Community Forums

speedway · 04-03-2019, 01:33 PM

Been towing a 24'V Nose enclosed car trailer for years with 3/4 ton Suburban.

Will begin towing with our Newmar MADP 4017 next week. Will the air ride level the coach up after adding tongue weight?

Coach hitch receiver is 6 " lower than Suburban. Hitch shank will have 7" ground clearance. Is that enough?

I use Reece WD hitch, will have about 750 lbs tongue weight.

Will appreciate any advice from folks with MH trailer experience.

mackwrench · 04-03-2019, 03:29 PM

Yes. Your coach has a leveling valve that maintains a specific height.
The leveling valve gas a linkage rod that will add air psi to air bags when loaded.

Ivylog · 04-03-2019, 06:57 PM

No need for WD and I would use a receiver with a 4” lift.

153stars · 04-03-2019, 07:41 PM

I like the way trailers tow with my Reese WD hitch no sway brake it never does with bars loaded . I use silicone brake grease on bars . not as filthy as grease .Keep down the creaking. It would mean a more expensive drop reciever that drop ball.

speedway · 04-03-2019, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ivylog

No need for WD and I would use a receiver with a 4” lift.

WD hitches are not useful/needed? Interesting. Is that because of air ride leveling capability?

FIRE UP · 04-03-2019, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedway

WD hitches are not useful/needed? Interesting. Is that because of air ride leveling capability?

Speedway,
"WD" or Weight distributing hitches are and do, just what the name implies, they "distribute" weight, between the trailer and towing vehicle. And, they primarily do it by torsion bars that have some serious tension on them to compensate for heavy tongue weight.

About 99.999999999% of the diesel coaches out there have air bags for suspension. Something needs to be in control of how much air goes into and out of those bags so that the coach, rides where it's supposed to. For that, there are what's called "Ride height sensors". Our coach, an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with CAT C-7 330HP has three ride height sensors. Two in the back and one in the front.

They have link rods that are connected to the frame and, based on specific measurements set up at the factory, those valves tell each air bag just how much air needs to be in them, based on those link rods, so the coach rides at a specific height. Add weight to the coach in the front, the coach squats down some, the valve sees that and, it corrects the situation by adding more air to the front bags. Done.

Add some weight to the rear of your coach, as in heavy tongue weight, the coach is gonna dip some. The ride height sensor's gonna see that and, adjust the ride height accordingly. Now, your coach will ride at the same height, with or without the trailer on it. Hope this helps some.
Scott

dirt40 · 04-03-2019, 09:29 PM

I am going to be using an Anderson WDH on mine because the 28' race trailer we will be pulling is over 1k of tongue weight. Not for the MH but to help the hitch itself is my theory.

Ivylog · 04-04-2019, 03:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedway

WD hitches are not useful/needed? Interesting. Is that because of air ride leveling capability?

Sort of...a WD hitch takes some of the excessive tongue weight and shifts it to the front axle and the trailer axles when you are overloading the rear axle. Your DP is rated for a 10K trailer and 1000 lbs of tongue weight so NO need for WD.

Dirt10’s trailer sounds like it is heavier than his 10K hitch and WD might help as that’s what’s on most PU hitches...you can pull a heavier trailer if you use WD...BUT does that increase the strength of the hitch or does 1000 lbs overload the rear axle of most PUs?

IF the front of your DP bobs up and down using WD might help some but 1000 lb bars are going to have a hard time taming a 12,000 lb front axle on your DP.

speedway · 04-04-2019, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ivylog

Sort of...a WD hitch takes some of the excessive tongue weight and shifts it to the front axle and the trailer axles when you are overloading the rear axle. Your DP is rated for a 10K trailer and 1000 lbs of tongue weight so NO need for WD.

Dirt10’s trailer sounds like it is heavier than his 10K hitch and WD might help as that’s what’s on most PU hitches...you can pull a heavier trailer if you use WD...BUT does that increase the strength of the hitch or does 1000 lbs overload the rear axle of most PUs?

IF the front of your DP bobs up and down using WD might help some but 1000 lb bars are going to have a hard time taming a 12,000 lb front axle on your DP.

Thanks for the information.
Regardless of the WDH ability or inability to transfer weight, on a 40' coach, I expect the WD hitch has a positive impact controlling sway when dealing with cross winds.

Ivylog · 04-04-2019, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedway

Thanks for the information.
Regardless of the WDH ability or inability to transfer weight, on a 40' coach, I expect the WD hitch has a positive impact controlling sway when dealing with cross winds.

Some do, most do not unless a friction sway control arm is added. The secret to preventing sway is plenty of tongue weight. I move a lot of equipment with my PU without WD or sway control by positioning the machine on the trailer until the back of the PU sinks down 3-4”...plenty of tongue weight. I reinforced the hitch so it can handle 1500-2000 lbs of tongue weight without using WD.

153stars · 04-11-2019, 11:53 AM

I stumbled across this from earlier question. This is fantastic info you can breeze through a bit to get to nitty gritty. A longer rig will have weight off front axle but same thing applies to rear axel.