Slightly more drop vs slightly more rise for trailer hitch?

[Truck Fun]

If a trailer can't be level, is it better to have the trailer coupler slightly higher or lower than level when attached to the truck? My thought is that slightly higher would be better to account for load & suspension compression. Thanks.

 

[Ohio5pt7]

In my case I like my nose slightly lower. 1 because that transfer the weight to my truck more. 2 I have a steep incline that I have to back up and I need every inch on the back to clear. Also my truck has a small lift so lower makes it sit right about where it would stock.

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[Loudram]

You want the nose of the trailer slightly down. Less sway. This is my set up with an Equalizer weight distribution and anti sway hitch. It doesn't look like it because it was taken with a wide angle lens but the truck is level with the trailer nose slightly down. It doesn't show it as well as I'd like it but you get the idea. Sorry about the orentation of the pic.

 

[Truck Fun]

.....Sorry about the orentation of the pic.View attachment 166579

And I just thought Rams were tough enough to pull a load up any incline.

 

[Loudram]

And I just thought Rams were tough enough to pull a load up any incline.

If it has a Hemi it can.

 

[Rick R]

I had tried to lift the rear when towing my travel trailer by increasing the tension on the load leveler bars. It not only took traction off the rear wheels, but it caused a plowing effect on high speed turns (interstates). I have, since installed Air Lift air bags. I have not yet had the trailer out, but next weekend will be our maiden voyage for the summer. I'm anxious to see how it will handle.

 

[GsRAM]

I had tried to lift the rear when towing my travel trailer by increasing the tension on the load leveler bars. It not only took traction off the rear wheels, but it caused a plowing effect on high speed turns (interstates). I have, since installed Air Lift air bags. I have not yet had the trailer out, but next weekend will be our maiden voyage for the summer. I'm anxious to see how it will handle.

If you have a heavy trailer with a high tongue weight with a half ton truck you'll need air bags plus wdh.

Wdh is not designed to lift the rear of the truck higher than stock/unloaded height. It is supposed to return the truck's rear end to close to unloaded height within reason. Wdh manufacturers have the specs. I believe gm says to return the rear to within 1/2" of stock.

Yes if you use wdh to lift the rear higher than unloaded weight you can experience what you posted but it sounds like from your post you didn't have the wdh set up correctly.

OP- you always want the trailer level or slightly noise low, never nose high which can create and promote trailer sway (bad -search trailer sway on you tube) good luck

 

[VernDiesel]

A WDH is to get to the proper weight distribution and desired tongue weight or rather tongue weight percentage. The Uhaul toy car video example demonstrates what too little tongue weight does. Wish we had another example of what an underweight steer axle does.

A WDH does this by restoring the unloaded steer weight and by returning the unnecessary tongue weight to the trailer axles. This provides a whole host of stability & safety benefits. Including making the best weight distribution & center of gravity for stability and full traction including for braking.

Manufacturers recommend a WDH when towing greater than 5,000 pounds. Otherwise the same truck & TT could be skittish with poor traction & a raised center of gravity making it roll over prone. Think of the guys towing with their headlights in the eyes of oncoming traffic. Too little or to much tongue weight makes for poor weight distribution. Too much tongue weight raises truck COG (headlights in people’s eyes) makes skittish handling & roll prone too little allows trailer sway and is compounded with less drive axle weight IE drive tires traction.

WDHs with built in sway control have this as a separate function and is a great feature of modern WDHs. Properly set up as can be concretely determined & accomplished by using scale results a WDH will make your rig feel like one solid unit when pushed by semi truck bow wave or wind gusts instead of an accordion action wiggle easily pushed into sway.

OP with either a WDH or a simple load bearing hitch your goals are generally the same IE to end up with a level to slightly nose down truck & TT. Better stability & aerodynamics in both cases. People often don’t think of what air caught & squeezed under a nose up interstate speed trailer does to its handling or that it adds to the drag.