Joseph
I am going to need to think about the increased load on the ball. However he did move the pivot point forward which should help with the sway. Agree the scales are a must..

Reversing the Andersen coupler block attached to the pin of the trailer, is essentially changing the length of the pinbox of the trailer. This is important for how close the wings of the pinbox get to the tailgate or the side rails of the box when turning. This relatively small change in distance from trailer axles to pin connection will have only a very minor affect on pin weight. What does not change is that the ball of the Andersen hitch in the box of the truck is significantly behind the goose ball which is directly over the center of the rear axle. Neither coupler position is going to make much difference to how the load is being carried by the truck . . . behind its rear axle.

Rob

CAT scale-weighed the rig today with two different amounts of freshwater along with significantly increasing the weight of cargo in the front of the rig closer to the pin box. GVW in one scenario was 15,980 and 15,760 in the other. (GVWR on our rig is 18,000). Pin weight increased from 2300 lbs / 15.4% last month to 2760 lbs / 17.2% with full tank of freshwater (~98 gal) and 2920 lbs / 18.5% with about 69 gallons of freshwater. In addition to the water in the freshwater tank behind the axles, I added 20 gallons / 166 lbs to the grey water tank in front of the axles. The motorcycle with wheel chock at about 600 lbs was in the garage along with approx 15 gallons of gasoline (93 lbs) in the “toy” tank behind the axles. A big change was the additional 500 lbs in the bedroom and front compartment. I weighed everything in the rig so I know for sure it was an additional 500 lbs. New king mattress, additional 12V lead acid battery, bunch of camping stuff and two 7 gallon jugs of water for about 116 lbs total. Towed the rig at 65 and 70 MPH with both both amounts of freshwater and it towed really well. Seems as though increasing the pin weight really helped, but I also reversed the coupler on the Andersen moving the pivot point forward and ran the TV at the standard truck height, not alternative trailer height like I did previously. (No cab clearance issues with the coupler reversed.)

I noted on the weigh tickets that the weight on the steering axle decreased by 100 lbs in the first weigh with full freshwater, but only 60 lbs on the weight with less freshwater. Is this normal or should there not be any reductions? Last month the reduction was 200 lbs.

After dumping the freshwater and grey water tanks along with removing the motorcycle, I noticed the rig did not tow as smoothly with the reduced weight. There was not any sway, but I could feel the rig “buck” a little more. Thus, the additional weight was good for trailering.

I was really happy about being successful towing with a full freshwater tank. I was concerned about that much weight behind the axle and how it would impact pin weight. Clearly the 500 lbs up front offset the water weight behind the axle. I have a much improved understanding about how to load the rig for optimum towing as well as hitch setup etc from the invaluable input I’ve received from this forum. Thanks to everybody that helped this towing newbie!

I sent an email to Lippert and Granddesign regarding carry/ towing with full tanks. This is Lipperts response.

thanks for contacting Lippert. In response to your question below about how much liquid to have in your tanks when travelling, we would advise on the safe side, being that the less liquid that is in those tanks when traveling, the less weight you would be pulling, which of course will provide for a safer ride. thanks

Lippert Customer Care Center.

I have yet to hear back from Granddesign.

To Granddesign if your frame maker is saying it’s safer to tow with less liquid in your tanks then the GVWR trailer ratings need to reflect that or your frames need to be built to the current GVWR levels. At a minimum Warning labels need to be applied to caution people.

I agree this is very disturbing. If the nameplate states it can carry a certain weight then you should safely carry that weight.

will wait to hear back.

coops