nice lots of room for a playpen to, should make loading up a lot less involved

Yeah Paul that's a definite YES to both those statements. The storage on this thing is crazy. Next thing on my list is to get the old toyhauler spotless and put up for sale.

So I drilled and bolt on my weight distribution kit today and ran into a small hiccup.

The truck looks at proper towing level with the tongue weight on the truck. My issue is that the trailer looked to be leaning very far forward.


The only way I could get the trailer anywhere near level was by flipping the hitch and bolting it on the tallest setting. Is this safe to do when towing a trailer of this size?


This is the trailer sitting as level as I could get it. The front of the trailer is about 2 inches lower than the rear. It was about 6" lower when I started. Does this look okay? Does it put more stress on the front trailer axle and tires?


Does the position of the bars look okay? I've never had them where the bar was at or above the trailer frame.


Thanks guys!

Hi WreakReation, Those bars are NOT proper!! In a turn they are going to hit and bind on the trailer freme! They should be parallel to the ground. To adjust that, hardened washers are placed or removed from behind and below the ball and bar mount, the smaller bolt there keeps them in. The riser bar will work fine like that, but I believe you still need a longer/taller one. On our last motorhome I needed an extra long bar to lower the ball and it could also be used upside down (as I call it) as you would need it.
Jeff

Oh ok now I understand what the tilt adjustment is for on the hitch. It wil tilt the receiver holes for the bars to make them sit lower and parallel with the ground. I'll try that tomorrow.

The Weekend Warriors have a high hitch frame. I also ran my hitch pointed up on the top holes.

You have too much tension on the equalizer bars with not enough chain length. As Dune Slayer pointed out, it will not have enough give in turns and damage the tongue or hitch. The bars should be roughly parallel with the trailer tongue to allow enough chain.

If the truck is sagging too much, you may be able to add additional washers to the hitch head so it tilts back more. This will tension the bars more while still giving you enough chain length for turns.

If the hitch head is at maximum tilt and still does not equalize the tongue weight, you need heavier equalizer bars. My trailer used 1000 lb bars and yours most likely needs 1200 lb.

If you can take the trailer to the scales, drop the tongue jack on the scale pad to see how much weight you're dealing with. Remember it will be heavier when loaded with water and lighter when loaded heavy in the rear. You want 10-15% of the actual trailer weight as tongue weight for stable towing. Equalization should push 1/3 of that weight back to the trailer.

Nice congrats

Also keep in mind that the trailer isn't loaded with any equipment and that stuff rides in the back of the trailer...

Is there a good way to know how tight to set my equalizer bars? I just assume you want the truck to sit as level as possible.

With the tongue off the truck hitch, measure the height of your front bumper. Connect the trailer to the truck without equalization and measure the front bumper height again. You want only half the difference when connected with the equalized hitch.

You do not want to go back to full level because you will be applying too much of the weight to the front of your vehicle and not enough to the rear. In an emergency maneuver, too light a rear end on the truck will allow you to jack knife easier.

The trailer should be close to level or slightly nose down when you get everything set up. It should never be nose high.

PM me if you have questions and need to talk. There is some trial and error to find the best setup, but once dialed in requires little change. We hitch up twice a month to go camp and it took about eight trips for me as a newb to figure out what the RV place did wrong and how all the adjustments interact. It only took two trips on my enclosed trailer to get that one where I like it since I now know what I'm doing.

Thanks for the advice Pete. I'll do the measurements tomorrow and try tilting the hitch and lower the bars.

Very very sweet!! Remember most important, take the end caps off your wheels and grease them bearings real good with marine bearing grease, those axles are whats carrying that house around, thats right (house). people consentrate alot on the camper and forget whats hauling it ...Eddie.

Nice toyhauler !!!

Hi Wreck, i tried everything,even bigger bars,eventually ended up with air bags on the truck.End of problem,now i can load just about anything i want with in limits of coarse.Whether it be in the truck or toy hauler and adjust it perfectly.Ghost

Great... I just read I need a Class A Non Commercial license to drive my new trailer. Surprise to me considering I drove it 80 miles home.

You can do it Jimmy .

I'm going to read through the handbook so I can get my permit first, then I'll take the skills test.

I know my toy hauler was rated for 11,200 lbs with dual 5600 lb axles, so I'm not surprised about your triple.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/cdl_htm/lic_chart.htm

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl648/dl648pt3.htm

My enclosed trailer is rated under 10,000 lbs to avoid extra taxes and licensing requirements even though the combined axle ratings allow for more.

California = Commifornia.... doesn't surprise me lol Sucks about having to get class A, just another hassle.

Hi Wreck,i believe you are wrong,your trailer is not for hire and under 15000lbs.Talk to Jim and Melisa,Jim is pulling a trailer as long as yours with semi-tractor and i don't believe he has commerical lisence.Ghost