Well everyone, i got the truck to 500 miles and finally got to tow my boat for the first time this weekend from storage, to the house and back (about 19 miles 1 way). I am new to towing this much weight let alone more, so its a complete rookie question. I also have a toy hauler coming in the near future that will weight much more so it will help answer my questions for that as well. Tried researching and looked everywhere but cant really find a straight answer. Please bare with me and call me a idiot if youd like, just want to get this right.
As shown in the photo ( posted multiple from different angles not sure it will help) i have a 26ft boat that weights (with boat/trailer/full of gas) is ~6,400ibs. As i have said before here i upgraded from the 1500 and was getting thrown everywhere in the truck to the point i felt unsafe so upgraded to this, plus again, toy hauler so needed an upgrade regardless eventually. Anyways, i have a B&W Hitch with a 7" drop. When I hooked the boat up for the first time I had the ball at the second to lowest slot and towed it like it was nothing and felt great, forgot i was towing at points, however I noticed the tires (its a triple axle as shown) were at a slight angle and could tell the front axle tires werent nearly as "squished" as the rear tires. So I decided after working on it id drop the ball to the lowest slot and hook it up. And it helped "level" the tires/boat out a little bit better (as yall know we're are talking what a 1-2" drop so not significant) but when towing it back to storage at that point, super bouncy over every single bump let alone bigger ones. Almost as if it was gona yank the hitch right off like it felt in the 1500. So..... second to lowest setting it didnt look as leveled but it towed with no issue at all.... but when i have it on the lowest setting it looks more leveled and the front tires looked like it had more weight with rear not being as "squished", (yes the engine bay and the drive is in the back so its much heavier than the front of the hull thats essentially empty).
This thing with my set up says i have over 17,000ibs of capacity, im at what a third of that? I FEEL like i should NOT be feeling this, should tow it with breeze id assume.
I get technically I have slightly more weight on the front trailer axle than the rear because the center of gravity of the boat and trailer must be in front of the front axle to ensure positive tongue weight. The three axles are dependent on each other, so the weight is fairly well distributed but not perfectly.... just not what im visually seeing at all. My truck set up is in my signature so shouldnt be any issues there ether. Even left the stock springs so its stiffer but im bouncing everywhere.
As for a WDH hitch... ive called and tried to find many different ones that would fit this trailer due to the nature of how its so long up front and the bow roller arm is welded to the triler so no moving that... I have found almost none (from the coupler to the frame where the WDH would hook up to is nearly 4 feet so adding if from the hitch its past that, none on the market for that, ive also seen these trailers hundreds of times at the same lake i go to and even longer at that, none one is running a WDH on them). So thats not a option. I also shouldnt need one with this little weight..... I dont think.
Lastly, again ive never towed this much weight, so this could be a "your an idiot this is fairly normal" (as i may be making it sound a little dramatic but its enough for me to feel like it shouldnt be) and this is normal with coil springs to be a little bouncy.
As shown in the photo ( posted multiple from different angles not sure it will help) i have a 26ft boat that weights (with boat/trailer/full of gas) is ~6,400ibs. As i have said before here i upgraded from the 1500 and was getting thrown everywhere in the truck to the point i felt unsafe so upgraded to this, plus again, toy hauler so needed an upgrade regardless eventually. Anyways, i have a B&W Hitch with a 7" drop. When I hooked the boat up for the first time I had the ball at the second to lowest slot and towed it like it was nothing and felt great, forgot i was towing at points, however I noticed the tires (its a triple axle as shown) were at a slight angle and could tell the front axle tires werent nearly as "squished" as the rear tires. So I decided after working on it id drop the ball to the lowest slot and hook it up. And it helped "level" the tires/boat out a little bit better (as yall know we're are talking what a 1-2" drop so not significant) but when towing it back to storage at that point, super bouncy over every single bump let alone bigger ones. Almost as if it was gona yank the hitch right off like it felt in the 1500. So..... second to lowest setting it didnt look as leveled but it towed with no issue at all.... but when i have it on the lowest setting it looks more leveled and the front tires looked like it had more weight with rear not being as "squished", (yes the engine bay and the drive is in the back so its much heavier than the front of the hull thats essentially empty).
- Does that mean when its at the lowest setting it has "more tongue weight" and thats why its bouncy? yet the second notch doesnt look as leveled and the tongue weight is better hence less bouncy?
This thing with my set up says i have over 17,000ibs of capacity, im at what a third of that? I FEEL like i should NOT be feeling this, should tow it with breeze id assume.
I get technically I have slightly more weight on the front trailer axle than the rear because the center of gravity of the boat and trailer must be in front of the front axle to ensure positive tongue weight. The three axles are dependent on each other, so the weight is fairly well distributed but not perfectly.... just not what im visually seeing at all. My truck set up is in my signature so shouldnt be any issues there ether. Even left the stock springs so its stiffer but im bouncing everywhere.
As for a WDH hitch... ive called and tried to find many different ones that would fit this trailer due to the nature of how its so long up front and the bow roller arm is welded to the triler so no moving that... I have found almost none (from the coupler to the frame where the WDH would hook up to is nearly 4 feet so adding if from the hitch its past that, none on the market for that, ive also seen these trailers hundreds of times at the same lake i go to and even longer at that, none one is running a WDH on them). So thats not a option. I also shouldnt need one with this little weight..... I dont think.
Lastly, again ive never towed this much weight, so this could be a "your an idiot this is fairly normal" (as i may be making it sound a little dramatic but its enough for me to feel like it shouldnt be) and this is normal with coil springs to be a little bouncy.
- Sorry for being all over the place however any thoughts on this how i can help this?
- Will sumo spring help? (i know i read @Rockcrawlindude thread about his and see it helps with sag will it help with bounce?)
- Should i have gotten a longer drop hitch or something?
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