Contact between the truck and the bottom of my 5th wheel

[Papahoosh]

It happened to me twice and fortunately no damage occurred. The gap between the truck and underneath the RV is 6" but since I have a Tonneau bed cover, the gap is really 4 1/2" to 5". I raised the height of the hitch and that gave me about 7" gap. However, the nose got slightly higher so I lowered the hitch. I am not sure what to do now. Should I increase the hitch height?
I try to avoid bad roads but sometimes you have no choice like going over rail road tracks or a hump in a campground.

[xrated]

I don’t see how 1” or 2” of lift in the front would alter the axle load enough to have a catastrophic effect.
Not as much as contacting the trailer with the bed rails or tailgate.d
I could be wrong though.


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It probably wouldn't be what I would call "catastrophic", but nose high does affect the load distribution between the front and rear axles for sure. And if the that load is shifted rearward (or to the front for that matter if the trailer was nose down) it could shift xxx lb of weight to that axle and sometimes the trailer manufacturers put on tires that are just barely enough load capacity for their burdened weight. Then, consider the tires being two, three, years old or older and they have lost some percentage of their load capacity rating anyway, which then definitely makes the tires overloaded and highly susceptible to blow out. Not a good situation and most likely a costly repair bill

[DaveMatthewsBand]

It probably wouldn't be what I would call "catastrophic", but nose high does affect the load distribution between the front and rear axles for sure. And if the that load is shifted rearward (or to the front for that matter if the trailer was nose down) it could shift xxx lb of weight to that axle and sometimes the trailer manufacturers put on tires that are just barely enough load capacity for their burdened weight. Then, consider the tires being two, three, years old or older and they have lost some percentage of their load capacity rating anyway, which then definitely makes the tires overloaded and highly susceptible to blow out. Not a good situation and most likely a costly repair bill

I’d probably be fine then since my Reflection has a GVWR of 8995 and my Goodyear tires max out 2,325 lbs above that.


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[D2Reid]

I would not endorse any hitch adjustment that does not leave the trailer as level as possible while towing.

But there is some wiggle room, you just have to make your own judgement calls.

I have had truck bed rails contact the underside of the overhang. Not often, but some. Worst was when my rolling truck bed covers railings married up with my skirt rails and they fought each other. Bent the cover rails and pulled some skirting rail off. If you RV enough in uneven places it's going to happen. You just need to be aware it's going to happen then slow down and take steps to keep severe damage from occurring, a little one inch furring strip between the bed rail and RV may be enough. Or not, it just depends on how severe the angle.

You eventually learn how to judge drag, if it feels like there is more than should be normal get out and look. Every single time that I have added more power I have ended up repairing something.

[Chronobomb]

Thank you for all the information. I within 100lbs of my max weight on the trailer and would hate to go nose high. I will measure the clearance I have next time I tow as I have to get it out of the spot I scraped myself getting into.

One gift I want next year is 8k axles and tires to go with them just to have peace of mind. Hopefully I can get a lift at the same time to level out my rig. I wasn't even aware I wasn't level until one of my neighbors mentioned the new Trucks tend to be several inches higher and have higher bed walls than the previous years.

[backtrack2015]

My understanding was that the equalizing spring design on the tandem axle units would tend to balance the load on the axles even when the trailer was slightly nose-high. If we had torsion axles (like Micro-Minnie 5ers) or simple independent springs for each axle then being level would be critical. Am I mistaken?

[Sask 379]

I have 379 so a longer trailer, I’m 2.5 inch nose high. My front axle carries more weight than rear axle. Have weighed unit 3 different times same every time that’s no water on board. No negative problems pulling or ride. Just bit nervous on overall height.