Rough Ride

[dedmiston]

I’ve got a 45’ triple axle toy hauler that rides perfectly smoothly. My wife keeps a vase of flowers in the sink and it never spills a drop. I leave stuff on the counters all the time no-problem.

Our smaller/lighter Montana rides like a 6.8 earthquake inside.

I took it to my local hitch specialist yesterday to see what he recommended. He’s expensive, but he’s always done great work on our toy hauler. I figured he’d want to sell me an upgraded hitch and maybe suspension upgrades.

He looked at the Montana and said it’s the tires. He said to balance the tires and that should do it.

I’m at the tire shop this morning and they looked at me like I had three heads. They’re going to balance the tires anyway since they enjoy money.

Does anyone else here have issues with rough rides? How have you addressed it? It’s not that I’m a sissy and can’t take the ride, but I’m worried that the ride is going to play **** with this coach and shorten its life.

 

[jasum]

I’ve got a 2021 3121RL and to me it rides very rough. Bought last May and it has Sailun tires and they are NOT balanced.

My 2016 Jayco Pinnacle had 614 Goodyears and I had them balanced every time it needed tires.

When I replace the Sailuns, whatever I put on will be balanced.

 

[dedmiston]

I’ve got a 2021 3121RL and to me it rides very rough. Bought last May and it has Sailun tires and they are NOT balanced.

My 2016 Jayco Pinnacle had 614 Goodyears and I had them balanced every time it needed tires.

When I replace the Sailuns, whatever I put on will be balanced.

Thanks Jack. I’ve never balanced our trailer tires, but hopefully this helps.

 

[MandK]

Our 3121 turned 4 years. It’s been very good to us except for one major hiccup (frame flex). We pull it around a lot and had some miles on it so at the rally last year we bought new Sailuns and had them balanced. We also bought a Gen-y pin box there and it was installed. Also there we had the whole rig weighed at each wheel and had an extensive discussion with the weigh people about tire pressures when there is much less weight on the tires than near maximum like on these smaller trailers, and it’s effects on ride, wet bolt and spring eye bushing wear and the trailer in general. We left there with the air pressure lower than the 110 psi we had always run. When we left there, we both couldn’t believe we were pulling the same trailer we went there with. Not really able to say which thing made the most difference because it was all done at the same time, but there are definitely ways to improve the ride over what came out of the factory.
And Watching that pin box work in the rear view mirror when going over bridge approaches has got to be a whole lot better for our trailer structure than the pin box we had.

 

[Daryles]

Check your leaf springs. Make sure they are not flat. They should have some arch to them with weight on wheels.
Maybe run your tires at 105psi to soften the ride.

And I balance the tires every year before we hit the road.

Check your cross frame support braces above the leaf spring hanger supports.
I found the welds broken on mine.
Link below, post # 4.

https://www.montanaowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92129&highlight=Broken+cross+frame+welds
post # 4

 

[foldbak]

My tires were balanced from the factory.

 

[dedmiston]

Check your leaf springs. Make sure they are not flat. They should have some arch to them with weight on wheels.
Maybe run your tires at 105psi to soften the ride.

And I balance the tires every year before we hit the road.

Check your cross frame support braces above the leaf spring hanger supports.
I found the welds broken on mine.
Link below, post # 4.

https://www.montanaowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92129&highlight=Broken+cross+frame+welds
post # 4

Yep. I checked all that, and then it was double-checked by my local guru who’s kind of the RV version of Seinfeld’s Soup ****. He blessed my suspension though and commanded me to balance the wheels.

Today’s trip was 150 miles through L.A. traffic from Santa Clarita to Palm Desert. Stop and go traffic is pretty hellish and mostly slow speeds, but it seemed slightly smoother. The contents didn’t seem as disturbed, but that might be in my head.

Tomorrow is just an hour trip, but Saturday is a six hour drive along the Arizona/Mexico border to Organ Pipe and should be a better test.

 

[klassic]

I had the Endurance balanced on my NorthPoint, I couldn’t believe the amount of weight they put on.

 

[Spartacus]

I had the Endurance balanced on my NorthPoint, I couldn’t believe the amount of weight they put on.

Hello Klassic, I don't mean to hijack this post but I notice that you have RoadMaster shocks on your 5th wheel, I'm thinking about installing them on my 2023 North Point 310rlts this summer or before camping season, so how do you like them, did you see any improvement?

 

[klassic]

Hello Klassic, I don't mean to hijack this post but I notice that you have RoadMaster shocks on your 5th wheel, I'm thinking about installing them on my 2023 North Point 310rlts this summer or before camping season, so how do you like them, did you see any improvement?

Sent you a PM.

 

[klassic]

Of anyone is thinking about getting your tires balanced and you have 16” rims and disc brakes, watch your gap between the caliper and the rim. There is very little room.
On my second set of balanced tires, they used a slightly thicker stick on weights on two of the wheels and they hit the caliper.
They need to be the thin style stick on

 

[dedmiston]

Sent you a PM.

Feel free to hijack. That seems on-topic to me. And I’m interested too!

 

[klassic]

Feel free to hijack. That seems on-topic to me. And I’m interested too!

I was really long winded, so I PM’d instead.

To sum it up.
I noticed towing better on those crappy hwy seam bumps, g-outs, speed bumps and train tracks. The trailer stays more planted.
I can’t comment on chucking, because my 2017 F350 got stolen before I could try out the new shocks, and I had to wait 4 months for a 2024. The height geometry between the two trucks is different and I have more chucking in the new truck.
I got a good amazon deal on the shocks, by watching the price fluctuations, and installed them myself. If I had to pay another $500 to have them installed, then I don’t know if it’s a drastic enough change for that much money.
I would think getting the RoadMaster slipper spring setup might be a better way to go, according to reviews it is good. But I had already bought new springs and equalizers, so that extra $$ for slipper springs was already spent.

I hear Lippert has a new independent coil spring/shock modification coming out that is supposedly good. So maybe that’s a better way to spend money.

I’m hoping the Moryde IS that’s coming on my new Montana is worth the hype, and not be a PITA in the future for little towing gain.

 

[Carl n Susan]

Just a reminder that if you have the aluminum wheels, they need to be balanced with a "Lug Centric" adapter not the "normal" "Hub Centric" one used on most vehicles. The hub on the aluminum wheels is not guaranteed to be center of the wheel. The result is an excessive amount of weight is used to "balance" and once the wheel is mounted back on the RV, it is out of balance. The problem is that shops with "Lug Centric" adapters are hard to find.

 

[klassic]

Just a reminder that if you have the aluminum wheels, they need to be balanced with a "Lug Centric" adapter not the "normal" "Hub Centric" one used on most vehicles. The hub on the aluminum wheels is not guaranteed to be center of the wheel. The result is an excessive amount of weight is used to "balance" and once the wheel is mounted back on the RV, it is out of balance. The problem is that shops with "Lug Centric" adapters are hard to find.

Well I just learned something today. Thanks
Could this be the reason I have so much weight on my rims?
I had them done at a chain tire shop. They certainly didn’t tell me the hub centric secret, but it was no big deal to them that I wanted the rims balanced. They just said they don’t usually do it for trailers.

 

[buck119fa]

Our 3121 turned 4 years. It’s been very good to us except for one major hiccup (frame flex). We pull it around a lot and had some miles on it so at the rally last year we bought new Sailuns and had them balanced. We also bought a Gen-y pin box there and it was installed. Also there we had the whole rig weighed at each wheel and had an extensive discussion with the weigh people about tire pressures when there is much less weight on the tires than near maximum like on these smaller trailers, and it’s effects on ride, wet bolt and spring eye bushing wear and the trailer in general. We left there with the air pressure lower than the 110 psi we had always run. When we left there, we both couldn’t believe we were pulling the same trailer we went there with. Not really able to say which thing made the most difference because it was all done at the same time, but there are definitely ways to improve the ride over what came out of the factory.
And Watching that pin box work in the rear view mirror when going over bridge approaches has got to be a whole lot better for our trailer structure than the pin box we had.

MandK - we're working on smoothing out the ride some, I have the same RV (2019) and have been looking at the Gen-Y 5th wheel pin box but getting conflicting information on which model to get. Which model did you end up with on yours? Just got the frame flex fix done and want to try and reduce the chance of failure again, not to mention smoothing out the ride. Getting some suspension stuff done but the Gen-Y is my first change and just not sure which one I need to get. Gen-y say's one type, Dealer say's another and E-Trailer says something different.

 

[MandK]

MandK - we're working on smoothing out the ride some, I have the same RV (2019) and have been looking at the Gen-Y 5th wheel pin box but getting conflicting information on which model to get. Which model did you end up with on yours? Just got the frame flex fix done and want to try and reduce the chance of failure again, not to mention smoothing out the ride. Getting some suspension stuff done but the Gen-Y is my first change and just not sure which one I need to get. Gen-y say's one type, Dealer say's another and E-Trailer says something different.

I have the 4.5K that fits the Lippert 1116 pinbox. It requires the 1/4” spacers as the pinbox frame is 12 1/2” wide.

 

[buck119fa]

I have the 4.5K that fits the Lippert 1116 pinbox. It requires the 1/4” spacers as the pinbox frame is 12 1/2” wide.

Thank you, Appreciate it. About to pull the trigger on this.

 

[Spartacus]

Thank you, Appreciate it. About to pull the trigger on this.

Hello buck119fa, thank you for service I was in the Army for 28 years I was a E-8 also.

 

[dedmiston]

I don’t know if the wheel balancing made the difference or if we just adjusted our expectations, but we’re 10 days into our current trip and our contents don’t seem as damaged as before balancing.