Truck pullint left with WD hitch

[agallant80]

When I hook up the boat to the truck with my WD hitch it seams to make the truck pull left. I don't really know where to look. if I lower the brackets and lift the rear end less its not as bad but that kinda defets the point of the WD hitch. If I pull her without the tortion boars than there is no pull. I am sure there are a few people on here with RVs or have a WD hitch on the boat trailer like me. I am open to ideas of where to start looking.

 

[bruceb58]

Your WD hitch is transferring weight to the front of your truck. It's making your steering actually work. I don't have an issue with my truck and a WD hitch. Are all your truck tires inflated correctly?

 

[agallant80]

Yeah all of the tires are inflated to 36. Its a 2013 F150 if that makes any difference. Even pulling left its so much better in terms of control and stopping than not having it at all.

 

[Rancherlee]

have to ask, Electric brakes or Surge? Surge usually don't play well with WD hitches and can cause funny issues like this. Have electric, never mind then!

 

[smokeonthewater]

You already know my answer.... gave it to ya before you bought the 1/2 ton and now you are experiencing some of the drawbacks of the small truck and you have to look at bandaid fixes to try to correct the problems of too light of a tow rig. Enter your WDH.... helped a lot with the soft rear springs but has now over taxed the front suspension and caused the truck to pull... One of the things (among others) that makes the 3/4 and up trucks able to properly handle the load is the tires... you can use those tires on your 1/2 ton and improve the handling some tho you will never get to the level of the heavier truck.... Get load range E tires and move from 36 psi to 80 psi and you will likely lose at least most of the pull.

 

[oldjeep]

Probably what smoke said. 1/2 tons generally come with squishy p rated tires. To test it out, inflate to the max pressure on the sidewalk of the tires, not the comfort pressure on the door jamb. If this seems to solve the issue or make it better then put some Lt tires with a higher load rating. my 02 on the wdh, I'd bag the rear suspension first. A wdh is not a cure all for a squishy suspension.

 

[bruceb58]

my 02 on the wdh, I'd bag the rear suspension first. A wdh is not a cure all for a squishy suspension.

Air bags are a band aid. Without a WDH on my rig, my front end is wandering all over the place becuase there is less weigh on the front. Plus, he has a 9000# boat/trailer load. There is no way he can not use a WDH.

 

[agallant80]

The root cause was a bracket that was not on properly for one of the spring bars. It was about 1/8 inch lower than the other bracket creating more lift force on one spring bar than the other. The thing is pulling great now.

@rancherlee, the trailer has surge breaks. The WD hitch is a Equal-I-Zer hitch which is meant to be used with surge breaks, and it does work. I can get the trailer breaks to lock up. [h=1][/h]

 

[smokeonthewater]

If the trailer brakes lock up it most certainly is NOT working correctly

 

[bruceb58]

@rancherlee, the trailer has surge breaks. The WD hitch is a Equal-I-Zer hitch which is meant to be used with surge breaks, and it does work. I can get the trailer breaks to lock up.

Are you saying you can get the tires skidding on dry pavement?

If this is on gravel or dirt, I can believe it may occur.

 

[Splat]

I have a hard time believing a 1/8" difference caused a pull like that. I'm glad you got it sorted out, but I wonder if you don't have a weird caster angle in your front end alignment attributing to this. If she pulls good than awesome! Next time you get a front end alignment you may want to mention it to the guys, maybe they can tweak your caster or thrust angles.

 

[agallant80]

The truck is bran new with 5500 miles on it. Something may have not been set correctly from the factory. If I see funny tire ware I will get it checked out. As for locking up the breaks it was a test slamming them on to test the hitch. They did not lock up hard but you could hear the friction. As for the pull I was not describing it correctly. What was really happening was the wheel was turned about 1/8 to the left but the truck was going strait. Doesnt matter any ways. The wife and I decided to leave the boat at a storage place in Southport the ramp is across the street from the boat..

 

[bruceb58]

They did not lock up hard but you could hear the friction.

Locking up is skidding. Doesn't sound like you were skidding the tires.

 

[oldjeep]

Air bags are a band aid. Without a WDH on my rig, my front end is wandering all over the place becuase there is less weigh on the front. Plus, he has a 9000# boat/trailer load. There is no way he can not use a WDH.

The WDH is only part of the solution, which is why I said that a WDH is not a cure all. Bags are not band aids on trucks that have squishy rear suspensions, they are part of a solution to a real problem, which is why they are now a factory option on the Ram 1/2 tons.

 

[bruceb58]

The WDH is only part of the solution, which is why I said that a WDH is not a cure all. Bags are not band aids on trucks that have squishy rear suspensions, they are part of a solution to a real problem, which is why they are now a factory option on the Ram 1/2 tons.

Dodge added this $1600 option because they decided to switch to coil springs to make their trucks ride like cars. I guess you are right...they are a solution to this problem they created by changing to a squishy suspension.

Will be interesting if Ford, Chevy and Toyota follow. Kind of ruins them as tow vehicles for anything heavy.

By the way, in the Dodge truck manual, they require you to use a WDH hitch for anything over 5000#.

 

[oldjeep]

Dodge added this $1600 option because they decided to switch to coil springs to make their trucks ride like cars. I guess you are right...they are a solution to this problem they created by changing to a squishy suspension.

Will be interesting if Ford, Chevy and Toyota follow. Kind of ruins them as tow vehicles for anything heavy.

By the way, in the Dodge truck manual, they require you to use a WDH hitch for anything over 5000#.

Dunno, mine tows fine, but I'm not overloading the crap out of a 1/2 ton. Curious where you are finding the 5K number in the manual, the manual for my 2009 states the standard non WD limits for Class 3/4/5 depending on what came on the truck

 

[bruceb58]

Dunno, mine tows fine, but I'm not overloading the crap out of a 1/2 ton. Curious where you are finding the 5K number in the manual, the manual for my 2009 states the standard non WD limits for Class 3/4/5 depending on what came on the truck

I just looked up the 2014 Dodge manual online