Titter Totter

[Maycraft1800]

I have a 2016 ram 2500 bighorn with a 5.7
When towing my camper it feel like the rear is teeter tottering rather than swaying. The 2016 came with no leaf springs but has coil springs and air bags.
Any idea of problem. Had a 2011 ram 1500 with leaf springs and everything was fine. Camper GVRW is about 7200 lbs….

 

[BenchTest]

Sway bar and end links intact?

 

[Maycraft1800]

Sway bar and end links intact?

Haven’t really checked yet, but sure will.Thanks

 

[jws123]

check your rear shocks to

 

[RAM DRVR]

^this….

 

[Daw14]

I have a 2016 ram 2500 bighorn with a 5.7
When towing my camper it feel like the rear is teeter tottering rather than swaying. The 2016 came with no leaf springs but has coil springs and air bags.
Any idea of problem. Had a 2011 ram 1500 with leaf springs and everything was fine. Camper GVRW is about 7200 lbs….

How many miles ?
The rear control arm bushings can get pretty q squishy.
Both uppers and lowers .
The arms themselves are not very strong imo, they flex fairly easily.
I changed mine and the ride improved significantly.
There are many aftermarket options, with a wide range of prices.
The search engine for this forum has good information .

 

[jawzs2]

Had a 2011 ram 1500 with leaf springs

I didn't think the 1500 came with leaf spring in 2011?

 

[BenchTest]

check your rear shocks to

I bought my truck with 32K miles on it. Factory "heavy duty" shocks were completely blown and useless.

 

[Burla]

Hmm, what were you thinking when you titled this, ha?

Do you have a pic of the trailer? Attached to the truck?

 

[Burla]

How many miles ?
The rear control arm bushings can get pretty q squishy.
Both uppers and lowers .
The arms themselves are not very strong imo, they flex fairly easily.
I changed mine and the ride improved significantly.
There are many aftermarket options, with a wide range of prices.
The search engine for this forum has good information .

I have no idea why manu's don't use poly everything all the time for bushings and body mounts. Worth while upgrades for every truck.

 

[Maycraft1800]

New shocks

check your rear shocks to

installed and made no difference.

 

[Maycraft1800]

Hmm, what were you thinking when you titled this, ha?

Do you have a pic of the trailer? Attached to the truck?

Didn’t know what else to call it. It’s like a see-saw on the rear when towing.

 

[jws123]

Didn’t know what else to call it. It’s like a see-saw on the rear when towing.

yea get a picture of it hooked up to the trailer fully loaded ect Its starting to sound like a load issue.

 

[Burla]

Didn’t know what else to call it. It’s like a see-saw on the rear when towing.

I was joking on you bro, titter ain't teeter

Get a pic up, we don't even know if it is a 5th or drop down ball?

Can you adjust bags psi with same result as well?

.

 

[Burla]

Not sure how you would install Timbren SES with coil back, something to look into. Another possibility is spring rubbers for your coils stiffen them out., also called spring spacer Take out any sag will correct a lot of what you say.

 

[mtofell]

How has WDH (weight-distributing-hitch) not been brought up? OP, what are you using for a hitch? Who set it up? Having a knowledgeable person set up the WDH hitch is critical for a good experience. What you are describing sounds like textbook poor WDH set up.

And, "camper" as it pertains to trucks/RVs, usually means one that goes in the bed but with the 7200 GVWR that can't be - I think we're all assuming travel trailer (not 5th wheel.... please god )

Lasty, I'm with @Burla The title of this thread had me hoping for a lot more than talking about hitch.

 

[rzr6-4]

How has WDH (weight-distributing-hitch) not been brought up? OP, what are you using for a hitch? Who set it up? Having a knowledgeable person set up the WDH hitch is critical for a good experience. What you are describing sounds like textbook poor WDH set up.

And, "camper" as it pertains to trucks/RVs, usually means one that goes in the bed but with the 7200 GVWR that can't be - I think we're all assuming travel trailer (not 5th wheel.... please god )

Lasty, I'm with @Burla The title of this thread had me hoping for a lot more than talking about hitch.

7200 is light for a gooseneck, but I've never had a bumper pull give a teeter totter feeling. Gooseneck on the other hand it would make sense.

And with everyone else thus far speaking as though we are all assuming goose and OP hasn't corrected anyone, hopefully that is the case.

If OP is discussing a bumper pull though, then yes now would be a good time to clarify. @Maycraft1800 ?

 

[tron67j]

Suggesting a start with the almost free stuff, hook up the truck and trailer with everything the OP takes on a trip and go get axle weights. The OP says GVWR is "about" 7200 but has no actual value of what the actual trailer weight is. One possibility alluded to above is that the tongue weight is higher than it should be and when added to truck loaded weight it is pushing well over payload capacity. If regularly used this way it certainly can lead to suspension problems. Proper diagnosis of all contributing factors has to occur to know if resolution includes a lighter trailer or maybe a heavier duty truck if PC is found to be insufficient.

Just doing the back of napkin numbers, assuming 7200 is the loaded trailer weight and assuming it is properly distributed, the weight placed on the hitch is about 1,100 pounds. Assuming the truck has a PC of 1,600 pounds that doesn't leave much for people, hitch, fuel, and gear loaded in the truck. I would guess that my assumptions are too low and that the largest contributing factor to the issue is too much weight exceeding truck's PC. Second guess would be that WDH isn't properly adjusted, maybe because bags are pumped up and the leveled look of the rig falsely seems correct. Third is that repeated overloading has weakened some suspension components.

 

[Burla]

How has WDH (weight-distributing-hitch) not been brought up? OP, what are you using for a hitch? Who set it up? Having a knowledgeable person set up the WDH hitch is critical for a good experience. What you are describing sounds like textbook poor WDH set up.

And, "camper" as it pertains to trucks/RVs, usually means one that goes in the bed but with the 7200 GVWR that can't be - I think we're all assuming travel trailer (not 5th wheel.... please god )

Lasty, I'm with @Burla The title of this thread had me hoping for a lot more than talking about hitch.

Thanks for your suggestion, I didn't realize you can get this for like 200 bucks and easy dyi. I have some sway even on my landscape trailer, so I will be looking at one. Found this gem of a vid online, perhaps this should be a mandatory thing, and I'm not one to usually say something like that.. In the same ilk of some of my fixes, just the best option weight distribution.

We still don't know anything about the OP's setup, for all we know he could be using the ball on the bumper, lol.

The Difference Between Using Weight Distribution and Air Bags to Level Your Load

Fastway engineers Jason Harper and Matt Barnes investigate the difference between using either a rear axle air bag system, or a weight distribution hitch to ...

youtu.be