Chucking question

[Cenerus]

Hey folks,

I just brought my brand spanking new Reflection 303RLS home this weekend and I have a question about chucking. I'm towing it with a 2020 Chevy Silverado 3500 long bed, Duramax SRW using a B&W companion hitch over the B&W turnover gooseball. This is my first 5th wheel, so I had never experienced chucking until this weekend. We drove the trailer up the freeway to a local camp ground to play with it and see if everything is working ok. When we were towing it on the freeway, or roads we got a lot of chucking. I was kind of surprised at how much the trailer was push/pulling almost constantly. No up/down movement, but lots of forward/backward while towing on the freeway. I thought the B&W companion was good at reducing chucking, so I'm concerned that I don't have something setup right with the hitch position or on the truck or the trailer pinbox. The pin box is the default Lippert that the 303RLS comes with.

Any advice about this? Is the chucking normal? Can anyone help me with dialing in the B&W?

Thanks

[FT4NOW]

Is your truck/trailer level with each other while hooked up? Also, was the camper mostly empty, or how was the loading? The way a camper is loaded can have a big effect on the ride, this includes water in the tanks. I dont have a B+W hitch, so cant comment on that part.

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[bertschb]

Any hitch that connects the truck to the RV with a "hard mount" will result in chucking on uneven road surfaces. The only way to reduce chucking is to get a hitch or pinbox with airbags, shocks or rubber bushings that will absorb that fore-aft motion. You aren't doing anything wrong. You just can't beat physics.

[[email protected]]

Hey folks,

I just brought my brand spanking new Reflection 303RLS home this weekend and I have a question about chucking. I'm towing it with a 2020 Chevy Silverado 3500 long bed, Duramax SRW using a B&W companion hitch over the B&W turnover gooseball. This is my first 5th wheel, so I had never experienced chucking until this weekend. We drove the trailer up the freeway to a local camp ground to play with it and see if everything is working ok. When we were towing it on the freeway, or roads we got a lot of chucking. I was kind of surprised at how much the trailer was push/pulling almost constantly. No up/down movement, but lots of forward/backward while towing on the freeway. I thought the B&W companion was good at reducing chucking, so I'm concerned that I don't have something setup right with the hitch position or on the truck or the trailer pinbox. The pin box is the default Lippert that the 303RLS comes with.

Any advice about this? Is the chucking normal? Can anyone help me with dialing in the B&W?

Thanks

Pin boxes with air bags and shocks will help most of the time. Traveling with a half full water (fresh, black or gray) tank will cause chucking from watersloshing. But it's not so much the trailer as it it the truck. They designed the truck for a balance between smooth ride and payload, your probably close to that middle ground. You have a lighter trailer and a heavy duty truck. I would try towing with a full load of fresh water to add more weight to the bed of the truck. If you don't want to tow with additional weight, the only other option would be to bag the truck. Not that your over loading it, but to keep it out of that middle range on the spring package.

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[Cenerus]

Thanks for the replies.

We loaded the trailer with our gear from our 2600RB that we traded in when we bought the 300RLS. So the basement of the 303 was pretty full of gear and the front most storage even had a Davy Crockett smoker in it. We also replaced the mattress in the 303 with a heavier residential style mattress. I had drained the black and grey tanks prior to leaving the RV dealership camp ground where we stayed the night to test the RV systems for any bugs. But I didn't think to empty the fresh water tank because the monitor station showed it as empty or close to empty. That may be something worth trying before our next trip.

Is there anything about the front to back position of the hitch that could affect chucking? Currently the hitch head is adjusted as far forward as it will go. Is there anything to be gained by moving it further back on the base a few inches?

[Steven@147]

Hey folks,

I just brought my brand spanking new Reflection 303RLS home this weekend and I have a question about chucking. I'm towing it with a 2020 Chevy Silverado 3500 long bed, Duramax SRW using a B&W companion hitch over the B&W turnover gooseball. This is my first 5th wheel, so I had never experienced chucking until this weekend. We drove the trailer up the freeway to a local camp ground to play with it and see if everything is working ok. When we were towing it on the freeway, or roads we got a lot of chucking. I was kind of surprised at how much the trailer was push/pulling almost constantly. No up/down movement, but lots of forward/backward while towing on the freeway. I thought the B&W companion was good at reducing chucking, so I'm concerned that I don't have something setup right with the hitch position or on the truck or the trailer pinbox. The pin box is the default Lippert that the 303RLS comes with.

Any advice about this? Is the chucking normal? Can anyone help me with dialing in the B&W?

Thanks

Hello, the B&W hitch will not have any effect to resolve chucking caused by the road surface. As was said, the only alternative is to use a different pin box, one that dampens or almost eliminates the chucking. When we got our Solitude 3350RL using the B&W Companion, we got a lot of chucking on some roads and highways. We installed a MORryde pin box and it helped a lot and was not that expensive to help resolve the issue. I have heard that new Solitudes all come with the MORryde dampened pin box as standard equipment, except the S Class Solitude. I don't know about the Reflections.

You can spend $5000 and up for shock and airbag pin boxes and hitches to eliminate the chucking. We bought our MORryde box for $350, a 1 year old MORryde pin box from a guy that took it off his Jayco . He had to buy a new pin box to clear his RAM bed tool boxes.
The arms can bolt on the Companion so that the pin weight is either aft, over, or forward of the rear axle of the tow vehicle. Moving the B&W arms forward or backward will only add or remove weight from the front axle of the tow vehicle, moving the Companion arms will not resolve chucking.

[Cenerus]

Thanks Steven@147,

That was a great reply, and really helpful. So it sounds like my next RV purchase will be a pin box like the MorRyde. These trailers are definitely like any other hobby or interest I've had. They're a great place to spend a lot of money over time.

[bertschb]

Thanks Steven@147,So it sounds like my next RV purchase will be a pin box like the MorRyde.

Yes, the MORryde pinbox will reduce chucking. If you add an airbag hitch (e.g. Trailersaver BD3) to your setup, it will reduce the up and down motion as well. It's not cheap but if you combine the MORryde pinbox with an airbag hitch, you will have the smoothest ride possible for both the passengers in the truck and the RV itself.

[Cenerus]

Yes, the MORryde pinbox will reduce chucking. If you add an airbag hitch (e.g. Trailersaver BD3) to your setup, it will reduce the up and down motion as well. It's not cheap but if you combine the MORryde pinbox with an airbag hitch, you will have the smoothest ride possible for both the passengers in the truck and the RV itself.

Does a MorRyde pin box void the warrantee on the Lippert frame, or is that just an issue for other types of pin boxes?

[Txfivver]

Does a MorRyde pin box void the warrantee on the Lippert frame, or is that just an issue for other types of pin boxes?

No it does not, The new Solitudes and Momentums come from the factory with the MorRyde pin box now.