How to Reduce Chucking when Towing 5th-Wheel Trailer without Replacing Trailer Pin Box

Question:

I purchased a 2016 Grand Design Reflection 27RL 5th wheel with a Lippert Pin Box. They advise this is a stand alone pin box and is not suitable for any replacement pin boxes such as Air Ride etc...is this the case and if so are there any other alternatives to smooth out the rideI have a BW 16K hitch and a 2010 Chex 3500HD dually. Regards

asked by: Gary R

Expert Reply:

There are a couple of ways other than replacing the pin box on your trailer that can help to reduce the chucking you are experiencing.

First, I simply recommend checking to make sure the tongue weight of your trailer is around 10-15 percent of its total loaded weight. If the tongue weight is too light, this can lead to chucking issues. You can simply redistribute some of the cargo in the trailer in order to put more weight up front.

Another option is the fifth-wheel trailer hitch itself. If your existing hitch has a standard slide-bar jaw, then upgrading to a system that uses interlocking dual jaws like the Curt A16 # C16120 will improve the chucking. This is because a dual jaw will do a much better job of tightly securing the king pin on your trailer.

I have attached a video demonstration on this product for you to check out.

expert reply by: Chris R