Jerking - Montana Owners Club

ronaldcbrill · 07-22-2007, 10:15 AM

This is our first 5th wheel, 3400RL, pulled by an F350. We get lots of jerking and a number of cabinets door as always coming open. How can we fix the jerking back and forth please. The Mor/Ryde suspension system is to minimize road shock, but it isn't working. Any suggestions.

Thank you

richfaa · 07-22-2007, 10:56 AM

The jerking you describe is called "chucking" Here is a good place to BEGIN your learning experience..

http://www.morryde.com/

boylanag · 07-22-2007, 11:19 AM

We use the 5th Airborne air pin and it has cut to a bare minimum the jerking and chucking that we had. There are other air pins and hitches that are all very good but this cost us much less and gave us the comfort that we wanted.

ols1932 · 07-22-2007, 11:58 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by ronaldcbrill

This is our first 5th wheel, 3400RL, pulled by an F350. We get lots of jerking and a number of cabinets door as always coming open. How can we fix the jerking back and forth please. The Mor/Ryde suspension system is to minimize road shock, but it isn't working. Any suggestions.

Thank you

Some people call it "chucking" and others call it "porpoising." I've referred to it both ways. It's a result of (my opinion) the roughness of the roads and the way the truck and 5er react to the roughness. The truck goes over the bumps, kind of kicking the nose of the rig up and when the rig goes over the same bump the front of the rig goes down. We don't physically see this because it happens so fast.

I got rid of this reaction by install a TrailerSaver air hitch. We did this because we are on the road 365 days/year and I was getting beat to death. The added benefit of the air hitch permits taking some stress out of the aluminum structure and steel frame of the 5er. I'm not a great believer in adding a hitch pin, but there are others who swear by them.

I doubt that your MOR/ryde suspension is at fault. I do believe that most of the problem you're experiencing has to do with the connection between the tow vehicle and rig. One of the things we have to remember as rvers is that if we're going to be pulling these rigs down the present status of a lot of our highways, we're going to experience some discomfort. If you're not against spending just a little more money you can eliminate the problem you're experiencing, or at least minimize it. I feel I've eliminated the same problem in ours, but others may still feel that I haven't.

Hope this helps you a little.

Orv

dieselguy · 07-22-2007, 01:56 PM

I went with the Glide Ride hitch pin by Demco ... it eliminated about 80 - 90% of the jerking your're talkin about. You didn't mention your current hitch setup, but there are a couple of other things to look at on your setup. Is the fiver as near level as possible while hooked up to your TV? A tail dragger or nose diver can make the pull unbearable besides putting undo load on one axle or the other. How do you have your load distributed? Are you carrying most of your garage in the front storage area and/or front storage compartments

?? If it is an older hitch, is the coupler worn and allowing slop between it and the fiver hitch pin? If the hitch was installed new, was it positioned correctly? Generally (but not always for late model) centerline of hitch pin directly above or @1" forward of the rear axle centerline. These are just some suggestions to look at.

richfaa · 07-22-2007, 03:33 PM

I really try hard NOT to endorse any particular Pin Box. I encourage you to do your home work and make your own decision and not to be swayed by the ..I have got the XXX brand , love it and would not be without it..crowd.There is a lot of good OPINIONS and advise above..Having said that we have the Mor-Ryde pin box. Been using it for over 1 year @18K miles over all kind of roads all over the country. It is a very smooth ride and at least 95 % of the Chucking is eliminated along with the Bounce.. That is our experience and not a buy this brand because I have one commercial. Dieselguy has some very good information on setup.

exav8tr · 07-22-2007, 04:31 PM

Ron, I too am new at this and am experiencing this chucking also. Today I ordered a Mor/Ryde pin box. We shall see how it works out in the weeks to come......

ken · 07-23-2007, 02:37 AM

Were like Rich. We also have the Mor-ryde hitch and it eleminates a lot of the jerking. Its well worth the money.

jrgwdenner · 07-23-2007, 02:44 AM

We have the TrailAir hitch which works very well. We'll never be without some type of air hitch if we purchased another fiver. It makes for a very much more comfortable ride. That said, when the chucking begins you must slow down to stop the action or it will never stop.

bncinwv · 07-23-2007, 02:52 AM

ronaldcbrill,
We have the same problem since we have none of the fancy air pin box or hitch contraptions installed. You have to be careful of the doors coming open that you cannot see. If they get caught by the slides, there will be door and cabinet damage. We always tie our cabinet doors shut (others use velcro, small bungees, grip tight ties, etc.) when we are in travel mode. I also have cardboard panels cut to size for the inside of the cabinet doors that I place before transport to prevent stored items from striking the glass in the cabinets. Hope this helps in the short and long term.
Bingo

Delaine and Lindy · 07-23-2007, 03:16 AM

Our Cambridge came with the Mor/Ryde Suspension and Pin box. However we at the same time installed the Trailer Saver air ride hitch. The combo eliminated all the chucking/porpoising. I highly recomend the Trailer Saver air ride hitch. And of course the Mor/Ryde system is top notch. I haven't use the other products on the market but the combo we have stopped all those problems. We never have to remove the coffee pot or can opener from the counter tops with our combo. The other 5er's we have owned, we only used the steel hitch and OEM suspension and pin box and we had all those problems. Good Luck with your choice. GBY......

Mudchief · 07-23-2007, 03:31 AM

dieselguy has some good points. I do not have that problem when pulling the Montana. I have put over 5K on it this year. However when pulling a cattle trailer or flat bed over some of the same roads near my home it will bet you to death. And I think that is because of some of the issues that dieselguy had stated above.

nkwist · 07-23-2007, 03:55 AM

We experienced the same. I put a "teflon" plate on the pin box and new shocks (adjustable for firmness) on the truck and it made a big difference.

bsmeaton · 07-23-2007, 04:56 AM

I too find this a little unusual - we have the same setup with a Reese slider hitch and it actually towed nicely coming home from the Dealer (compared to our old rig). We had an appointment to get a fifth airborne installed and after the initial tow I began to wonder if I even needed it.

Of course, as stated above, a lot can change with hitch types and even weight distribution.

simonsrf · 07-23-2007, 05:16 AM

We have a 5th Airborne pin hitch. This eliminated most of the chucking except when in very rough roads.

CW has them at a good price, ~$750 and ~$75 to install.

We won't be without some type of cushion between the truck and trailer.

sreigle · 07-23-2007, 02:00 PM

Ronaldcbrill, the mor/ryde suspension on the Montana helps the Montana from bouncing things around inside as badly as they will with standard suspension. We've had both and it does make a significant difference. It will not eliminate bouncing, however. When you are getting that chucking motion, that's going to impact the ride in the Montana, as well.

The chucking motions I've experience are usually on concrete roads. Usually interstates. We don't do a lot of interstates so don't experience it a lot. We do more US highways. We had airbags on the prior tow vehicle, a 2005 F250. I had incab controls and could adjust the bags to get rid of most, but not all, of the motion. We've done some interstates with the current tow vehicle but have not experience too much of the chucking. I've recently gone with the adjustable shocks that Nkwist mentioned and will see next week if I can adjust out that motion when on the road. I have the incab controls for the shocks.

OLS1932 gave a very good description of what occurs to cause the chucking. Additionally, the wheelbase of the truck and from truck axle to trailer axle can make the chucking better or worse, also.

When no adjustable shocks or airbags, sometimes changing your speed, up or down, can make a significant improvement in ride. It's worth a try. By the way, I would not go with the airbags just to tame the ride. I think for about the same cost you can go with a TrailAir pinbox, or similar device.

richfaa · 07-23-2007, 02:49 PM

I don't know about the "Bounce" We have the Mor-Ryde Pin box along with the Mor-Ryde suspension. We only get bounce on really rough roads as well as some chucking. When the road is so rough so as to exceed the parameters of your hitch pin, no matter what brand, you will get bounce and chuck.We notice no bounce under normal conditions with the Mor-Ryde Pin box. I am wondering if the Dually and the Mor Ryde suspension on the 3400 has something to do with eliminating the bounce. I have driven enough truck enough miles to know what bounce is and we get practically none..I have driven a friends 5th wheel some distance with a trailair Pin box but with a 3/4 ton truck, SWD and standard suspension on the camper (cedar Creek) We did experience some bounce. So I am thinking the truck and the camper suspension have a lot to do with bounce.

sreigle · 07-23-2007, 05:35 PM

Just re-read my own post. One of my statements was totally unclear. I've read numerous times how the distance between truck axle and trailer axle can act in some relationship with the distance between seams on concrete roadway. Therefore some combinations of truck and trailer are worse than others. That's why a truck towing two different fifthwheels and one gets the chucking and the other doesn't or not to the same degree. This is all from having read this several times. I am not an expert and have no scientific basis for that comment.

Ozz · 07-24-2007, 02:40 AM

I love mine, after our South West 8,000 tour this last Winter, we couldn't be happier with it's ability to cushion the road.
I have two Firestone air bags on the truck, but also two inside the hitch. I inflate the hitch to around 90#. When we hit a severe bump, I will look into the rear view mirror and watch the Kingpin floating up and down, makes me smile....
I do still have some chucking, so it does not totally eliminate that, I can see where the shock absorber on the 5th Airborne would have merit.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...pressor006.jpg
Ozz

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