Towing the new camper

[SnowBlaZR2]

Catching back up a bit.

Red Top Mountain State Park NW of Atlanta:


Unicoi State Park in Helen, GA:


Watched my Buckeyes drop a heartbreaker here.

Elberta, AL for some VA and other appointments:

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

These last few stays were 3-4 weeks each. We hit our storage unit, took care of some life stuff while we were back in the area where we live, and also finished some upgrades on the camper.

We were in Helen, GA when the cold snap hit, and got down to 1 degree. Ended up without water due to a frozen pipe between the fresh tank and the water pump. Hair dryer and some additional insulation in that area, and no more problems. Very impressed with the rig, and gives me confidence for when we hit Canada and Alaska.

We're making our way northeast now, and getting back to moving every week for the most part.

Upgrades to the camper:

• 2x 100ah Battleborn batteries
• Under counter water filter
• Weboost cell booster
• Additional storage mounted to frame for black tank hoses and accessories

We've also ordered the Starlink RV system and will be ordering a ProPride. Sending those to my sister's house to be installed, hopefully in the spring. Also starting to plan out solar.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Gunter Hill, outside of Montgomery:




Also moved some cargo around, and moved the ball assembly down one hole. We were about 3/4" high at the coupler. We're 1/2" low now.

Grabbed some new measurements and weights:

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

We have one more relatively short tow with the Andersen. Should be picking up the ProPride from FedEx Monday and getting installed next week. Next Saturday I'll spend some time getting it dialed in at the scales.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Harvest Host stop. Back Forty Beer Company in Gadsden, AL.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Working on wrapping up the ProPride install. Ran into a snag because of the uncommon frame on our trailer. Working with ProPride customer service to make sure I set it up correctly.

 

[should_have]

SnowBlaZR2

It certainly looks like you have the Andersen WDH set-up for your rig but I’m guessing you still have an uncomfortable tow. I too can get the measurements you listed last with the Andersen WDH, but still not sold, i.e. get motion sickness after long tows, too much sway if not set-up correctly, usually from my set-up which I just pull over and adjust tension and/or air in my air bags. Have not updated my tires on tow vehicle or china bombs on my travel trailer.

I believe another member on this forum tried the Andersen (3rd), Equalizer 4 point hitch (2nd) and then finally the Pro-Pride Hitch Winner.

I hope the Pro-Pride gives you and the wife the towing comfort factor your looking for. Hopefully it’s a big win, Pro-Pride gets back to you on a easy install solution and I’m sure you will update.

Best of luck

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

SnowBlaZR2

It certainly looks like you have the Andersen WDH set-up for your rig but I’m guessing you still have an uncomfortable tow. I too can get the measurements you listed last with the Andersen WDH, but still not sold, i.e. get motion sickness after long tows, too much sway if not set-up correctly, usually from my set-up which I just pull over and adjust tension and/or air in my air bags. Have not updated my tires on tow vehicle or china bombs on my travel trailer.

I believe another member on this forum tried the Andersen (3rd), Equalizer 4 point hitch (2nd) and then finally the Pro-Pride Hitch Winner.

I hope the Pro-Pride gives you and the wife the towing comfort factor your looking for. Hopefully it’s a big win, Pro-Pride gets back to you on a easy install solution and I’m sure you will update.

Best of luck

The Coopers, Timber Grove bags, and Hellwig definitely helped the rig overall. I really like the Andersen for what it is. If I had a bigger tow vehicle or we still had the smaller trailer, I might have kept it. 95% of the time, the truck tows solid. But, that 5% isn't fun.

With us traveling full time, we knew we wanted the ProPride, even when we move up to a 3500. We'll also probably end up putting E rated Falken A/Ts on the trailer when the factory tires wear out.

The ProPride is installed and rough adjusted. Unfortunately, the campground we're at is slim pickings for level ground. We're going to tow it to a parking lot to make some final checks and adjustments before hitting the road this weekend. Also going to hit the first scales we run into on our way to the next stop.

 

[silver billet]

The Coopers, Timber Grove bags, and Hellwig definitely helped the rig overall. I really like the Andersen for what it is. If I had a bigger tow vehicle or we still had the smaller trailer, I might have kept it. 95% of the time, the truck tows solid. But, that 5% isn't fun.

With us traveling full time, we knew we wanted the ProPride, even when we move up to a 3500. We'll also probably end up putting E rated Falken A/Ts on the trailer when the factory tires wear out.

The ProPride is installed and rough adjusted. Unfortunately, the campground we're at is slim pickings for level ground. We're going to tow it to a parking lot to make some final checks and adjustments before hitting the road this weekend. Also going to hit the first scales we run into on our way to the next stop.

I have the Anderson no sway as well, picked it up last year. It is a huge upgrade over the husky centerline I was using in the past.

This is too late for you but if anyone else is having trouble with sway still with the Anderson; I noticed that while tightening the chain sometimes it would get stuck in the black tube it's supposed to slide into while tightening the nuts. Very hard to miss, just feels like you've got it as tight it should be but actually the chain is locked against the tube and is not nearly as tightly tensioned against the trailer as it should be. This led to two pretty sketchy pulls before I noticed it.

I have to wiggle it around while tightening to ensure the chain freely slips inside the tube while tightening the nuts.

I was (still am) considering the propride and hensley stinger but that cost!! Looking forward to your comparison and thoughts on the new propride.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

I was (still am) considering the propride and hensley stinger but that cost!! Looking forward to your comparison and thoughts on the new propride.

Yeah, definitely not cheap. My impression after the first tow is that it's worth every penny.

Today's travel day took us from Lynchburg to Chattanooga on I-24E, which had a few steep grades and plenty of semi trucks to put it through a workout. There also happened to be 20-25 mph winds the entire drive.

It's everything people say it is. Zero sway. I barely noticed semi trucks and the times I did feel the wind, it pushed our whole rig instead of the trailer then the truck.

If we weren't full time, I'd still probably want the ProPride. The confidence it gives me when towing this trailer with this truck outweighs the only negative of cost. The Andersen is a great hitch for what it costs, how much it weighs, and how easy it is to use, but the ProPride got rid of that 5% of uneasiness we saw with the Andersen.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Tim Fords State Park east of Lynchburg, TN:




Jack Daniel's Distillery Angel's Share Tour:

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Adjusting the ProPride:





A little heavy, but 60 lbs of that is the Andersren and about 150 lbs of it is that Pelican case that won't fit on the trailer tongue anymore. Will get that sorted this week and hopefully reweigh again this weekend.

Picked up the Starlink RV:

 

[Bavet]

Yeah, definitely not cheap. My impression after the first tow is that it's worth every penny.

Today's travel day took us from Lynchburg to Chattanooga on I-24E, which had a few steep grades and plenty of semi trucks to put it through a workout. There also happened to be 20-25 mph winds the entire drive.

It's everything people say it is. Zero sway. I barely noticed semi trucks and the times I did feel the wind, it pushed our whole rig instead of the trailer then the truck.

If we weren't full time, I'd still probably want the ProPride. The confidence it gives me when towing this trailer with this truck outweighs the only negative of cost. The Andersen is a great hitch for what it costs, how much it weighs, and how easy it is to use, but the ProPride got rid of that 5% of uneasiness we saw with the Andersen.

With so many campgrounds you visit, I'm curious how connecting to and from the camper will go with the ProPride. They say there's a knack to it. Please keep us updated. I purchased a ProPride last year but haven't installed it yet.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

With so many campgrounds you visit, I'm curious how connecting to and from the camper will go with the ProPride. They say there's a knack to it. Please keep us updated. I purchased a ProPride last year but haven't installed it yet.

So, we've now hooked up and disconnected four times between hitting the dump station at the last campground, moving, and getting weights at the scale.

So far, it's not too bad. There's a bit of a learning curve just because it's so different from lining the ball up to the coupler in the backup camera. But, if you get the height and angle correct the first time, it's much easier than the Husky or the Andersen.

Will definitely keep posting updates as I get more miles on the setup.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Chester Frost Park, outside Chattanooga:





Another great tow with the ProPride. Winds were calmer than the last tow, around 8-10 mph and had no issues with semi trucks. Thought hitching up might be tricky with the slope of our site, but didn't have any issues. As long as I'm consistent with the tongue and distribution jack height, everything goes smoothly.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Great Smoky Mountains NP area:

 

[Builderdude]

Hey, great pics. I have had issues with the truck feeling like the back end is shimmying with the recurve r3 WDH and my TT with 800lb tongue weight. I have the timbrens which made it hard to dial in the recurve. I just upgraded to the cooper AT3 E rated tires (I think my tires were sidewall flexing too much) and bought an anderson hitch. My question to you is, how many turns did you have on your anderson when you had it dialed in (Before the propride)? Thanks.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Hey, great pics. I have had issues with the truck feeling like the back end is shimmying with the recurve r3 WDH and my TT with 800lb tongue weight. I have the timbrens which made it hard to dial in the recurve. I just upgraded to the cooper AT3 E rated tires (I think my tires were sidewall flexing too much) and bought an anderson hitch. My question to you is, how many turns did you have on your anderson when you had it dialed in (Before the propride)? Thanks.

Hey, appreciate it. You're not in Indiana are you? Sold my Andersen to someone in Indiana.

So the final adjustments I made on the Andersen put me at 100% restoration for front fender height and 86.67% for front axle weight. To get there, I added two additional washers between the frame rail bracket and the red urethane spring. With those added, I was at 2.25" of exposed threads.

That ended up being my best tow with the Andersen and I felt like it was the best I'd be able to do with that hitch and my rig. Outside of wind and passing semis, the setup felt great. You should be able to get the same results if you need to by cutting a link out of the chain.

Have you weighed your setup or measured the before/after heights?

 

[Builderdude]

I did with the recurve wdh and had most of the front weight restored. The shimmy i felt happened above 58 mph which is why I replaced the tires with e-rated coopers. The TT is 28.5' long and loaded about 6600 lbs. The anderson hitch was bought because it was significantly lighter than the recurve and had great reviews. I haven't towed with the Anderson yet as I just installed it. We are taking it out to Joe Wheeler St park this weekend for a short test run. They say to start with 4 turns which looks level, but the timbrens keep my truck level anyway. I set the receiver height only 1" above the hitch(instead of the suggested 2") to help compensate for the timbrens. I will stop at a cat scale this weekend to do the actual adjustments.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

I did with the recurve wdh and had most of the front weight restored. The shimmy i felt happened above 58 mph which is why I replaced the tires with e-rated coopers. The TT is 28.5' long and loaded about 6600 lbs. The anderson hitch was bought because it was significantly lighter than the recurve and had great reviews. I haven't towed with the Anderson yet as I just installed it. We are taking it out to Joe Wheeler St park this weekend for a short test run. They say to start with 4 turns which looks level, but the timbrens keep my truck level anyway. I set the receiver height only 1" above the hitch(instead of the suggested 2") to help compensate for the timbrens. I will stop at a cat scale this weekend to do the actual adjustments.

I'd measure the front fender height unloaded, and try to get close to that with the Andersen engaged and adjusted. That ended up working out for me, and would probably get you close before hitting the scales to fine tune it.