I recently bought a new 18ft car hauler trailer and it shakes the truck at any speed. Like the truck and trailer aren't synchronized? Same thing when it is empty or with a 1200 lb bush hog loaded on it centered over the axles. What can cause this? I am pulling it with a 1/2 ton short wheel base truck. Thanks for your help.
annoying bouncy ride pulling trailer
- Thread starter BudinTenn
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Ryan03
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Is the trailer towing level or is it nose high. My 18 ft car hauler tows rough empty because it is about 1-2 inches high on the tongue. My road is very rough and every bump seems to crash right through the truck. Once the trailer is loaded with a car or tractor, the back of the truck settles and the trailer tows nearly dead nuts level, and the ride and handling are very good. If I am towing a light load I run a 5 in drop receiver, rather than the 2 in drop I run for heavier stuff. Towing level empty or light with the 5 inch drop it rides much better than tongue high with the 2 inch drop. A couple times on the interstate, I have ran across some heaved lanes where the bumps were in the exact wrong spot for the truck and trailer axle spacing, there is not much you can do in that situation besides trying to find a lane that rides better.
Marveltone
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I'm probably a little ****-retentive on this, but I carry three different draw-bars to accommodate the tongue heights of the different trailers I have, just so they can ride as level as possible. I really feel this is a small expense and makes a big difference on ride quality as well as control and safety. All my trailers ride very smoothly as a result.
Joe
Bigfoot62
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Even though you don't NEED it for the weight you're towing, a weight-distributing hitch will probably help that situation.
SSdoxie
Elite Member
I found that if not able to keep level then nose (front) slightly lower is better. I hook mine so level when empty and with light loads is still level. When I put the 3000+ lb. tractor on it, is about 1" lower in front (measured at front and back corners of deck). Ran mine this way loaded 1000 mi out to San Antonio, TX and back, other than a little extra grunt from the engine to get up to cruising speed I couldn't tell trailer was back there.
meburdick
Platinum Member
WDHs are rated to re-distribute specific amounts of tongue weight. They tend to be rated for something like 800 lbs (as an example), redistributing 300-400 pounds of tongue weight (based on a typical tongue max of 500). If you use that on an empty trailer, you could end up with essentially no tongue weight (since an empty 18' car hauler will likely have about 300-400 lbs of tongue weight), and that would be bad. I, personally, would never attempt to use a WDH for an amount of tongue weight other than what the hitch was spec'ed for.
As for making sure the trailer is perfectly level when towing - I try to achieve a ride for the trailer that's as level as possible, but it often isn't overly crucial since the tandem axles are configured to handle angles without compromising the ride.
What, exactly, are you towing with? All details.. Year, make, model, hitch brand / rating, did the truck come with a towing package, what is the final drive gear ratio, what is the truck rated for in terms of tongue and gross trailer weight with AND without a WDH?
There are a LOT of variables that need to be understood. My truck came with the towing package, so the final drive is matched up well for pulling a 10k trailer. The standard final gear isn't as good, and some tow vehicles don't tow more than about 2500 lbs well because of their final gears.