin weight will help with a bucking problem. If his fresh water tank is in the rear and he's running with it full, that could be his problem.



Rusty

 

[TowPro]

I will try to answer all the questions in one post



#2, no goose neck, its an extended pin box.



#3, Its does the same thing on his truck and mine, I don't need air bags. In fact the pin weight was a good deal less then my Titanium.



#4, His Reese slider hitch is installed an inch or 2 forward of the rear axle (when hitch is in towing positon). Its installed right where Reese wants it.



#5, sounds like the same camper, but might be a different layout. I was thinking about the loading, but Since all the storage areas are in the middle or front of the camper I don't see any excess weight rear of the axles. I think his water tank is right on top of the axles, he said a full load of water don't make a difference. He does load 2 bicycles on the back using a rack that slides into the factory hitch.



I have been in his truck, plus towed it with mine, its not dangerous, but the bouncing does make for a long day in his short bed truck. If he had not towed other 5ers in the past (he used to work for an RV dealer) he might not even know it was not supposed to do what its doing.



We need to get it on a scale and see the pin weight. Our guess is they lowered the pin weight so they could market it for 1/2 ton trucks.



His Ferd has helper springs also (2500) and he is just hitting them.

 

[BGlidewell]

I don't need air bags.

I'll differ on this point. My RV has 2800# on the pin. I bucked pre-airbags. No more. With ABs you can lift the rear back up to empty height and/or level the ride of pretty much any trailer

 

[Foil Freak 1211]

I'd bet you are right on the pin weight. Get it on a scale and see. If it is pin weight, what would you do to fix it long term?

 

[Jumbo Jet]

My pin weight is 1,815 lbs. Dry

#ad

 

[YFZBOB]

His Ferd has helper springs also (2500) and he is just hitting them.

I'm wondering if it's acting like a Spring Board, off the Helper Springs. Oo.

 

[BGlidewell]

I'm wondering if it's acting like a Spring Board, off the Helper Springs. Oo.

This is a bit OT but it reminded me of a problem I noticed with two of my friends 250 ford PS trucks. The suspensions pretty much act like huge levers. If you sit in the back seat, you need a hardhat and you WILL dent the roof.

 

[cojhl2]

Remember he said his Dodge does the same thing with that trailer!! It's a trailer issue!!!

 

[litespeed]

I'll vouch for the light pin weight and spring pad overload problem.



I recently pulled a 40' Carriage Commander (14,000 lb. camper) about 350 miles for a friend of mine. The pin weight was a little light. Light enough so that the truck was just barely on the overloads.



I had the EXACT same problem. It drove me CRAZY. If I hit any little bump in the road... . It would jerk the whole truck back and forth. By the time the trip was over. I felt like a broken "Bobble Head Doll".



I honestly cannot tell you how annoying it was. It drove me nuts. Every overpass, every pavement imperfection..... I'm never pulling that thing again.



This has nothing to do with Ford, Dodge or GM. ?? It is a weight and balance or a weight distribution problem.



AJ

 

[BGlidewell]

Remember he said his Dodge does the same thing with that trailer!! It's a trailer issue!!!

yeah I got that, just had to put in a jab on ferds

But it still may not be a trailer issue only, just because two different trucks do the same thing...

 

[TowPro]

My pin weight is around 2200lbs on my Titanium. I replaced the rubber blocks on my helper spring perches with 2 5/8" blocks from offroad warehouse, now it sits level loaded and about 2" high in the back empty. these blocks are not "hard" where when you hit them the spring stops, they have hollow spots in them so they actually add some "shock absorbing" as the springs hit them.



empty the front one just hits and rear has about 4" clearance, you never know they are there.

I'll differ on this point. My RV has 2800# on the pin. I bucked pre-airbags. No more. With ABs you can lift the rear back up to empty height and/or level the ride of pretty much any trailer

 

[cojhl2]

You are right,, I was too abrubt on the response. It is how the trailer is mounted to the pickup or the trailer suspension or weight. I was trying to get the attention away from strictly the pulling vehicle.

 

[McCRam]

My 29rl laredo bucked when I got it. I learned not to travel with the fresh water over a 1/3 full. I also took my tools out of the truck and put them in the basement. That helps a ton. I would like to put some shocks on the trailer as well. It seems to bounce quite a bit when I hit bumps.

 

[TowPro]

True, my last 2 5ers have had shocks. Plus he has bias ply tires on the camper that are near max load all the time. He talked about putting a bunch of bags of sackcreat under the front bed, nothing like the cure being worse then the problem