# Should It Be Level? Help!!!



## Pee Wee (May 31, 2005)

Should my 28rsds be level when towing, when the truck and camper are fully loaded? Right now the camper is 6" low in the front! Should the front be a little lower than the rear or not? If it should be level, the clowns at the rv place set the ball 4in low!

Thanks for your time and help!
Pee Wee


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## Castle Rock Outbackers (Jan 18, 2004)

You should be nearly level when fully loaded and towing. If you down 6" you can do several things:

1. You are right, check ball height.
2. Are your w/d bars doing a good job transfering weight to the front wheels of your tow vehicle? If you are "4 hanging" try "5 hanging" (links that is).
3. Change how you load the camper. Don't load up everything in the front.

After all that, you should look something like this:










Randy


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

PeeWee -- what kind of truck and hitch set up do you have...

Agree with Castle RRock Outbackers on #1 and 2 but feel that if you start loading things in the rear of your trailer you shift your center of gravity to the rear and this will cause your sway to increase greatly...

you may also look into strengthening your springs, raising your ball height and increasing your WD tension...

also when hanging your chains on the WD tighten them prior to lowering your trailer --


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## Pee Wee (May 31, 2005)

I have a 05 Titan with a reese wd hitch. There is some weight in the front of the camper, no dout, but I did try to equal things out. Right now I have 6 links hanging and I measured the truck at front and rear with and with out the camper and it's to the manual. The truck does squat about 3" with the camper. The hitch is mounted at the lowest position that you can go. If I go up 4" I would be in the middle of the adjustment, approx.

Thanks Pee Wee


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

Here's a link to the instructions for setting up a weight distributing hitch. The truck and trailer should be level when it is set up properly with even "squat" front and back on the truck. There will also be a LOT of tension on the wd bars. If it doesn't take much effort to cinch up the bars, they aren't doing their job.

After I hook up my trailer to my truck and close the latch on the ball, I have to jack up both the tv and trailer about 5 inches to get the wd bars to go onto the brackets. It will take some time to set it up but it will be well worth it.

Mike


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## Castle Rock Outbackers (Jan 18, 2004)

Same here, Mike. Since I went to "5 hanging" (which to me seemed like a minor adjustment) I have to crank the truck up much higher to engage the w/d bars. At least I know they are doing their job now.

When I purchased the 26 RS, the dealer gave me 750 pound bars. Are these adequate for the heavy hitch weight 26 RS (and 28 RSDS for that matter)?

Randy


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

Randy,

Hatcity weighed his 26rs and the tongue weight was in the high 700's. You're bars are about equal to that give or take a bit so I'd say they're fine.

I've got a complete reese setup with 800# bars I'll be selling soon









Mike


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

I would check the obvious first, the ball height.


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## 54telluride (Feb 1, 2005)

Randy,

My dealer also gave me 750 lb bars for my 26RS however when I asked for replacement bars of 1000 lbs and ran through the numbers with him he finally agreed and gave me the heavier bars. He did try to mumble something about too much stress and flex on the Outback frame.

I like the way the heavier bars run so much better that the weaker bars. I am able to spuat the truck only about an inch in the front and a inch and a half in the rear fully loaded. My old bars squated the front about 0.75" and the rear about 3.5".

Go big or go home!









Bruce


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

54telluride said:


> My old bars squated the front about 0.75" and the rear about 3.5".
> [snapback]45360[/snapback]​


You were out of balance - so good move


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

> I would check the obvious first, the ball height.


Now why would you want to start with the most obvious? I prefer to start with the most complicated and work backwards









Mike


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## Pee Wee (May 31, 2005)

Well here's what I did. I turned the hitch over so I could move the ball up 4". Then I angled the ball back as far as I could to get the most out of the bars. The camper is dead nut level when hooked up to the truck now, but the trruck was empty though the camper is almost got everything in there. Here's my question. The rear of the truck is down 2-1/4" and the front is up 3/8". (I have five hanging now but can go to 6 max according to the book) Do you think I have this set up right? If I go to 6 hanging is should raise th rear of the truck up approx. 5/8" but with a full load of pass. and gear (600-700 pounds) it should come back down some to make the camper levle again. What do you think?

Thanks for your time and help!!!
John


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

The bars must not be up to the task. With MAX head tilt and pulled up to 5 links you should be able to raise the back of the truck to level or above.

I might have missed it but what weight are the bars??


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

At the very least your truck front should not raise up at all and stay the same. However, your goal is the get the back and front to drop close to an equal amount. If it's going up that's not good, and can adversely affect your steering/control.

Forget how many links are "hanging" and focus on which link you are grabbing as measured away from the cam or bar. I don't know which hitch system you have so I can't comment specifically. On mine (reese dual cam HD) I have the head tilted as far back as it will go and still needed to grab the 4th link. Reese reccomends getting it set at the 5th link if possible.

Whatever you do focus on getting the truck to squat an equal amount both front and back. Keep adjusting!


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## Pee Wee (May 31, 2005)

I don't know what the exact name of the reese hitch I have, the dealer put it on, but I can tell you what the papers say about it. " cast trunnion style ball "(Prduct no 58207), Heavy duty round bar ajustable weight distributing hitches" 
The hitch(part no. 54970) itself is rated at 12,000# and the bars are rated 1,000#, max gross trailer wt. 10,000# and 1,000 max hitch wt. 2 bars. I'm sure I can get the front end to come down if I grad more chain but I didn't think reese wanted you to go less than 5 links between hook and u bolt. If I grab 2 more likns that will put me down to only 3 links between the hook and u bolt. Why don't they want you to go lower than 5? Should I just put it where I need to and forget it? Yes, I'm anal









Thanks again
John


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

They dont want you to go less then 5 because of swing clearance from the tips of the bars and the bottom of the tongue frame.

1000 pound bars should be enough to make the squat the same for the front and back of your truck. How much does your back end squat before you pull it up with the bars??


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## Pee Wee (May 31, 2005)

With full tongue weight of the camper with on weight on bars the truck squats 4-3/4" in the rear, I forgot to measure the front. So when I'm on the 6th link (or 5 hanging) the bars are lifting the rear 2-1/2" Does that sound about right?

Thanks 
John


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Pee Wee said:


> With full tongue weight of the camper with on weight on bars the truck squats 4-3/4" in the rear, I forgot to measure the front. So when I'm on the 6th link (or 5 hanging) the bars are lifting the rear 2-1/2" Does that sound about right?
> 
> Thanks
> John
> [snapback]45727[/snapback]​


Sounds close but I would start over and get all your measurements. Before you make more adjustments. There are several rules of thumb that we sort of respond to on questions like this as we are not there to actually see the installation. So to help you and avoid more confusion could you get the following measurements.

Front and rear heights with nothing connected to the trailer.
Top of hitch coupler height, this one is tricky but for the installation of the hitch hard wear it is important that the trailer is parallel to the ground. If the ground is flat and level then great but is the ground has a slight slope that is fine but since the truck will e on that slope the trailer must be set parallel to that slope. Measure the frame to the ground in the front and back of the trailer to make sure it is parallel.
Top of Ball height, the Ball should start out about 3/4" to 1" above the coupling when the trailer is level (or parallel to the slope of the ground you are setting your trailer up at). i.e. Top of coupler is 24" the top of Ball should be at 24.75" to 25".

Now set the trailer on the ball and measure all of the heights again.

Now pull up the bars to the 5th link from the WD bars and re measure all dimensions again.

Ideally you should have an equal amount of squat on the front and rear bumpers of about 1" below the first un hitched measurements, the coupler top should be at the starting point and the WD bars should be more or less level with the bottom of the tongue frame.

From this point to make corrections you should add or remove shims from the head tilt and repeat the measurements with the bars pulled up to the 5th link.

I hope this helps and is not too confusing. The installation manual says more or less the same thing this is just the condensed version.


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## Morrowmd (Feb 22, 2005)

Can we call this hitch set up a "Pee Wee Reese"?









Sorry, I'll go back to work now.


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## Pee Wee (May 31, 2005)

Got it guy's! I'm going to do it this weekend. What if I can get the truck and camper level but have to grab the 3rd link? Call it good or just get it as close as I can without going that low on the links? Do they make heavier bars than 1,000? THANKS GUY'S!!!!

John


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## Reverie (Aug 9, 2004)

I've been following this thread and I want to add my two cents...

I can't speak to the height adjustment of the WD so I found it very informative. Luckily my dealership set me up very well the first time and I haven't had to make any adjustments.

I want to make a point about weight distribution hitches. While a weight distribution hitch does distribute the weight more evenly along the total length of the truck/trailer combination it doesn't change the inertia induced by the stored materials. I mention this because I ready early on in this thread speculation that you could stow your trailer gear aft of the rear axles (my words). I want to point out that this could possibly induce additional and more pronounced sway. Cargo weight should be centered over the leading axle of the trailer weight. This allows the tires to absorb much of the wiggle without actually wiggling the trailer.

Reverie


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

John:

So long as the bars are not touching or interfering with the frame or propane bottle tray you are OK. Ideally they would be parallel to the frame and ground when the trailer is level.

Because my ball won't tilt back any further it wasn't possible on my rig. So my bars are about 1" out of level as compared the the trailer frame (high on the chain end) when I pull up from the 4th link. I have 1000# bars and it's working fine. So if they are a little out of whack it's OK. Just not CRAZY crooked. Common sense will tell you if it looks acceptable.

If after redoing you have to really tweak the bars way out of level and are on say the 3rd link then you may have a cargo loading issue. 1000# bars should be enough to muscle any of the lightweight Outbacks into submission.

5th link - great
4th link - OK
3rd link - somethings wrong

A picture is worth 1000 words if ya want us to take a look


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## Pee Wee (May 31, 2005)

Well I just got back from 2 hours worth of work trying to get the truck to sqaut the same front and rear and the camper level. IMPOSSIBLE with what I have!!! ! Tryed EVERY comb! To make a long story short the closest I got to geting the truck to squat the same was thr front down 3/8" the rear down 7/8" BUT the front of the camper is 2" lower than the rear! Now this is where I'm at with my set up. I have the ball on the lowest height and angeled back as far as it will go HOOKED on the 4th link. What is odd is that my ball is 2" lower than the coupler height when th camper is level (camper 24" truck 22") I'm putting SO MUCH weight on the bars trying to lift the rear and and lower the front, maybe to much. The bars at the top of the cam are about an inch higher than the lowest part of the frame. I would say that the bars look like the pic. in the instructions under "wrong"! As for how much weight is in the front of the camper there MIGHT be 150-200 pounds IMO not out of line. What should I do? Get hevyer bars? I don't think the dealer where I bought the camper from is going to buy that and give me heavyer bars because I said there not"heavy enough" there going to think I'm nuts,I can see it coming. Help,all input is welcome!!!!!! Were going on a 300 mile trip on thursday and I want to get it right!! Yes, I'm machically inclined not some yo-yo that hasn't a clue as to what I'm doing but I have never set a WD hitch before.
Truck- 05 titan 
Camper 05 28RSDS
WD bars 1,000 pounds

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR INPUT AND TIME GUY'S !!!
John


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## Pee Wee (May 31, 2005)

Got it this today!!! To make another long story short when I bought the truck I read in the owners manual on how to set up the hitch and for some reason I had it stuck in my head!







They say to measure the ref. pionts in the middle of the truck both front and rear at the bumpers, or something like that. Well last night I got to thinking that I should be taking the measurements at the wheel wells! Not and the rear bumper that is approx 44" behide the rear wheel well and the front bumper that is over 3 feet to the well. It make thata much difference!!! Today when I measured to the wells the front dropped 5/8" and the read dropped 7/8" and the camper is only out of level by a 1/4"







Also I did move some weight from the front of the camper (storage) to the axles about 50# Now I have 950# of tongue wt., yes I did weigh it, at work. I don't know how huch it should have but I do have the min. amout of weight it the storage now.

Thanks guy's 
John


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Sounds like you got it John. Good Luck!


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