Front end bounce with 5er

[jalberring]

Today I saw the following:



A 2 wheel drive Dodge 2500 V10 extended cab long bed was pulling a fairly small fifth wheel trailer. The truck and trailer were approaching a traffic light that had just changed and the driver had to apply heavy brakes. As the combo was slowing the front end of the truck began to bounce up and down quite violently. This eventually stopped a short time after the truck stopped.



My question is: What would cause this?



My intial thoughts are improper load distribution. The rear end of the truck was sitting pretty low, however, the trailer didn't look that big.



Thanks.

 

[RustyJC]

I never had this problem with our 1996 2WD V-10 3500 towing either a 30' (10,900 GVWR) or our current 36' (13,500 GVWR) 5ver. On the other hand, the first trip out in our current truck (see signature) we knew that we were going to have to do something! Towing or empty, the front end was way too soft - it would bounce 2 or 3 times just going over expansion joints. The front shocks obviously had insufficient rebound damping. The back end was rock hard empty and would kick over every expansion joint like the suspension never moved, but when towing the 5ver it would bounce continuously, unfortunately out of phase with the front end bounce. This made all of us carsick within 20 miles!



Our solution was to replace all 4 factory shocks with 5-position Rancho RS9000 adjustable shocks. Running empty, settings of 3 front and 2 rear give a much smoother ride than stock, but without the front end bouncing. When towing, settings of 4 front and 5 rear snub everything down tight and stop the rear end bouncing.



As far as the violent bouncing you saw, in addition to the factors you mentioned and I described above, he may have had a trailer braking problem or a hitch flex problem - either can cause some really uncomfortable, scary situations like you describe. Ask me how I know!



Rusty

 

[georgej]

Sounds like time for some Bilsteins, they have much better rebound control than OEM shocks. BTW, how do you like the turnover hitch?





George

 

[LMedlin]

Originally posted by jalberring

Today I saw the following:



A 2 wheel drive Dodge 2500 V10 extended cab long bed was pulling a fairly small fifth wheel trailer. The truck and trailer were approaching a traffic light that had just changed and the driver had to apply heavy brakes. As the combo was slowing the front end of the truck began to bounce up and down quite violently. This eventually stopped a short time after the truck stopped.



My question is: What would cause this?



My intial thoughts are improper load distribution. The rear end of the truck was sitting pretty low, however, the trailer didn't look that big.



Thanks.

 

[jalberring]

Thanks Rusty. Good information to know.



George, the situation described above isn't my truck it was one I saw while driving. I really like the turnover hitch because I haul stuff in the bed a lot more than I tow. The majority of the time I just leave it inverted. This leaves me with unimpeded bed space.

I haven't had any problems with it thus far, however, I remember reading about some problems with the fifth wheel attachment. In fact it may have been Rusty's truck. The problem was that the hitch was flexing and in turn dented the bed. I'm not worried though as I don't own a 5er.