Look what followed me home Saturday!! Should I use less drop in the hitch?

lkc001

Hello all--So that followed my truck home Saturday!  woohooo!!     Full propane bottle, battery & tire on the front.  My TV still has @ 300 lbs of sandbags over the axle in the bed.  Trailer of course not loaded.   With the 2" drop hitch it looked pretty  level, maybe slightly low in the front, pulled good.  A tiny bit bouncy where they were doing construction on the road/detour, but again, trailer was not loaded.  However, as I commented in another post, I scraped the wheel crank post backing into my sloped driveway at the curb and had to fight to get the wheel on once on the level part of my driveway.   Should I put on my straight hitch next time when I am fully loaded & ready to camp?  I'm also looking at other wheel jack options too.  Just wondering about others' opinions? 

lkc001

How do I add a picture??

dragonsdofly

@lkc001, size picture to 600 x 800 or 800 x 600 pixels. Just above comment box, click on picture icon. It looks like a mountain in a box. Select  your pic from gallery or photo library. It will load into the comment box and then you post it as you would post a comment. Good luck, as I'd love to see the pics, and I'm sure others would too!

VictoriaP

@lkc001 This thread may be useful for learning to post pics. Goes through a number of troubleshooting steps. https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/7989/how-do-i-post-pics

lkc001

lkc001

Hope I did that correctly.

dragonsdofly

@lkc001, yes we can see your pic now. Nice!

Normfun

Your drop is likely fine. When you lose the winter ballast in the bed it will come up some. I have the same set up. Congratulations and enjoy.  

lkc001

@Normfun. Thanks for your response— good to hear from someone with the same set-up.  Did you ever have this issue & what if you also are using the bed of your truck for camping stuff— won’t the issue be the same?

Normfun

@IKC001.  I did have the problem of occasionally scraping the hitch on steep driveway approaches, but that was with a 5 inch drop. Haven’t had a problem with the 2 inch.  However my trailer is a Outback edition and therefore is lifted.  If your trailer nose is a full bubble low try flipping your ballmount and resting the hitch on the thread side of the ball if it’s level then swap the ball around if it is. Or start a collection of ball mounts 😀. You’re better off slightly low than high.  I have also added Sumo Springs on the back of the Frontier to reduce the saggy rear 😳, I know TMI. 

GreatWhiteNorth

Nice!  I have similar, a Nissan Frontier with the offroad package, and a 2004 T@B.  They seem very well matched.

lkc001

@Normfun. NOT TMI— that actually gave me another option to look at!  I never would have thought about that.  I’m always thankful for any extra info that I can learn from or other ways to problem solve👍

lkc001

We can’t have any saggy rears either LOL 

dinzzy

I would suggest Firestone air bags for the rear of your truck.  Very easy to install. They will level you and and eliminate the bounce. I also would suggest the “Jack-E-Up” add on that allows you to remove your jack and store it on the frame when you are traveling and as you are backing it into a camp site or your steep driveway it won’t scrape.

ScottG

@lkc001, I also tow a standard 320 with a Frontier. I have the Nissan OEM tow package that came with what I believe is a 4" drop ball mount. My T@B tows almost perfectly level and there is very little sag in the rear of the truck even with cap, kayaks, bikes, etc. loaded in the back.

Yours does look a little droopy in the photo; it could be perspective, though I suspect the winter ballast you had back there contributes as well.

lkc001

Thank you all for the great info!

dinzzy

When the sand bags are removed you will know a lot more.  Check out the “Jack-E-Up”.  It’s a great way to remove the jack from danger and gives you more room to access the bed of the truck or bring bikes.

dinzzy

This is with the Jack-E-Up on the trailer with my bike

dinzzy

lkc001

I do not believe that the jack-e-up will be a solution for me, unfortunately.  I have the spare on the tongue mounted to the jack post.

Sharon_is_SAM

Change to side mounted spare?

atlasb

As an alternative toSomo Springs, look at Timbren SES system to help with rear end sag.   Simple to install and need no inflating and never go flat.  Use them on our 2016 Frontier crew cab with our 400.  Look at Etrailer.com

lkc001

No I have enough issues with my sloped driveway at the street— don’t need anything else hanging down low