Nose high?

[NDBirdman]

Short trip with new to me camper. New tires, brake assemblies, bearings/race on both axles. Does she look about right, or do I need to drop the (Anderson) hitch a little to lower the camper's nose a tad? Looks to me like I'm putting a little more on the rear axle than the front (on camper).   I did not measure but I would say I have 6ish clearance from top of tailgate to camper.  I started in a pretty empty parking lot, turning tighter and tighter.  I see with this short bed radius is not going to be a problem but it looked like if I take a very sharp turn the hitch looks like it will hit the bed rails.  Going to be fun learning!

[Chalkie]

You should have about 6" of clearance from the bed rails on the truck to the camper. Any less and you are inviting troubles when turning. 

If you can lower it and still maintain that amount of clearance, I think I would as it does look a little nose high. Sometimes though you just can't get it completely level and you just do the best you can.

[Fulltimer51]

In my experience in the past with being nose high is dragging the rear, which caused major structural damage.  

[whj469]

I would lower the front of the fiver. Good Luck

[rynosback]

6 hours ago, Chalkie said:

You should have about 6" of clearance from the bed rails on the truck to the camper. Any less and you are inviting troubles when turning. 

If you can lower it and still maintain that amount of clearance, I think I would as it does look a little nose high. Sometimes though you just can't get it completely level and you just do the best you can.

I agree.  Plus being that nose high puts more weight on the rear axles.  More then likely being to much weight for them.

[RV_]

Birdman,

I had that problem on my HitchHiker so I had the axle flipped. the trailer should be level and the clearance of the bottom of the trailer and the top of the truck bed as already said must be about 5". If your axles are mounted on adjustable hangers where the bolt attaching the axle ends to the frame hanger is going through one of three or four holes you may be able to change to a lower hole and hget some lift. If you choose to flip your axles for about 5" of extra height you will need to get the saddle replaced and weld the new one on the other side of each axle. This video shows a basic axle flip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWhdkNQ04dc

It can be done DIY if you are an accomplished welder.

Here is a kit

After you watch the video let me know if you have any questions. My first one is does your suspension have shocks? If so you need new shock hangers too or a different size shock.

You need to raise the trailer.

[NDBirdman]

Axles are already on the bottom, springs go over.  I can probably lower the ball on the hitch lowering the front but I don't know how much it will drop, have not tried yet.  I will probably do it next weekend when we take 'er camping, will measure when I get back on pavement.  Hangers only have 2 holes, it's in the bottom one now giving it as much raise as those can.  Those can't be changed without welding?  I will look at that again.  I will try dropping the ball first since it will be the easiest.  Can't go bigger tires, these are factory size, their is not much room between them now, maybe 2 inches but these will stay (brand new).

I will definitely stop by the cat scales when I go through town to see where the weight is.  Hopefully they can give individual axle weights. 

 

[RV_]

Whoa,

That is a quandary. Have you tried calling the factory for advice?

[57becky]

The best option would be to raise the trailer by adding to the bottom of the frame and re-attaching the suspension.  Some sill say this will make the trailer unstable, but the little that needs to be added has to be better than towing the rig with that much angle and also having the back end that close to the pavement.

[Truckman]

Looks to me like the height above the bed rails is just about right. The trailer definately needs raised and since the axles are already "flipped" you need to have it raised by adding a subframe between the axles and frame.

[NDBirdman]

18 hours ago, RV_ said:

Whoa,

That is a quandary. Have you tried calling the factory for advice?

Which factory?  2002 is the last year this model was manufactured.  I believe THOR took over the brand the year before and stopped making these.

[masterdrago]

Best I can tell from the image, ditto what 57becky and truckman says. I would guess that 2-3 inch riser will make it very near level without compromising the bed to trailer clearance. And yes, that will make the trailer a bit more top heavy and more subject to instability (higher center of gravity) in turns. MORryde can add riser as I suspect there are others that can also.

[RV_]

Yep a riser would be the safest way. Here are a bunch of pics and most have a link in the pic. See which solution looks best for your suspension.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=rv+fifth+wheel+height+raising+kit&qpvt=rv+fifth+wheel+height+raising+kit&FORM=IGRE

One thing not mentioned. If it is an older fifth wheel, are your springs flattened out when loaded?  What did the weighing turn out per axle and combined compared to your GVWR?

[NDBirdman]

19 hours ago, RV_ said:

One thing not mentioned. If it is an older fifth wheel, are your springs flattened out when loaded?

Good suggestion, it is a 2002.  I will have to look at them.  When it stops raining... could be worse, could be.. snowing.. LOL   I'll take a pic and post it later.

[Smitty77_7]

Problem solved:)!

 

And OP, hope the dropping of the hitch down some is enough to get you level enough for safety:)!

Best,

Smitty

 

 

[NDBirdman]

LOL, don't think I will slam my truck, atleast not this year.  🙂

 

I was thunking, is it possible to raise the campers pin box to lower the nose?  Looking at it, it looks like at some point in time the pin box was lowered, or dropped a couple holes.  I wonder if I can raise the pin box, keep some safe clearance on the truck bed, thus lowering the nose?  Just a thought.  Yup, I do claim rookie status.  My camper experience has mostly been in TTs.

[RV_]

I would think lowering the nose so clearance is only a few inches but not the 6 to 7" that is best would make it hit the tailgate/bed corners on high railroad crossings and drives.

[NDBirdman]

Springs look great to me, axle already flipped if it's not factory.  Looks like the block already is appx an inch so don't know, should I put in another one?

[RV_]

I would get with a good suspension spring shop after trying to lower by changing the pin box attachment if it is adjustable. If that doesn't do the trick then have a spring shop advise you on the best way to block the axle. What your picture is showing between the springs and the axle is the welded on saddle, not a block. The reason I say a spring shop is that they can get it just right safely.

I learned all about axles and saddles when I had my axle flipped by idiots at an RV shop in Fairfield California. Also on the way back from Alaska we burned an axle bearing on i5 in Washington and had to replace the entire axle and that is when I learned it is cheaper to replace the entire backer plates and electric brakes for under 70 bucks each than to pay labor to replace/rebuild the brakes!

Hope that helps!

[Ray,IN]

4 hours ago, NDBirdman said:

Springs look great to me, axle already flipped if it's not factory.  Looks like the block already is appx an inch so don't know, should I put in another one?

Our last 5er was nose-high. I had a 2"X2" sq steel tube cut to the same length as the bottom spring leaf and installed between springs and axle spacer, of course this required new-longer U bolts. In retrospect I should have had a sub-frame welded to the OEM frame and attached the suspension to that sub-frame because I did notice some spring wrap during hard braking.