truck and trailer not level when traveling

[bbnkansas]

Sorry again for my initial statement not being informative enough. I truly appreciate your comments and thoughts.
My wife is a travel nurse and we sit for 13 weeks at a time. So, our hooked up time is a max of 2 days. If our travel time is greater than 2 days I will park and unhook for 12-18 hours. With all this said, my normal out of level time is ~24-48 hours. Result is I could be worried about something unnecessarly. If this is true...I will stick with what I have and not spend money on fixing something that does not need fixing. . To my knowledge I do not have a safety issue...just a slight trailer nose high unlevel issue when going down the road. Comments or thoughts?

[bncinwv]

Another way to evaluate whether you are having problems is to have each wheel or at least each axle weighed individually. My hunch is that if the suspension system is distributing the weight evenly between the front and rear axles on the rig, that you may not have any issues that would lead to problems. The problem with being nose high is that any adjustments you make will decrease the clearance of the nose to the bed rails, which is not desirable. Another approach would be to see if you can shift some weight inside the rig to the front to cause it to "sit" down a little more if it does not put your pin weight beyond the truck capabilities. Just random thoughts.
Bingo

[Irlpguy]

quote:Originally posted by bbnkansas

Sorry again for my initial statement not being informative enough. I truly appreciate your comments and thoughts.
My wife is a travel nurse and we sit for 13 weeks at a time. So, our hooked up time is a max of 2 days. If our travel time is greater than 2 days I will park and unhook for 12-18 hours. With all this said, my normal out of level time is ~24-48 hours. Result is I could be worried about something unnecessarly. If this is true...I will stick with what I have and not spend money on fixing something that does not need fixing. . To my knowledge I do not have a safety issue...just a slight trailer nose high unlevel issue when going down the road. Comments or thoughts?

Well here are my thoughts put simply, I would not worry about it. Being slightly out of level when traveling likely occurs with a large percentage of units. No harm will come to the trailer by being in this slightly front high travel position and as Bingo said any adjustments you make to correct this, in either the hitch or pin box will decrease the space between your RV and truck side rails.

Of much greater concern would be if your truck was front high and "light" on the front end.

Don't worry about, happy travels between jobs. JMHO

[BB_TX]

I think it is just a fact of life with the newer trucks so high in the rear. And backed up by Ford's TSB.
If you only have 5-6" clearance now you do not want to adjust the hitch to reduce that clearance. As I mentioned you could change the blocks. But if it is really not too bad, just leave it alone. Mine does run a little nose high.

[Mudchief]

With my new F350 I am nose high a lot. I can't change it because I would lose my rail height to less than 5 inches. I have pulled over 10K miles like that and it pulls great. I see no wear to the rear tires. When the individual tires were weighed at a Escapees park the weight balanced between the front axle and the back were very close. If I were you I would not worry about it.

[Tom S.]

Some in bed hitches can be adjusted for height, as can some pin boxes to help level the trailer. If your truck has had a lift kit installed, you may need to get more involved by either removing it, or raising the trailer suspension. I have seen lifted trucks that the owner has raised the trailer suspension to level them out, and IMHO, they are dangerous. Not only does it change the center of gravity of the trailer (making them top heavy), it also can raise the trailer beyond the 13' 6" limitation of clearance. Good luck!

[8.1al]

Half a bubble off I wouldn't worry about

[bbnkansas]

A hearty thank you to everyone for your thoughts and comments. After clarifying my original message, it appears everyone thinks being a little nose high is no big thing to worry about. When I hook up to the trailer the truck suspension makes a little noise as it settles but it does not drop down much at all. My truck does not sag in the rear nor is the truck front end raised.
I weighed in as I left Colorado...the front truck axle was about 85% of max; the rear axle was about 90% of max; GVW was about 95% of max; trailer axles are rated 7k each and both axles weighed in at 5800-5900 each; my gross combined weight was about 1000 lbs under max. It appears my weight is fairly well distributed. When rolling the rig handles well (except in Kansas winds LOL).
So hopefully this trailer nose high issue is a minor thing and without safety worries. I will keep the refer off while rolling and that should not cause damage to the refer when the trailer is not level.
Just as a precaution though... I am going to have a good RV maintenance facility check out the rig (fully hooked up) prior to hearing out to SOCAL in January. . Thanks to everyone for helping to ease my mind a little.

[Art-n-Marge]

All numbers sound good and your level is not unusual. If being unlevel when hooked up bothers you, then unhitch and make things level. If I'm living in the rig for a few days, not being level might drive me nuts, but that's me so I unhitch when set up at a campground. I've been known to spend one night enroute with my nose high rig, but not when I'm set up for two or more days.

If you want to research more, I believe a fridge can be 4 to 6 degrees and it's okay to run the fridge, but you should check the specs on your fridge to be sure. I am nose high about 2 degrees so I run my fridge enroute to keep things cold and I don't worry about it. I have not had any problems but I don't travel any more than one night of travel.

I live in SoCal. What part are you visiting?

[Tom S.]

quote:Originally posted by 8.1al

Half a bubble off I wouldn't worry about

Yeah, I've known lots of people who were half a bubble off.




(Oh, you meant the trailer?)

[DQDick]

I wouldn't worry about the small nose high situation, but for your own peace of mind I wouldn't be pulling it long distances on Marathon tires. If the OEM tires are still on I'd worry about that more.

[bncinwv]

The fridge only has to be reasonably close to level when set up for an extended time. When travelling down the road with the fridge on, the normal actions of road travel will move the refrigerant around and level is not typically an issue. Disclaimer: I cannot for the life of me remember where I heard or read this, so it may be a Wikifridgerism??
Bingo

[Art-n-Marge]

I'll vouch I read that somewhere, too, Bingo and I can't remember where. The only precaution is since it's running off propane during travel, the biggest precaution is to turn off the fridge prior to reaching a tunnel, or refueling, to prevent the fridge from arcing in an attempt to start up. You DON'T want this to happen in a tunnel (where gasses can collect) or at a fuel station (flammable liquids). Plan ahead and turn off the fridge or heater or whatever propane device you have turned on to prevent the starting sparks.

[bbnkansas]

Everything depends on where my wife gets a contract, but, we hope to be in Temecula/San Diego/Camp Pendleton or Riverside/San B area. Like I said, everything depends on where we can get a contract at. We lived in Victorville for 2 years when I worked at Ft Irwin, so we know SOCAL pretty well.

quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge

All numbers sound good and your level is not unusual. If being unlevel when hooked up bothers you, then unhitch and make things level. If I'm living in the rig for a few days, not being level might drive me nuts, but that's me so I unhitch when set up at a campground. I've been known to spend one night enroute with my nose high rig, but not when I'm set up for two or more days.

If you want to research more, I believe a fridge can be 4 to 6 degrees and it's okay to run the fridge, but you should check the specs on your fridge to be sure. I am nose high about 2 degrees so I run my fridge enroute to keep things cold and I don't worry about it. I have not had any problems but I don't travel any more than one night of travel.

I live in SoCal. What part are you visiting?

[Art-n-Marge]

Well, come on down! I live in Murrieta. Actually we have a Murrieta zip code, but looking at a map we live in the outskirts of Temecula in county land. It's not unusual to call 911, get the CHP, get transferred to the County Sheriff who then tells you they're sending Temecula police and then two Murrieta police cars show up. This actually happened to me when a local barbershop I frequent accidentally left their business unlocked, and I walked in, realized they weren't open, then called 911 so I didn't get in trouble. The only discomfort was when the Murrieta police showed up, drew their service revolvers and I thought they were going to shoot me over this. But they explained, it was routine for that type of call in that area and not to worry. WHEW! I was glad when they sent me home.

[bbnkansas]

Thank you to everyone for your comments. This is a great forum and all of you make it what it should be....."support for everyone who owns a Montana".