This is the WD/SC hitch I have, I just adjust the chains with a wrench they provide.
Also no grease on the ball FTW.
I used to own an Andersen WDH. I liked the sway control but thought the actual WDH was far from functional. I noticed I had more sag in the rear then normal so I decided to check the weight on the axles and noticed that the Andersen was not distributing the weight to the front axles enought to balance the load. I even tightened it down till the bushing was compressed to half it's size.
I went online and noticed numerous people had the same result. I think the Andersen is great when the tongue weight is below 400lbs but above that it does not transfer enough weight to the TV's front axle to work properly. I switched out to a Equalizer brand WDH and was able to balance the axle weight within 5%.
My hitch is a Reese dual cam. When the dealer installed they said to use link 6. On my last trip I went up a link to link 7 (tighter, counting from the end up) and had much improved results. After a trip to the scale I'd like to get another 20KGS off my rear axle, I'm not sure if it's as simple as tightening one more link?, or will the cams have to be adjusted as well. Is there such a thing as too tight? If I go up to link 8 I'd only have about 2 chain links left, and my bars would be quite a bit higher than parallel I'm also thinking my ball height may have to be adjusted if I tighten the weight distribution.
Of course I'll shift some weight around inside the trailer as well, just want to make sure I'm getting the full use out of my hitch.
Really I'd love to pay an expert shop to precision adjust this for me as my tow vehicle and trailer will pretty much always have the same contents.
Too tight will cause the trailer to be very bouncy and push the TV around. Additionally there is always the fear of bending the frame by over tightening the WDH. I would imagine a place like hitch experts would be able to give you input.
How much of a difference is there between your front axle and your real axle weight & height.
How do you know if you should have sway bars and such? I'm adding a brake controller, but that was about it.
Several WDH's come with built in sway control (Reese, Equal-I-zer, blue ox, fastway) so you get the double duty.
The way I look at it sway bars cost around $100 when adding to a non sway enabled WDH so if $100 will give me less of a chance that my $30,000 trailer will topple over when a truck passes me its money well spent.
On that note however I towed my old tent trailer and my hybrid without a WDH or sway control for several years, Both weighed less then 3000lb pounds and I was new to Rving.
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PSN: Diemenz
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Well I took the trailer back to the dealer today, and turns out the hitch was quite poorly installed, (apparently by a former employee). Take note, find the manual for your hitch, then check to see if it was installed correctly! Glad I had them check it out.
Whatever you guys do. AVOID THE HITCH SHOP. That place is a horror show, and I don't even want to get into my experience with too much detail.... but it was terrible, and they had zero knowledge of anything German related. All they can handle are prewired domestic 1/2 tons by the looks of it.
The absolute rock stars for Hitch's, wiring, etc.... Standens. And they have awesome rates. I never knew they did piddly little retail stuff, I always thought they were strictly Heavy Duty commercial. If a guy is qualified to work on a Kenworth, I have no issues letting them work on my Tiguan. They knew exactly what was required, knew exactly how the factory tow module is supposed to function, and knew exactly how to deal with VW's CAN data bus wiring. They are total pros.
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Some of you guys have a weird idea of camping, no offense but if you have a TV and hot water in your trailer is not camping it's living out of a mobile home.
Some of you guys have a weird idea of camping, no offense but if you have a TV and hot water in your trailer is not camping it's living out of a mobile home.
So what should we call it to make you happy?
I like to get out of the city with my kids and wife and enjoy new places and see new things with the convenience of not having to worry about where I am sleeping or spending my precious time setting up my site or packing each time I go.
Do please let me know the word you would like us to use and we will adopt it immediately.
Or not.
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Some of you guys have a weird idea of camping, no offense but if you have a TV and hot water in your trailer is not camping it's living out of a mobile home.
I love backpacking actually, so I get what your saying here. For me the fact is that some members of my family (sisters and their children in particular) wouldn't ever go into the backcountry. So while I think its not exactly "roughing it", I actually treasure those times with my siblings enough to let it slide. Are we actually camping? Maybe not. But, we're out in the outdoors doing a lot more than what many others do at this point, as sad as that is!
Plus, I have an idea of using my new trailer as a "homebase" where I can go off for a few days from a campground and still do some overnighters or more from there. Kind of a best of both worlds scenario I suppose.
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Some of you guys have a weird idea of camping, no offense but if you have a TV and hot water in your trailer is not camping it's living out of a mobile home.
You have a weird idea of posting, no offence but if you have no intention of adding to the discussion at hand and your only intention it to create an argument that doesnt exist it's not posting its trolling.
I like to get out of the city with my kids and wife and enjoy new places and see new things with the convenience of not having to worry about where I am sleeping or spending my precious time setting up my site or packing each time I go.
Do please let me know the word you would like us to use and we will adopt it immediately.
Or not.
People can camp however they want but hauling a trailer is more time consuming then just setting up a tent and tarp.
I also really enjoy tent camping in the back country. If it involves a nice hike in, even better. However to start nitpicking on the definition of "camping" just shows your ignorance on the topic.
Probably a perspective thing, maybe you dont have young kids and extended family/friends that like to get together away from home.
Regardless, call it what you want but it doesnt change the fact that you are getting away and spending some time outdoors. Be it in a tent or a massive class A motorhome.
Its really quite pointless to try sniping at the topic.
I like to get out of the city with my kids and wife and enjoy new places and see new things with the convenience of not having to worry about where I am sleeping or spending my precious time setting up my site or packing each time I go.
Do please let me know the word you would like us to use and we will adopt it immediately.
Or not.
I just wish you guys didn't use so much crap that requires a generator. When I hear this talk of TVs it really pisses me off because I always thought that I had to listen to your generator all day because of things that might actually be considered a necessity, but if it's so that you can watch TV? Sorry, but that's just too much.
Since reading this thread, when I go camping now and I hear a generator it really grinds on me more than ever before because now I just assume they're watching TV.
What kind of person can't leave the idiot box alone for one week?
Location: Close enough to make a beer run during a TV timeout
Exp:
Keep in mind what "all of this talk about TVs" has been about. In the last few pages any reference to a TV has been a tow vehicle; the truck pulling the trailer. Prior to that some of us had discussed ways to have television in the trailer without needing a generator. My television works just fine on 12 volt power.
And the primary purpose of the TV in my trailer is for the sake of family. I have a teenaged son and we only watch TV if the weather has turned bad; or at night as we are going to sleep. If that helps me be able to have quality outdoor time with my family- so be it.
What's really going to piss you off is when you find out most of these generators are being used to make toast, coffee, or run a microwave.
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It's funny, I "camp" in a 40' 5th wheel and manage to get into areas remote enough that I rarely hear a generator running. If you're tenting in areas where this is a problem, maybe try harder?
I don't know why people who spend their camping time watching TV bother with the camping part, but it's their life. I just don't go where they do, which definitely wasn't hard to do in all the years I spent tenting it. It's like camping at McLean Creek and complaining about ATV's.
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Location: Close enough to make a beer run during a TV timeout
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by WCan_Kid
It's funny, I "camp" in a 40' 5th wheel and manage to get into areas remote enough that I rarely hear a generator running. If you're tenting in areas where this is a problem, maybe try harder?
I disagree with this part. If your camping requires power from a generator, you should camp somewhere that has power. For example Gooseberry and Maclean Creek are a few kilometres apart. Maclean Creek has power while Gooseberry doesn't.
However I would like to know what remote areas you camp. That's something I keep looking for; places that are out of the way and isolated.
I just wish you guys didn't use so much crap that requires a generator. When I hear this talk of TVs it really pisses me off because I always thought that I had to listen to your generator all day because of things that might actually be considered a necessity, but if it's so that you can watch TV? Sorry, but that's just too much.
Since reading this thread, when I go camping now and I hear a generator it really grinds on me more than ever before because now I just assume they're watching TV.
What kind of person can't leave the idiot box alone for one week?
I dont personally use a generator very often...maybe 5-10% of our trips it comes in handy(not for watching TV though). But as mentioned previously, if you are tenting its not hard to avoid campgrounds that would have RV's running generators.
If I was tenting, the last place I want to be is a campground full of RV's. Go somewhere you can get away from it all and enjoy some privacy.
Some of you guys have a weird idea of camping, no offense but if you have a TV and hot water in your trailer is not camping it's living out of a mobile home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
People can camp however they want but hauling a trailer is more time consuming then just setting up a tent and tarp.
Oh who freaking cares?! Camping is whatever a person defines it to be, for their personal taste.
I only tent because I don't have the cash for a trailer/truck combo. Not because it's so much more 'camping' because it's in a tent. And when I go camping in a tent, I take along one of those BYOBeds type deals, because the damp from the ground wreaks havoc on my old knees and I rather enjoy being able to get up and do stuff when we're out. Does that make it 'less' camping because it isn't a sleeping bag on the ground of the tent?
And when my kids were little? Hell yes I'd have a TV out there for rainy days, and videos, if I could have. But go on with your bad selves for listening to toddlers whine and carry on.
You camp how you want to camp and everyone else will camp how they want to camp - whatever flips up your skirt.
