first time ever towing - there's a dolphin loose in my R51

[06PhillyPathy]

Ok guys, I first want to thank everyone who helped me get to this point. I picked up my brand new Jayco 23RLSW today and with the mods you all suggested, I got the 4600# dry trailer home without dying. You all deserve a little credit. Here's what I did:

- rad cooler bypass
- large fan for aux cooler
- changed brakes (bled and fluid changed), spark plugs, trans fluid, front and rear diff, transfer fluid, ps fluid, coolant, air filter, fan belt, in cabin filter.
- pro series wdh with single friction sway 10k/750
- airlift 1000
- prodigy p2

So the issue in having can only be described like this:

I'm driving at 20 mph and it feels like the rpm's are jumping, but they're not. It's an uncomfortable feeling. I describe it as porpoising but I'm not sure if that's technically right, but it feels almost like a mild death wobble, only VERTICAL, not horizontal.

Here's the rig with the best pic of stance I could get. The bags are at 35 psi, R51 tires at 38, trailer at 50.

Do these symptoms sounds like anything specific? I haven't gotten it on a scale but the trailers tongue weight is 440 and is currently empty.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

[06PhillyPathy]

BTW, OD was off.

Should VDC be on or off? It didn't seem to make a difference, I'm just curious

[disallow]

OD off.

How much tension on your wdh bars?

Did you install the air lift bags? How much pressure?

What's the tongue weight?

[disallow]

Which hitch did you get?

It should take a fair amount of effort to get the wdh chains up on the saddles. I ran my bars at 7 chain links a few weeks ago, and my wife even commented that the truck felt out if control.

Thus weekend we hauled it about 50 miles but I got the bars to 10 chain links and it pulled really well. To the point that I may consider pulling it on our 2000 mile road trip in a few weeks.

[Kestral]

It's not uncommon to get some back and forth motion when towing however if its excessive that's not good.

Is your brake control set correctly? Is it possible your camper brakes are hanging up a little?

Disallow is right on with the WDH set up what brand hitch do you have? Mine is a Reese and with mine the (Lift or weight or weight distribution bars) not sure of the exact name only have one or two chain links hanging loose. If your back end of your Pathy is real high and stiff from the airbags pumped up all the way then you won't need much tension on the bars. Do not! Crank them extremely tight it is possible to snap off the mount I have seen it happen. Don't get me wrong they should be tight but not like crazy tight.

Your camper should be level going down the road or tipping forward just a bit it's not so good if it tips backwards it can make the drive squirly.

Again if you get some back and forth motion it's ok it's just the camper giving you a bit of a shove on acceleration it just should not be accessive.

If all else fails then you me and disallow will plan a camping trip and we will get that rig all figured out for you! 👍🏻

[Kestral]

06 PhillyPathy don't get frustrated it can be a bit frustrating to get your set up just right the way you want it. You should be fine with some help the camper dealer should be able to give you some advice on the hitch set up and the towing also.

That Jayco camper you bought is a real nice quality unit enjoy!

[disallow]

Also don't let the camper place give you a hard time about pulling with the pathy. Some people seem to think every camper needs to be pulled by a one tonne dually rig.

[06PhillyPathy]

Thanks guys and sorry I didn't respond, we were practicing dry camping with no net access.

So I greased the ball hitch, increased the tire pressure on the R51 to 40 and increased the airlift pressure to 40. But I think it was mostly the weight - trailer was empty when I wrote this. The dealer set it up with 6 links between, 1 link unused. And now the porpoising is significantly reduced.

The issue I'm having now is I blew out an airbag. I HAVE to drive on it and can't replace it till Tuesday. Am I going to damage anything driving with a couple inches of squat?

[disallow]

You should be fine.

Even though you over inflated it, you should see if airlift will help you out.

[06PhillyPathy]

You should be fine.

Even though you over inflated it, you should see if airlift will help you out.

You were right, airlift stepped up, but b4 that I drove from NJ to Niagara and noticed no difference without the air bags (probably because towing is so new for me).

We also decided to use "avoid tolls" in PA. Wow, talk about some crazy hills. Had to drop to 2nd gear once but overall was impressed with her ability to pull. Brake controller set around 7.0 on b2 and generally felt safe braking. Reinstalled the new bag today and drove 7 hours to East Harbor,OH with no issue.

Assuming I continue to have no issues, I will drive this rig cross country. Getting 9.5-11 mph with OD off. Half the time I don't remember its back there on the highway. Engine temps normal, but not monitoring trans temps despite bypassed read cooler. Plan another 4 gallon trans flush soon

[Kestral]

Sounds like you are on the right track. Nice job working the gears much better to rev the heck out of the motor then letting the trans shift gears like crazy! It would be wise to shorten your oil change interval and run a stought motor oil in the 10w30 grade like Castrol GTX Magnatec or Mobil 1 High Millage 10w30.

I have found on the highway towing I have to keep a close eye on my speed as my Pathy can get away from me. Good luck!

[smj999smj]

Sounds like you are on the right track. Nice job working the gears much better to rev the heck out of the motor then letting the trans shift gears like crazy! It would be wise to shorten your oil change interval and run a stought motor oil in the 10w30 grade like Castrol GTX Magnatec or Mobil 1 High Millage 10w30.

I have found on the highway towing I have to keep a close eye on my speed as my Pathy can get away from me. Good luck!

Why go to 10W30 instead of 5W30? At normal operating temperatures, the two oils have the same viscosity. At cold temperatures, the 5W30 will provide better lubrication.

[Kestral]

It's true that a 5w30 and a 10w30 are usually the same viscosity at operating temp but for the most part a 10w30 has less viscosity improvers that brake down faster in a 5w30. Under high heat and load stress a 10w30 will stay in grade better and if you are doing a long cross country tow like the OP in the summer the cold start of the 5w won't mean much.

Frankly I was thinking about it last night and with the VQ 40 DE V6 in the Pathy it won't mean all that much since the motor is not all that hard on oil. It does not have the three hard on oil items like on Fords Ecco Boost motors 1. Turbocharger or in the EB's case twin turbos. 2. Direct injection that has a tendency to dilute the oil with fuel. 3. Long complicated timing chains. Ok the VQ40 has a long timing chain but the Ford EB is much worse! Ford EB motors beat the heck out of motor oil so bad Ford had to drop the recommendation of 5w20 and recommend 5w30 with all new models.

Anyway I like to run a solid 10w30 in the summer when towing an oil that has a high cts 100deg c. Run weight of more than 11. Many good 10w30 synthetics will match that. And when I tow I usually shorten my oil change interval.

I don't know why I worry my friend that just traded his 06-V6 Pathy in changed his oil around every 9,000 miles with whatever was the cheapest oil and filter and he toed his 5,000lb boat all over without any issue. He had 140,000 when he traded it in and the motor sounded and ran fantastic!