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Old 03-25-2021, 03:09 PM   #1
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5th. wheel surging, bucking, bouncing

Have a 2016 GMC 3500HD DWR. Just bought a 2017 Montana 3610RL, 38' long, 16,000 pounds. Installed ISR rails and had a Reese 16K hitch. First trip had some chucking or bucking or surging (not sure the descriptive word to use) issues. Like the trailer was surging forward and backward a bit. Bought a Pullrite 2400 isr series superlite 20K hitch. Friend said he had similar surging issues with his Reese hitch, went to an Anderson, now has no issues. Still having same problem with Pullrite hitch installed. Not major but enough it needs remedied. The trailer has MORryde pin box. Any suggestions? I installed the adapter for the Pullrite hitch forward (toward truck) which moved the weight of the trailer a few inches toward the tailgate. Trying to give as much understandable info in hopes of a solution.
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Old 03-25-2021, 03:45 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bighamstoy View Post
Have a 2016 GMC 3500HD DWR. Just bought a 2017 Montana 3610RL, 38' long, 16,000 pounds. Installed ISR rails and had a Reese 16K hitch. First trip had some chucking or bucking or surging (not sure the descriptive word to use) issues. Like the trailer was surging forward and backward a bit. Bought a Pullrite 2400 isr series superlite 20K hitch. Friend said he had similar surging issues with his Reese hitch, went to an Anderson, now has no issues. Still having same problem with Pullrite hitch installed. Not major but enough it needs remedied. The trailer has MORryde pin box. Any suggestions? I installed the adapter for the Pullrite hitch forward (toward truck) which moved the weight of the trailer a few inches toward the tailgate. Trying to give as much understandable info in hopes of a solution.
buy Really good shocks on the rear of the truck helps , Stock GM shocks are very soft even new.

Rancho RS9000X or Bilstine 4600 or 5100 at a min.
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Old 03-25-2021, 03:52 PM   #3
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How much weight do you have on the pin ?

Towing a 5er that's loaded with less than 18/20% of total trailer weight on the pin will result in " chucking " .

Centerline of the pin , 2" forward of the truck rear axle center line , is standard 5er hitch set up .
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Old 03-25-2021, 04:29 PM   #4
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Low pin weight will cause chucking. I would center line your hitch over the rear axle. Put water in your tanks( if they are fwd of the front trailer axle) to add more weight to your hitch. I would weight the truck and trailer to check your pin weight. Last check your rear tire pressure. I put my rear tires to 80 psi. My trailer bounced hard. Now I run 65 psi. It rides great now
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Old 03-25-2021, 04:53 PM   #5
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How level is the trailer when hooked up and ready to pull? I had chucking until I adjusted the hitch to make it as level as possible while maintaining the 6 inch rail clearance. I still had issues so bought an anderson. Problem solved.
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Old 03-25-2021, 05:32 PM   #6
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Thanks for quick responses. Research told me Anderson/PullRite was of equal value as an upgrade. Chose PullRite because of price & preferred steel over aluminum construction. I assume the PullRite would do the same for the ride as the Anderson. Have my hitch set on the highest setting, I'll drop it one notch and give that a shot, along with lowering air pressure a bit. Maybe flip the adapter so more of my trailer is over the truck bed.
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Old 03-25-2021, 05:46 PM   #7
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How much slop is there between the pin and hitch jaws? Loose jaws will cause clunking at starts and stops. As others have said light pin weight can cause issues as not towing level.
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Old 03-25-2021, 05:50 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bighamstoy View Post
Have a 2016 GMC 3500HD DWR. Just bought a 2017 Montana 3610RL, 38' long, 16,000 pounds. Installed ISR rails and had a Reese 16K hitch. First trip had some chucking or bucking or surging (not sure the descriptive word to use) issues. Like the trailer was surging forward and backward a bit. Bought a Pullrite 2400 isr series superlite 20K hitch. Friend said he had similar surging issues with his Reese hitch, went to an Anderson, now has no issues. Still having same problem with Pullrite hitch installed. Not major but enough it needs remedied. The trailer has MORryde pin box. Any suggestions? I installed the adapter for the Pullrite hitch forward (toward truck) which moved the weight of the trailer a few inches toward the tailgate. Trying to give as much understandable info in hopes of a solution.
You didn’t say whether you had a long bed or short and I don’t even know if that matters. We have a Chevy Silverado 2500 short bed and pull a 30 foot fiver. We also have the Moryde pin box. We have a PullRite SuperGlide 16k and love it. We have no chucking. Hitch is mounted with the puck system right over the axle. It was installed by the dealer. I just measured and the jaws are approximately 38 1/2 inches to tailgate. The “foot” of the hitch or crossbar closest to the tailgate is 20 1/2 inches to tailgate. Our fifth’s tires are at 80 psi and our truck’s front tires are at 60 psi and back tires are 80 psi. Don’t know if any of this information is helpful. Hope you figure out the issue.
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Old 03-25-2021, 11:30 PM   #9
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Due to the high hitch design, the pin on a fifth wheel pushes forward as it pushes down. Severe chucking are fore/aft forces created by the trailer and transmitted to the truck through the hitch. You will know chucking as you will be bouncing off the seat back at the same frequency as bumps in the road. My trailer develops bad chucking forces and I would not characterize it as surging. Because of the physics involved, long heavy trailers generally don't create a lot of chucking forces. Even then, the MORryde pin box does a good job of mitigating them. Does the trailer do this on super smooth roads? As bad as mine is, it towed well on smooth roads which are rare where I live.

If you determine you have chucking forces instead of surging forces then there are fixes. I would start with shocks on the trailer, not the truck. Remember, when chucking, your trailer is pushing fore and aft. Your hitch solidly attaches your trailer to the truck's frame. The forces go from the trailer, to the hitch, to the truck's frame and to your seat back. The truck's suspension is not part of the energy path. As you noted, changing from one solid hitch to another solid hitch isn't going to help.

If you believe your rig is surging then maybe something unusual is happening and I can't offer anything.
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Old 03-26-2021, 06:46 AM   #10
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I'm no expert on this but I experienced a bit of chucking previously. I readjusted the hitch on the 5th wheel so I had more clearance between trailer and truck bed. I am now riding a bit more nose high, maybe 3 inches or so, I'll have to measure that sometime. For whatever reason this has all but eliminated chucking on our rig. I'm reasonably sure our pin weight was quite high.
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Old 03-26-2021, 07:53 AM   #11
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The truck is a long bed. One other thing I forgot to mention, which might be a big one, is there are rubber "bumpers" mounted on the ends of the MORryde pin box. Except mine aren't attached any more. I'll attach 2 photos (hopefully). They were both laying there unattached to anything. They must do something, but at first glance can't tell what they should do.


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Old 03-26-2021, 07:56 AM   #12
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My turn!
Well so far some good suggestions, we had some chucking issues what we did to solve the issues.

Very good shocks on the TV, we had Bilstein 5100 non lifted.
We traveled with the fresh water tank full to add pin weight, our was 23% (2,700#)

We installed shocks on the 5er.
We leveled the 5er when towing
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Old 03-26-2021, 08:13 AM   #13
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Originally Posted by bighamstoy View Post
The truck is a long bed. One other thing I forgot to mention, which might be a big one, is there are rubber "bumpers" mounted on the ends of the MORryde pin box. Except mine aren't attached any more. I'll attach 2 photos (hopefully). They were both laying there unattached to anything. They must do something, but at first glance can't tell what they should do.


Attachment 322688

Attachment 322689

I think I would contact MORrryde and get new rubber in the correct weight rating.
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Old 03-26-2021, 08:40 AM   #14
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My airbags help this A LOT. Basically, the same idea as good shocks on the truck. The bags stiffen up the hinge between the truck and fiver and really cut down on the rhythmic bouncing that can develop over uneven sections of road.

I honestly don't need the bags for sag but really appreciate the overall ride improvement when the 5th is behind me.
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