Trailer Hopping

[RAurand]

Coming home from a weekend of camping, I noticed the trailer was slightly hopping as we traveled down the highway. Speed was 65 MPH. I have been experimenting between the 2nd and 3rd links on the chain. 2nd link, front and rear of the trailer are 23" above the road, on the 3rd link, the back is 221/2 inches and the front is 23 1/2 inches above the road.
Or is it possible it is the wheelbase distance between the TV back wheels and the Trailer wheels?
Campground was 20 minutes from our house so that was the only highway I drove on.

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by RAurand

Coming home from a weekend of camping, I noticed the trailer was slightly hopping as we traveled down the highway. Speed was 65 MPH. I have been experimenting between the 2nd and 3rd links on the chain. 2nd link, front and rear of the trailer are 23" above the road, on the 3rd link, the back is 221/2 inches and the front is 23 1/2 inches above the road.
Or is it possible it is the wheelbase distance between the TV back wheels and the Trailer wheels?
Campground was 20 minutes from our house so that was the only highway I drove on.

My first question, and maybe some other folks too, by 'hopping', do you mean it was what some call 'porpoising' (the trailer front & rear rocking up and down?) or did you see the tires bouncing up and down on the pavement?

[wags999]

Originally Posted by RAurand

Coming home from a weekend of camping, I noticed the trailer was slightly hopping as we traveled down the highway. Speed was 65 MPH. I have been experimenting between the 2nd and 3rd links on the chain. 2nd link, front and rear of the trailer are 23" above the road, on the 3rd link, the back is 221/2 inches and the front is 23 1/2 inches above the road.
Or is it possible it is the wheelbase distance between the TV back wheels and the Trailer wheels?
Campground was 20 minutes from our house so that was the only highway I drove on.

Sometimes you can get that from harmonics. Typically it is on a concrete road (vs blacktop) and at certain speeds. I have experienced it a few times on our travels across the country. I lowered my speed which helped, but, typically it was only for 20 - 30 miles stretches. I think it has to do with the highway slabs being poured in sections. When the section length, unlevelness, and speed match you get this "bouncing". Never had the problem on blacktop. The slabs are not flat but have a "dip" from one end to the other, truck is going up as the trailer is going down...etc.

When you drive on other roads see if you have the same issue. Normally the links in the chain will place more or less weight on the front axle, which may have some effect on what your describing.

Good Luck.

[jsallman1]

Originally Posted by RAurand

Coming home from a weekend of camping, I noticed the trailer was slightly hopping as we traveled down the highway. Speed was 65 MPH. I have been experimenting between the 2nd and 3rd links on the chain. 2nd link, front and rear of the trailer are 23" above the road, on the 3rd link, the back is 221/2 inches and the front is 23 1/2 inches above the road.
Or is it possible it is the wheelbase distance between the TV back wheels and the Trailer wheels?
Campground was 20 minutes from our house so that was the only highway I drove on.

If what your describing is what happened to me both on my new unit and a rental previously, it only happens on certain stretches of road (usually new concrete with cuts perpendicular to the direction of travel, not so much on blacktop. Things i found

1.) slow down a little, it helps. 65 is the max on your tires anyway most likely, if I had it occur at 60MPH, it usually got a lot better at 55-56MPH. Its something to do with the rate of speed, and the wheelbase difference between the cuts in the road I think.

2.) look at a suspension upgrade to stiffen the back of your tow vehicle, I put the Roadmaster Active suspension on my F150, it was not that expensive and easy to install yourself. It significantly reduced (although didn't eliminate) this. I have often said the bounce went from intolerable to bearable after I put them on. I believe It simply gives the tow vehicle the capacity to absorb the "bump" rather than start bumping itself on the suspension , when they both start constantly going in an up and down spring motion, you get yourself in a very uncomfortable ride. It also makes the vehicle without the trailer do things like cornering/taking curves at a higher rate of speed much better

[suzhou]

Ours did this for a short while on the return trip (our first trip out) this past week. I remembered seeing this posted here in another thread so I slowed down a bit and let it settle down. It was on some concrete slap sections of the freeway near a river bridge and didn't really stop until we got back onto asphalt. I may look into the enhanced suspension for my F150 as noted here.

[Jagiven]

Some roads are notorious for bucking. Sometimes you can change lanes which will help.

Pay attention the conditions when this happens, and where you'll see a trend after a while..

[SouthCo]

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

My first question, and maybe some other folks too, by 'hopping', do you mean it was what some call 'porpoising' (the trailer front & rear rocking up and down?) or did you see the tires bouncing up and down on the pavement?

X2. Need to know what you mean by hopping to help diagnose.

[RAurand]

Thank you, What wags999 talked about on a concrete road and describing it as harmonics makes sense as to what was happening. Before getting on the highway, we were on back roads and they were all blacktop and didn't go faster than 40.
We were only on the concrete highway for 10 miles. I will definitely pay attention and see what happens.

Again, Thank you all for the ideas above. I really enjoy reading this forum as EVERYONE can learn from those that have experienced the issues in all the different things regarding their Jayco Trailers.