How big have you towed? w/Pics no tricks!

[silver billet]

You question wasn't addressed to me, but I've been using the Andersen WDH so I'll chime in. I pull a 32' travel trailer that weighs about 7500 lbs loaded.

I like the hitch a lot as far as weight, noise, mess, and ease of hookup are concerned. I'm not impressed with its sway control performance. Like you, I feel like I get pushed around by crosswinds and passing semis, though it's never been bad enough to trip my stability control. I don't know that it's any worse than a typical spring-bar style WDH as far as sway is concerned. If you pull a giant, heavy sail with a 1/2 ton truck you will feel it pushing you around.

My experience has been that everything is great up to 55 mph. Above that speed it depends on conditions. On a calm day 60-65 mph is fine. On a day with 15 mph winds, 60 can start to feel a little loose and 65 is unpleasant. It's not white-knuckle driving but the truck requires constant correction and it's tiring to drive. Adding weight to the front of the trailer and more tension on the chains (= more weight returned to the front axle) helps.

I think the Andersen is fine for shorter distances and lower speeds (i.e. you stay off the Interstate). At higher speeds it would probably be fine with a smaller trailer or a flatbed (i.e. something with a smaller profile), or if I were pulling with a 2500. As it is, though, I'll be replacing it with a ProPride 3P ($$$) in order to get a more relaxed towing experience. The wife and I want to travel while towing the trailer, and right now I don't really want to go further than an hour or two away.

Just a thought, do you have the bars absolutely level/flat on top of the clips that holds them tight? If the bars aren't level, then only 1 end of the bar (fraction of an inch) is contributing to the sway control, whereas if they are perfectly flat then the whole clip (several inches on my Husky hitch) adds the correct amount of friction for sway control. You can quickly double check by looking for grooves on one end of the clip or the other. If one end of the clip is badly worn down, then the bars aren't level and they won't add enough friction to prevent sway.

 

[Ram92131]

Did you set up the hitch yourself? I'm curious if you followed the instructions RAM owners manual of how to set up a WDH hitch with trucks that have air suspension (standard on the Limited?) It requires a specific process that instructs you to put the air suspension in tire jack mode when doing the setup. If done correctly, you will not tighten the WDH all the way until the hitch is level. There is a formula that is used, allowing the air suspension to self level to the final leveled height.

I looked in the manual but couldn't find this. Do you know the page number by chance?

I didn't realize there is a jack mode but that makes sense and should help. The way I've been doing it is:

1. Lower the hitch onto the ball and let the ball take the weight (so I can slide the latch closed). Mine seems pretty tight on the ball and I have been having to pull the truck fwd slightly in order to slide that latch closed.

2. Raise the tongue jack up quite a bit. This creates enough slack in the chains so I can put the triangle plate on below the ball. Then lower and put the weight back on the ball. The chains tighten up and I'm good to go. But I have to raise it a lot and it seems to put a strain on my tongue jack when I do. I'm thinking the next time I'll just unscrew the nut on each side and then re-tighten them before lowering. That would help me not have to raise the jack so much.

Where it gets annoying is when I try to unhitch. I need to raise the jack pretty high so that I can create slack in the chains. Without doing that I can't remove the triangle below the ball. So I do that but after I lower it back down so that weight is back on the ball and I can unlatch, I try to raise the trailer with the jack. But the air suspension just rises on its own as I lift the trailer. Last two times I unhitched the A/S became inoperable. Dash says "Air suspension temporarily disabled" and the rear end of the truck stays jacked up in the back. So I need to raise the jack super high to clear the ball. Maybe jack mode would help with this?

 

[Ram92131]

You question wasn't addressed to me, but I've been using the Andersen WDH so I'll chime in. I pull a 32' travel trailer that weighs about 7500 lbs loaded.

I like the hitch a lot as far as weight, noise, mess, and ease of hookup are concerned. I'm not impressed with its sway control performance. Like you, I feel like I get pushed around by crosswinds and passing semis, though it's never been bad enough to trip my stability control. I don't know that it's any worse than a typical spring-bar style WDH as far as sway is concerned. If you pull a giant, heavy sail with a 1/2 ton truck you will feel it pushing you around.

My experience has been that everything is great up to 55 mph. Above that speed it depends on conditions. On a calm day 60-65 mph is fine. On a day with 15 mph winds, 60 can start to feel a little loose and 65 is unpleasant. It's not white-knuckle driving but the truck requires constant correction and it's tiring to drive. Adding weight to the front of the trailer and more tension on the chains (= more weight returned to the front axle) helps.

I think the Andersen is fine for shorter distances and lower speeds (i.e. you stay off the Interstate). At higher speeds it would probably be fine with a smaller trailer or a flatbed (i.e. something with a smaller profile), or if I were pulling with a 2500. As it is, though, I'll be replacing it with a ProPride 3P ($$$) in order to get a more relaxed towing experience. The wife and I want to travel while towing the trailer, and right now I don't really want to go further than an hour or two away.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Yeah, your towing setup seems close to mine, though I probably have not approached the full GVWR of my trailer (7600). I guess I'm towing around 6000 or less since my trailer is about 5500 dry and I'm not towing with potable water or grey/black tanks full. You are probably right that we should expect to feel something with cross winds and passing trucks. But it seems like too much. On the last leg I tightened down a bit more, like 8+ threads showing. I think the wind was just as strong as the day before, but it felt more stable. Andersen support told me that I can tighten enough that the bushings compress 1/4 inch. I haven't approached that level yet. Will probably try that next time.

There must be a way to improve this. I was passed on I-40 between Barstow and Needles by a fellow Lance owner. He had a trailer very similar to mine, same brand and about same size. I could see he had a Andersen but he passed too quickly for me to see his setup. TV was a F-150 and it was squatting a lot in the rear. I was doing 64 I think, and he passed me like I was standing still. I didn't see any sway in his trailer. Seems to me he probably had pretty high tongue weight and as a result, didn't need to wrench down the chains as much. So maybe the solution here is to load up the front of the trailer. I may go ahead and tote a full water tank next time and see how much difference that makes.

 

[VernDiesel]

Turin post your truck and truck plus TT Cat scale slips. Bet I can show you how to get most if not all of that sway out for less than $20. Best case scenario for testing not that I’m recommending that you do this but is a fast moving close passing Semi truck. The bow wave pushes then sucks as they pass you. If WDH & loading is adjusted well the bow wave won’t move your truck and trailer like an accordion but rather push you away a bit as if you’re truck and trailer is one solid unit resulting in a much more stable & safe platform or tow rig. Your truck & trailer should be stable with virtually no sway at 65 mph.

It still won’t be as good as an expensive four point hitch such the Pro Prop but you might be impressed with how much better it can do. The triple scale that weighs all three axles at the same time reveals what the eyeball and even measurements cannot.

BTW I’m not trying to be a smart **** or know it all. I just tow Including box TTs commercially and the size weight of your TT with a 4th gen ED. Currently to the tune of 677k miles and have drug a few of them over cat scales and learned what makes them the most stable.

 

[Turin]

Just a thought, do you have the bars absolutely level/flat on top of the clips that holds them tight? If the bars aren't level, then only 1 end of the bar (fraction of an inch) is contributing to the sway control [...]

The Andersen hitch uses chains, not bars. Sway control comes from a friction sleeve around a tapered ball shaft. Friction (and thus sway control) increases along with tongue weight.

On the last leg I tightened down a bit more, like 8+ threads showing. I think the wind was just as strong as the day before, but it felt more stable.

Tightening the chains returns more weight to the front axle. That's definitely helpful for control if you were light before (and comfort if things felt a bit "loose") but it doesn't affect sway control. The only way to increase that with the Andersen is to add tongue weight.

There must be a way to improve this. I was passed on I-40 between Barstow and Needles by a fellow Lance owner. He had a trailer very similar to mine, same brand and about same size. I could see he had a Andersen but he passed too quickly for me to see his setup. TV was a F-150 and it was squatting a lot in the rear. I was doing 64 I think, and he passed me like I was standing still. I didn't see any sway in his trailer. Seems to me he probably had pretty high tongue weight and as a result, didn't need to wrench down the chains as much. So maybe the solution here is to load up the front of the trailer. I may go ahead and tote a full water tank next time and see how much difference that makes.

He may have been tongue heavy. Or he may have been white-knuckling it. Again: the chains on the Andersen provide weight distribution, not sway control. You want to tighten them enough to return weight to your steering axle so that your scale readings for that axle are about the same when towing as they are when you're not.

Turlin post your truck and truck plus TT Cat scale slips. Bet I can show you how to get most if not all of that sway out for less than $20.

I've done a few scale passes and had some success in improving things by adjusting tension and redistributing weight. I might actually have it dialed in now; the last haul was too slow and calm to be really test it though.

BTW I’m not trying to be a smart **** or know it all. I just tow Including box TTs commercially and the size weight of your TT with a 4th gen ED. Currently to the tune of 677k miles and have drug a few of them over cat scales and learned what makes them the most stable.

No worries. Good information is useful. I appreciate the offer and info. I should probably note that while I've been using the term "sway" here, I'm not really having a "the trailer wags like a dog's tail" sway problem. My problem is that the trailer pushes the truck around more than I'd like. The ProPride moves the virtual pivot point to near the rear axle of the truck instead of at the hitch. No amount of tuning on the Andersen will do that. I probably could get the Andersen tuned in well enough but we want to travel cross country. I want that experience to be as safe and stress/fatigue-free as possible. I'd rather have a hitch that didn't require me to load the trailer perfectly every time.

 

[VernDiesel]

Agreed the Andersen will not move the virtual pivot point. No WDH will require perfect loading to work effectively just in the zone so to speak with axle weights & distribution as well as tongue weight with that it really should not push your truck around. Combined axle weight on your loaded with trailer truck per scales should still be more than the axle weight per scales on your TT.
That said you are definitely an educated guy on towing and there is no doubt PPP can out perform the Andersen.

 

[dougf]

I looked in the manual but couldn't find this. Do you know the page number by chance?

The procedure for tow setup with air suspension starts on page 306 of the owners manual. "Towing With 1500 Air Suspension". Before you lower the trailer onto the hitch, it states to put the truck in tire jack mode (through the touch screen radio settings.) This should solve the issue that you are fighting with the truck trying to self level during the process. When you have completed the described process using the formula, the rear of the truck should still be slightly low from level. At that point, when you turn off tire jack mode the truck should level at normal ride height.

 

[dougf]

Where it gets annoying is when I try to unhitch. I need to raise the jack pretty high so that I can create slack in the chains. Without doing that I can't remove the triangle below the ball. So I do that but after I lower it back down so that weight is back on the ball and I can unlatch, I try to raise the trailer with the jack. But the air suspension just rises on its own as I lift the trailer. Last two times I unhitched the A/S became inoperable. Dash says "Air suspension temporarily disabled" and the rear end of the truck stays jacked up in the back. So I need to raise the jack super high to clear the ball. Maybe jack mode would help with this?

Page 450 of the manual describes the mode settings available in the radio for the suspension. For tire jack mode, it states:
NOTE:
When this feature is selected, the air suspension system is disabled to prevent auto leveling of the suspension while the vehicle is on a jack changing
a tire.

That should resolve these issues you are fighting when trying to unhitch the trailer.

 

[Ram92131]

Page 450 of the manual describes the mode settings available in the radio for the suspension. For tire jack mode, it states:
NOTE:
When this feature is selected, the air suspension system is disabled to prevent auto leveling of the suspension while the vehicle is on a jack changing
a tire.

That should resolve these issues you are fighting when trying to unhitch the trailer.

Thanks, that's helpful. I'll check it out.

 

[Trooper4]

You question wasn't addressed to me, but I've been using the Andersen WDH so I'll chime in. I pull a 32' travel trailer that weighs about 7500 lbs loaded.

I like the hitch a lot as far as weight, noise, mess, and ease of hookup are concerned. I'm not impressed with its sway control performance. Like you, I feel like I get pushed around by crosswinds and passing semis, though it's never been bad enough to trip my stability control. I don't know that it's any worse than a typical spring-bar style WDH as far as sway is concerned. If you pull a giant, heavy sail with a 1/2 ton truck you will feel it pushing you around.

My experience has been that everything is great up to 55 mph. Above that speed it depends on conditions. On a calm day 60-65 mph is fine. On a day with 15 mph winds, 60 can start to feel a little loose and 65 is unpleasant. It's not white-knuckle driving but the truck requires constant correction and it's tiring to drive. Adding weight to the front of the trailer and more tension on the chains (= more weight returned to the front axle) helps.

I think the Andersen is fine for shorter distances and lower speeds (i.e. you stay off the Interstate). At higher speeds it would probably be fine with a smaller trailer or a flatbed (i.e. something with a smaller profile), or if I were pulling with a 2500. As it is, though, I'll be replacing it with a ProPride 3P ($$$) in order to get a more relaxed towing experience. The wife and I want to travel while towing the trailer, and right now I don't really want to go further than an hour or two away.

With a light(1/2 ton) pickup, the wind and/or big rigs are always a problem, no mater the WDH brand. 1/2 ton rigs just don't have the mass. Heavier pickups in the 7000 lb + range have better mass to withstand the wind action better. The only thing that I have found when towing pull-behind trailers is to use the trailer brake to stretch the tow in order to counteract the wind deflection. Not a lot mind you, just enough to keep the string straight. After over 40 years of towing I have found that a fifth wheel is not bothered as much, but in a strong cross wind, although still noticeable, is much easier to deal with.
Tow behinds have always had wind issues, whether cross wind, or the bow wake from a semi.

 

[GraniteRamTowRig]

Assuming the jeep weighs right around 3600 - 3700

Total weight 5750

Boy does it move well with 3.92

Towing all hills on the highway and on the back road to get to the park.

Avg. 11 MPG

 

[My1stHemi]

Towed a rental 29’ bumper-tow Keystone Passport camper trailer this weekend for about 350mi in total. With a trailer that size and at about 8,000lb color me pleased with this truck. Didn’t have the power of my Cummins(duh) on grades but the Hemi performed and the truck always felt solid. For as often as I tow, this truck does the trick with ease. 65-70 mph at 9 mpg on premium.

 

[tdager]

** INSERT UPGRADE HERE ** This last weekend this happened.... Happy Camper! Had the trailer custom made and the wheels to almost match the RAM since the boat has never left the water before. Now sitting at right about 9,000-9,300 Lbs. Towed about 1,000 miles so far.

What make/model of boat is that? Have you taken her up/down a ramp yet?

 

[JJRamTX]

What make/model of boat is that? Have you taken her up/down a ramp yet?

This is the 50th anniversary Sea Ray 250 Sundancer which became the Sea Ray 260 Sundancer (26' 7"). I have been up and down many, many, many ramps with it (went out about 7 times this year so far and stayed about 6 nights on the water), 4 wheel drive is a must pulling it back out on a slippery wet and algae covered ramp but no issues in 4wd getting it right out.

 

[jdefoe0424]

Not hooked up in this picture, but here's our new camper 32' overall, 5900 dry and 7,700 GVWR. Pulled it ~250 miles over the weekend with a husky centerline hitch and was very happy with how well the system performs as a whole. We are definitely looking forward to pulling it for our yearly vacation to see family.

 

[Ram92131]

Thanks. That's helpful. I meant that I was driving 65 or less, not 65 mph wind speed. Just estimating from flags, I think the wind speed was probably 15-20-ish, gusting from there.

I do need to get this rig onto a scale. I was running with a bike rack on the back. Dry the trailer has only 10% tongue weight per spec, so 550 lbs. Total weight of rack and 2 bikes was a good 100lbs, and cantilevered out past the rear bumper. I wasn't carrying much water or other gear over the front of the trailer. So that could have lightened the tongue weight a bit.

Andersen customer support tells me I can tighten it up to a 1/4 inch compression of the red bushings. I haven't done that, mine looks like below. But I do have it pretty well wrenched down. When I left the dealer a little over a month ago they only had 3-4 threads showing.


View attachment 60133 View attachment 60134

So I towed again with this setup last weekend. I changed the setup and it did far better. Very little trailer sway, and it felt very planted. I left the Andersen chains with the same tension as before, but I changed the following:

1. Removed the bike rack from the rear of the trailer. I imagine that was -100 lb cantilevered off the back of the trailer.
2. Toted 1/2 tank of fresh water (tank is located just forward of the trailer axle).

I suspect those two made a big difference in trailer weight distribution and added significant tongue weight. I also took it to the CAT scale and here is what I found (full gas tank and all cab occupants on board:



Seems like the Andersen is doing it's job if the Steer axle and Drive axle are within 360 lbs of each other?

 

[VernDiesel]

The Andersen is doing its job if it has replaced your unloaded steer weight. Unloaded steer weight Ideally being taken from a truck only scale slip. But 3,500 should be about right for a limited with Hemi & Etorque. You also need the unloaded truck only weight slip to use with the slip you posted to calculate your actual scaled or seen with WDH (dynamic) tongue weight.

Assuming tongue weight is in the 10 to 15 percent of gross trailer weight you should have a very safe stable setup. IE it looks to have replaced unloaded steer weight and is below steer axle rating. Drive axle is also below max axle rating. 13,720 is also below CVWR combined vehicle weight rating. All which suggests a safe stable tow setup. It also shows the truck axles shouldering more weight than the trailer axles. This is not necessary but is ideal as the tail is less likely to try and walk the dog as the saying goes.

With both slips you can calculate actual seen tongue weight, gross trailer weight, the effectiveness of your WDH setting and therefore can adjust your WDH and bed and trailer loading to get or work toward the most stable setup. From experience with many box campers I work toward 12.0 tongue weight. It’s enough for sway & wind stability for towing 65 mph with a half ton truck but doesn’t put more weight & strain on your truck than necessary. With a flat bed 10 percent is enough.

 

[Turin]

Seems like the Andersen is doing it's job if the Steer axle and Drive axle are within 360 lbs of each other?

The goal of weight distribution is NOT to load the steering and drive axles equally. The goal is to reload your front axle to where it would be without the trailer attached. The standard advice is to do three passes on the CAT scales:

1. Truck only (with full fuel, occupants, and loaded as you would for travel)
2. Truck + trailer with weight distribution not engaged.
3. Truck + trailer with weight distribution engaged.

The first pass tells you baseline front/rear axle loads and the weight of your tow vehicle. The second pass (+ a bit of math) tells you the trailer weight and hitch weight. The third pass tells you what the weight distribution is doing. You want the steer axle load from the third pass to be the same (or nearly the same) in pass 3 as it was in pass 1. If it's too much lighter it will feel like the front of the truck is floating and you'll have less control. Some people like to distribute part of the tongue weight to the front axle, loading it heavier than it is without the trailer, but there's not a lot of room to do that without overloading the front axle; pickups are designed to carry most of the payload on the rear axle.

And of course, you want to verify that you aren't exceeding any axle ratings, the GVWR or your truck or trailer, or your truck's GCWR.

For example, here are my numbers from trying to dial in my hitch:

	Pass 1	Pass 2	Pass 3
Steer axle	3320	2720	3200
Drive axle	2680	4320	3720
Trailer axle	0	6700	6880
Gross	6000	13800	13800

From the second pass I can tell that my trailer weighs 7800 lbs (13800 - 6000) and its hitch weight is 1040 lbs (2720 + 4320 - 6000). Note that without weight distribution I'm 600 lbs lighter on the front axle (and overloaded on the rear axle; it's rated at 4100 lbs). Weight distribution returned most of that weight to my front axle and brought the rear axle within its rating. I'd like to do a bit more fine tuning, but I'm close.

 

[Truck1]

First time hooking up my trailer to the new truck. 2020 Rebel. Still making some minor adjustments. Went ahead and put some leveling bags on the rear to help with any sagging issues. Was just a sort 20 mile drive but was impressed with the towing capabilities of this truck. Buch better then my 2007 1500 megacab. The trailer is about #6500-6800 pounds.

 

[VernDiesel]

Glad you posted Truck 1 and thanks for the pics. Bags alone helps to a point. Fixing sag only is a side benefit & helps with the looks but does little for the bigger issues which is why Ram recomends a WDH for trailers over 5k especially TTs. You might study the last two posts and consider adding a WDH for the safety of your family and the stability for more stress free towing. Nice looking truck & trailer.