Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
Jayco RV Owners Forum
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 09-21-2011, 08:02 PM   #1
Member
 
EXTremist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 68
If it ain't broke, don't fix it comes to mind...

So I was a tiny bit "up on the ball" and even though I had been to the scales and had everything set darn near perfect (upped my "L" brackets to get the last 100lbs to the ront TV axle) and the rig towed beautifully fully loaded, I had to "fix it".

So, I got the 9" drop- shank from Hitchsource (great tip from the forum here - good price and fast ship). Who would have thought lowering the ball height would throw everything off so much?!?!?! You guys probably knew that already but I wasn't ready for it and am leaving tomorrow for the racetrack.

Right away I could tell there was way too much tension on the bars...never seen them curved so much and the Jeep looked like an old jacked up hot rod. Had to remeasure and readjust everything on the hitch.

To add insult to injury (and I am recovering from hernated disk surgery in my neck in late August) my Fastway flip foot which I had highly modified my cheap electric jack (tube diameter was smaller than what the foot was) designed for) to make work...and I had it working perfectly by the way. This mod involved cutting pieces of my old manual thicker jack up to (both tubes!) make it work correctly.

Well, once I had a lower tongue, the Fastway wasn't set right so I started messing with that and ended up destroying my electric jack in the process. It's still barely functional but I had to take the foot off and put the plate bak on and it won't retract all the way anymore. It goes up enough to get by for now, but will be replacing it with a better one soon (with the thicker diameter tube sizes for the Fastway).

All this work this afternoon/evening in 50 degree weather and 40 mph winds with misting rain!

I'm done for the night for sure. On the plus side I did make some custom reflectix covers for my popouts today...low 30's for overnight in Brainered predicted.
__________________
Single father of 2 kids, 12 and 7 years old
2011 Jayfeather X19H
2008 Jeep Commander 4.7l
Equalizer E2 6000
EXTremist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2011, 08:43 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
dg1971's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: West Texas
Posts: 2,114
Wow, EXT.....sounds like you have had one heck of a day. I have a 5er so I'm not familiar with your situation with the tension bars, etc. Here's hoping you have a better day tomorrow. It's bound to be better than today, right? Good luck to you....
__________________
Dan
2016 Chevy LTZ - Duramax/Allison
2008 Eagle 30.5BHS
dg1971 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2011, 09:08 PM   #3
Moderator Emeritus
 
Rustic Eagle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Michigan
Posts: 9,424
Quote:
Originally Posted by EXTremist View Post
snip......Who would have thought lowering the ball height would throw everything off so much?!?!?! You guys probably knew that already......snip
Mark,

Nope, no two TV/HTT WDH combinations react the same when making WDH adjustments or changes.... to many variables. Some are a cake walk, others are like wrestling a grizzly that just won't stay still. I do know that when working with TV's that have lift kits they can be a little temperamental when adjusting a WDH depending on the suspension, type of receiver hitch, and amount of draw bar drop......, but your set-up seems to be pretty solid.

It's apparent that you understand what you are wrestling with, but more importantly it obvious you have the mechanical know-how to dial in your adjustments and put things to bed in short order.

I thought you were staying with the 6" drop as well..., but then again I respect your effort in that you..., "Just like things to be "correct"".

Bob
__________________

2016 GM 2500HD 6.0L/4.10
2018 Jay Flight 24RBS
2002 GM 2500HD 6.0L/4:10 (retired)
2005 Jayco Eagle 278FBS (retired)
1999 Jayco Eagle 246FB (retired)
Reese HP Dual Cam (Strait-Line)
Rustic Eagle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2011, 10:04 AM   #4
Senior Member
 
3Pillons's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Winder GA
Posts: 133
Been there, done that. The hard way too! lol. I thought I had mine all set the way i wanted it until one trip I felt that the tongue was too high. It took FOUR hours of frustration to all set back up the way I wanted. It's good now, but it certainly took a lot more than just lowering the hitch assembly on the shank.
__________________
Bryan, Pam and Cameron
Winder GA
2003 Jayflight 27BHS, 2004 Ford Expedition
3Pillons is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2011, 09:51 PM   #5
Member
 
EXTremist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 68
Thanks guys,

I towed 170 miles to the racetrack tonight and everything went/felt good. I was a bit light with only 1/3 fresh onboard because there is full hookup here. Brought the 3 bikes up on the new bumper and that worked great.

Cold here tonight so threw up the homemade PUG's I made out of reflectix yesterday. They are working great so far - no condensation on the inside yet. Everything outside is already wet.

Looking forward to a great race weekend up here at BIR!
__________________
Single father of 2 kids, 12 and 7 years old
2011 Jayfeather X19H
2008 Jeep Commander 4.7l
Equalizer E2 6000
EXTremist is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Jayco, Inc. or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:05 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright 2002-2016 Social Knowledge, LLC All Rights Reserved.