Damn Trailer Bounce....?

[grimloktt]

So, I have '19 Limited, super crew cab 1500 with air suspension and have TERRIBLE, absolutely TERRIBLE trailer bounce when towing a sure Trac hydraulic dump trailer--especially empty. The box on the trailer is 12'; so, the trailer itself is probably 16'. I made sure the trailer is level during setup. I even went so far as to buy/trying geny hitch. Is there any way to combat this bouncing or is it just innate to the trailer?

I do plan on checking/decreasing trailer tire pressure. Any idea what's the lowest safest psi I can use?

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[I_really_really_want_one!]

I have the air and it is a little bouncy when I'm not towing with a weight distributed hitch. With the WDH the ride is amazing.

 

[JimD007]

How much tongue weight do you have? You describe bouncing instead of wagging (wanting to go side to side). Too little tongue weight causes wagging to it may not be your issue. But if you don't have 10% of the weight of the trailer on the tongue, you might want to pick up a few bags of sand or something to weight the front and try it.

 

[parnine]

I would not consider mine 'terrible' but with a 1500 BigHorn (no air ride) towing my boat, the 'bounce' caught me by surprise as there was ZERO 'bounce' in towing the same exact rig with the Suburban, so the first few long tows I was like 'what is up' this sucks (no problem what so ever with sway, even passing 18 wheelers on highway at 75mph. I've not had time to see what can be done to minimize, but will try the increase tongue weight suggestion (rig is around 4,600#s with around 10%, 460#s, tongue weight - generally boats don't use WD hitches and run 5-10% tongue weight)

let us know what solution you find, or what the root cause is.

 

[Hereford]

I've had a 4th gen and 5th gen ram 1500 and both have bounced what I consider noticeable towing. I think it's just the nature of the trucks rear coils regardless of air as my 4th gen had. I'm use to towing with 1 tons on the ranch so I'm use to a rock solid setup on the ram ton trucks. Having coils instead of the leaf springs make it that way I believe. I'm spoiled by always having the dually stability in our towing trucks. Once you go dually you never go back.haha

 

[parnine]

That makes sense, coil vs leaf. I like the ride of the Ram 1500, but my 2500 Sub rode pretty nice too and certainly towed MUCH better! If the bounce increased linearly to towed weight, I'd hate to have tow my old boat that was just over 10K #s (which according to all the marketing BS this 1500 could tow LOL)

 

[Hereford]

I towed a 10k skid loader on a receiver hd equipment trailer and it was harsh on the 5th gen to say the least. Hemi and trans was okay but just not enough truck. I know weight distribution hitches make a big difference but I question that if it takes something like that then the trucks suspension or truck in general is not truly up to the challenge. It all depends on what and how often something is being towed. I love my 5th gen but I definitely wouldn't want to regularly tow with mine.

 

[I_really_really_want_one!]

I'm thinking it's the shocks. They went for a cushier ride on the gen5, and so now you got a bouncer.

As for the 4 corner they really need to have electronically adjustable shocks to properly compensate for an increased load.

 

[barr0208]

I tow and have no bounce.

 

[parnine]

I tow and have no bounce.

What do you tow, how much does it weigh, what is your tongue weight?

I towed a lightly loaded 6x10 utility trailer and had no bounce either.

 

[grimloktt]

Thx for all the replies. I didn't get a notification that anyone replied.

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[My1stHemi]

I borrowed my company's 14000# capacity Maxxd dump trailer a few times in the last few months for yard projects and my truck(with air) bounced like a lowrider on local roads and highways. It was so bad that I started wondering if a bag had blown. My trips were short and infrequent so I didn't bother going to the scales and I am not sure what tongue weight was.

I have towed various travel trailers(rented) that were about 8000-10000# and the truck towed and rode like a Cadillac, but the difference was that the TT's always had a load distribution hitch. I would never tow without one if I had the choice.

 

[GTLimited]

Just adding my experience here with my non-Air Big Horn.

I recently got my Ram and haven't had a chance to do a long tow with my travel trailer. However, I have towed around the local streets with it to see how it does, check the brake controller and the new trailer steering. I was playing around with my adjustable hitch in order to get a level tow. It's fairly difficult to find true level ground around my parts so we just eyeball whether the tow rig is level.

With my Curt adjustable hitch, it seemed that 2 heights made for a fairly good level tow. Surprisingly, when set to the low one, the trailer and truck bounced quite a bit, even on the slow speed stuff. When I set it to the higher height setting, it towed nice a smooth.

Just my two cents: If you have an adjustable hitch, try adjusting your tow height up 1 notch ... this equates to maybe an inch or so.