“Banging” noise coming from hybrid trailer while towing

[Heidihw]

Hello, we recently purchased a 2018 Jayco X17Z hybrid trailer. We love it except when we are towing it down the highway there is a loud annoying banging noise coming from the camper and we cannot figure out what it is. It’s a hollow metallic bang, my husband compared it to someone banging the crisper drawer in a refrigerator, I think it sounds like a metal cabinet door being closed repeatedly. We thought it was noise coming from the hitch (so did the guy at an RV place we stopped in at while traveling, he looked at our hitch set up and thought it was all secure but some play in the hitch may be causing a rattle) so we got a u-bolt hitch quieter but that didn’t solve it. Also tried removing the spare tire thinking it might be banging against the camper but that wasn’t it either. The gas tanks seem secure. For reference we have a weight distribution hitch and tow with a Honda Pilot. Any ideas/advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!

[THE MEEKER]

Popping noise is a normal occurrence when towing a trailer and using any weight distribution/sway control hitch.

You can put a small amount of lubricant on the sway control brackets to quiet things down a bit but that is really not recommended. I do it anyway and never had a problem in 20 years.

[Heidihw]

Originally Posted by THE MEEKER

Popping noise is a normal occurrence when towing a trailer and using any weight distribution/sway control hitch.

You can put a small amount of lubricant on the sway control brackets to quiet things down a bit but that is really not recommended. I do it anyway and never had a problem in 20 years.

The popping/banging noise is LOUD. Gives me a headache after a day of driving. I realize we’re getting more noise inside the car than we would if we were towing with a pickup, but is that normal? I can’t imagine a little lubricant is going to make that much difference, but we’ll try it. Thanks!

[freetime58]

Originally Posted by Heidihw

The popping/banging noise is LOUD. Gives me a headache after a day of driving. I realize we’re getting more noise inside the car than we would if we were towing with a pickup, but is that normal? I can’t imagine a little lubricant is going to make that much difference, but we’ll try it. Thanks!

You sure your hitch is securely attached to your Pilot? Also, do you have any sort of cargo box/carrier attached to the roof rack of your Pilot? Does the noise occur at all speeds or when turning or when hitting bumps or when stopping or when starting up from a stop or when slowing down or when speeding up? A little more info might help us long term rv'ers diagnose the issue.

Even better, can you record the noise with your phone and post it here so we can hear it?

[Heidihw]

The hitch is definitely secure on the Pilot. We had a guy at an RV place get under the car to check it. No cargo carrier. We hear the noise primarily when going over 50 mph (generally we never go over 65 with this set up). Bumps and turns don’t seem to affect it. I have a video of it but it’s not letting me upload from my phone...

[Happy wife / happy life]

Just a thought,are you sure you have the correct ball on the hitch?

[Heidihw]

Pretty sure. It’s a tight fit, often takes a hammer to make the coupler latch on.

[Gnfreak]

I was getting some noise on our x19h going over bumps in the road that I tracked down to some thin metal straps installed under my grey tank.

[freetime58]

Originally Posted by Heidihw

Pretty sure. It’s a tight fit, often takes a hammer to make the coupler latch on.

Should NEVER need a hammer to make the coupler latch!!!!! VERY BAD IDEA!!!!! In 45 years of RV'ing I have never used a hammer or anything else or had to in anyway persuade the coupler to latch. Proper way would be to lower your tongue jack slightly to make latching easier, some times while hitching depending where the ball is situated in the coupler when lowering onto the ball, you might have to roll forward slightly or roll back slightly to reposition the ball to make latching easier.....I'm talking an inch or two.......hop in the vehicle and leave the door open, put vehicle in gear and stare at the ground thru the open door, stare at a point on the ground so you can easily tell the distance you moved.

That is a very loud disheartening sound and should not be happening. I suspect it may be associated with the need to hammer the latch into position. Or a loose ball in the coupler, is the coupler adjusted properly? I know someone mention ball size, it should be 2 5/16 ".......to me it sounds like a 2" ball in a 2 5/16" coupler.

[Jagiven]

I wrote all this up before listening to your video. I do not think it is your hitch. But all points noted below about the hitch is good information anyways.

What are you using for a WDH? Different hitches make different noises, and have different lubrication needs.

If you need a hammer to get the couple latch on, tells me you need to lube the hitch assembly. Different people have different ideas on what to use for a lube. I personally like a good old fashion bearing grease. I clean the ball, and wipe on a good thick amount of grease all over the ball. Between trips some people wipe off any excess grease from the ball, I found a solo cup, fits right on, and stays in place. This will make your coupler easier to use. It will remove almost all your noise from the ball. As I said I leave the grease on the ball, I clean and reapply every spring and about every 1000 miles or so. Most WHD bars have lube points too. Most vendors have a recommended PM schedule and grease. Pending on your WHD, you also want to make sure the pivot point bolts are torqued correctly and lubed. There is a lot of metal on metal, so lubing these areas are important. Now, there are some areas on some WDH you do NOT want to lube, as they help control the sway control if you have a hitch with integrated sway control.

One last thing, and I think you have tried to address it. When you insert your WDH into the receiver, the hitch commonly has a lot of wiggle room. This can cause some sounds. In some situations I can feel it, more than hear it. The U-bolt setup can help, a metal wedge between the receiver and hitch can help too.

Now back to what I am guessing that noise is in the video. In the video it is hard to tell where the sound is coming from, but the frequency, tells me it is light weight materials, like a metal hatch catching some wind and flapping, during a bad storm (hence driving 55+ mph). Honestly, I think it is your pilot, but it is hard to tell without being there. Easy item to start with, I would pull the propane tank cover off, and check that the tanks are tightly secured. You are putting stress on your pilot when the HTT is connected. I would then check your muffler system. Crawl underneath, and look at the clearances, between the pipe, and things like the suspension, but check it all over from front to back, make sure to look at the mounting brackets. When I had a new muffler installed on our kid's car, they did not install it quite right, and it would touch the rear suspension at times, and make a similar noise.

Next I would look at your rear struts, might have one starting to fail. This will cause your rear tire to bounce as you drive.

As others have already said, double check the ball size, and that you have the right size shank for the size hole in the hitch. I have seen some small diameter shanks on 2 5/8" balls. I the shank is to small of a diameter for the WDH, I suspect you will see evidence that the ball is slitting side to side in the mounting hole.

I hope this helps.

[freetime58]

Originally Posted by Jagiven

I wrote all this up before listening to your video. I do not think it is your hitch. But all points noted below about the hitch is good information anyways.

What are you using for a WDH? Different hitches make different noises, and have different lubrication needs.

If you need a hammer to get the couple latch on, tells me you need to lube the hitch assembly. Different people have different ideas on what to use for a lube. I personally like a good old fashion bearing grease. I clean the ball, and wipe on a good thick amount of grease all over the ball. Between trips some people wipe off any excess grease from the ball, I found a solo cup, fits right on, and stays in place. This will make your coupler easier to use. It will remove almost all your noise from the ball. As I said I leave the grease on the ball, I clean and reapply every spring and about every 1000 miles or so. Most WHD bars have lube points too. Most vendors have a recommended PM schedule and grease. Pending on your WHD, you also want to make sure the pivot point bolts are torqued correctly and lubed. There is a lot of metal on metal, so lubing these areas are important. Now, there are some areas on some WDH you do NOT want to lube, as they help control the sway control if you have a hitch with integrated sway control.

One last thing, and I think you have tried to address it. When you insert your WDH into the receiver, the hitch commonly has a lot of wiggle room. This can cause some sounds. In some situations I can feel it, more than hear it. The U-bolt setup can help, a metal wedge between the receiver and hitch can help too.

Now back to what I am guessing that noise is in the video. In the video it is hard to tell where the sound is coming from, but the frequency, tells me it is light weight materials, like a metal hatch catching some wind and flapping, during a bad storm (hence driving 55+ mph). Honestly, I think it is your pilot, but it is hard to tell without being there. Easy item to start with, I would pull the propane tank cover off, and check that the tanks are tightly secured. You are putting stress on your pilot when the HTT is connected. I would then check your muffler system. Crawl underneath, and look at the clearances, between the pipe, and things like the suspension, but check it all over from front to back, make sure to look at the mounting brackets. When I had a new muffler installed on our kid's car, they did not install it quite right, and it would touch the rear suspension at times, and make a similar noise.

Next I would look at your rear struts, might have one starting to fail. This will cause your rear tire to bounce as you drive.

As others have already said, double check the ball size, and that you have the right size shank for the size hole in the hitch. I have seen some small diameter shanks on 2 5/8" balls.

I hope this helps.

All good points...............I was going to mention shank size too but all 2 5/16" balls should all have 1'" shanks, I haven't seen any 3/4" but as mentioned I'm sure they exist. Is there a lock washer on the bottom with the nut securing the ball.

Bottom line is, no matter what your issue is.....that noise should not be happening......and if it were my vehicle I'd be pretty concerned.

[Heidihw]

Ha! The guys at the RV place where we bought it are the ones who first used a hammer to attach the coupler. It’s generally just a tap if needed, we also move back and forth. Thanks for the info.

[Heidihw]

@Jagiven, thanks for the thoughtful response. Pretty sure it’s not the Pilot. Sounds like it is coming from the camper and we had an RV guy get under the Pilot with everything attached and he thought it all looked good. I think the best bet will be to get a service guy to actually ride in the car with us to help us identify what’s going on. Thanks so much!

[freetime58]

Originally Posted by Heidihw

Ha! The guys at the RV place where we bought it are the ones who first used a hammer to attach the coupler. It’s generally just a tap if needed, we also move back and forth. Thanks for the info.

Any RV place that used or showed the use of a hammer to tap the latch into place.......is not an RV place that I'd deal with......just sayin"! Time for some dry lubricant on the coupler, or watch some videos from reputable RV dealers showing the proper hitching techniques.

Is the "hammer the coupler" RV place the same RV place that is trying to help diagnose the noise issue? Mentioning because it may be time to visit somewhere else.

[freetime58]

Originally Posted by Heidihw

@Jagiven, thanks for the thoughtful response. Pretty sure it’s not the Pilot. Sounds like it is coming from the camper and we had an RV guy get under the Pilot with everything attached and he thought it all looked good. I think the best bet will be to get a service guy to actually ride in the car with us to help us identify what’s going on. Thanks so much!

Play the video for the RV guy!

The sound is pretty loud and defined to be coming from the camper.......IMO....it's the tow vehicle. Remember, when going down the highway, it's pretty tough to hear a sound that loud and defined if it's happening behind you!

[Heidihw]

Originally Posted by freetime58

Any RV place that used or showed the use of a hammer to tap the latch into place.......is not an RV place that I'd deal with......just sayin"! Time for some dry lubricant on the coupler, or watch some videos from reputable RV dealers showing the proper hitching techniques.

Is the "hammer the coupler" RV place the same RV place that is trying to help diagnose the noise issue? Mentioning because it may be time to visit somewhere else.

Good point about the RV place. You’re right we haven’t been happy with them. The guy who tried to help us diagnose the problem was at a random place we passed while traveling. He was actually really helpful, checked everything out for us for free and suggested the U bolt which unfortunately ended up not being the issue.

[curver900]

try and pull up on the tongue after you load it.. you should not be able to lift it.. before you put on your WDH.. if you can lift the tongue then you have your trailer loaded without enough tongue weight... I would start with that if you can post up a picture to the site that will help as well...

so please lets go back to step one..

check the hitch ball size requirement it should be 2" then check the ball it should be 2" if they both are then there is a nut underneath the hitch that you can adjust to allow for the hitch to fit on the ball without a hammer.

on the side of the hitch or top it will have what size it is.. on the top of the ball it will have the size stamped in there.


lets start there... can you take some pictures and post them up?

[Heidihw]

Well you guys were right about never needing to use a hammer to get the latch to go over the coupler! Just stopped at an RV service and had a guy ride with us to listen to it. The latch that goes over the coupler is bent (sold to us that way by that dingbat RV place) which is why it requires a hammer to put on. The RV guy thinks that this allows the camper to move up and down just slightly when traveling at higher speeds (when the wind hits it) giving us that banging noise. We will try replacing the latch to see if that works. (My husband is a little skeptical that this will do it, we’ll see.) Thanks for your expertise everyone!

[Jagiven]

I like the idea someone mentioned about the tongue weight. At some point it is good to swing by a CAT scale and take 3 readings, see attached link. A low tongue weight is dangerous, due to sway. Once I had a very low tongue weight with a car trailer, and it made some funny noises, maybe something like that noise. I did not make it far before I know something was wrong, but I have towed for a long time. Had to reposition the car on the trailer. Just don't load cars on trailers often.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...v-tt-3871.html

Edit;
Another thought about a low tongue weight. If someone (aka DH) has a little extra weight to them. Have them stand/sit/jump on the bumper. The hitch should be rock solid. As their weight should not remotely over come the natural loaded tongue weight of the TT.

[freetime58]

Originally Posted by curver900

try and pull up on the tongue after you load it.. you should not be able to lift it.. before you put on your WDH.. if you can lift the tongue then you have your trailer loaded without enough tongue weight... I would start with that if you can post up a picture to the site that will help as well...

so please lets go back to step one..

check the hitch ball size requirement it should be 2" then check the ball it should be 2" if they both are then there is a nut underneath the hitch that you can adjust to allow for the hitch to fit on the ball without a hammer.

on the side of the hitch or top it will have what size it is.. on the top of the ball it will have the size stamped in there.


lets start there... can you take some pictures and post them up?

The ball size would be 2 5/16", not 2". Also, lifting upon the tongue is not good advise either, my TT has a 600lb tongue weight, even if loaded improperly and possibly lightening the tongue weight somewhat........I still couldn't lift 300 or 400 lbs.......LOL!