Tech
The items on this page are related to trailer towing and maintenance.
Ramp
When we had a pop-up trailer, we used a BAL light trailer tire leveler with great success. When we moved to a travel trailer we needed a new solution. For a time, we used interlocking plastic levelling blocks, and I (copying a camping friend) even made a hinged platform for them:
That worked pretty well, but I missed the accuracy of the BAL leveler. I was even considering the use of a pair of them, when another camping friend showed me the ramp he had built for his travel trailer. I decided to try his approach, which required nothing more than eight feet of of 2" x 8", some paint, and some time:
We're very happy with the results - it's easy to use and once again we can level within a fraction of an inch. The plans are on my Flickr page... feel free to use them.
Mirrors
Pulling a camping trailer requires extended mirrors. We tried a couple of different approaches, including clamp mount...
...and suction mount...
... before settling on these McKesh mirrors made by Hensley Mfg:
These are the best solution for us. They're easy to install and remove, they're very adjustable, they don't leave any marks on the truck and they don't vibrate.
Brake Controller
Stopping a rig with the brakes of the tow vehicle alone is viable with smaller trailers. Regardless of type, however, just about any trailer heavier than 2000 lbs must be equipped with brakes. If the brakes are electrically activated, a brake controller inside the tow vehicle is required to send the correct voltage. The amount of voltage is proportional to the rate of deceleration.
In the summer of 2008 we upgraded to the highly regarded Tekonsha Prodigy. Key features of the Prodigy include:
- Self-levelling intertial control, which adapts to both flat and hilly terrain
- Proportional braking in reverse
- Boost mode for earlier application of trailer brakes
Since then the Prodigy has proven to be well worth the investment. Most of the time I forget it's there, which means it's doing its job.
Weight Distributing Hitch... and Sway Elimination
The simplest connection between a TV and trailer uses a weight-carrying hitch (WCH) system where the tongue weight of the trailer (typically be 10-15% of the trailer's total weight) is placed on the hitch and, by extension, the TV's rear axle. With large trailers come heavier tongues, and without a weight distributing hitch (WDH) system, the rear axle would become overloaded and the front axle underloaded, like so:
WDH systems distribute the tongue weight over all of the axles in a rig, like so:
WDH ensures that proper steering control of the TV is maintained and that the rear axle is not loaded beyond its capacity.
Our initial choice of WDH system was the Equal-i-zer with its integral friction sway control. However, it soon became apparent that our Sequoia with its relatively short wheelbase would benefit from a more advanced system that, by design, eliminated sway.
Research led us to ProPride Incorporated and the 3P hitch. For more information, check out our 3P page.
Torque Multiplier
The yoke bolts on our 3P Hitch required 250 ft-lbs of torque. My current torque wrench maxes out at 150 ft-lbs, but besides buying a bigger wrench there's a way around that... a torque multiplier. I got mine at Princess Auto (Part No. 8063927):
On one side there's a 1/2" square socket where the torque wrench connects. One the other side is a 3/4" drive to which the appropriately-size socket connects. Inside the hub of the torque multiplier is a 4:1 reduction planetary gear set... so every complete revolution of the torque wrench generates one quarter revolution of the socket.
What appears to be a handle on the torque multiplier is called a reaction bar. Applying torque to the torque multiplier would make the planetary gears counter-rotate if the reaction bar was not placed against a solid surface (such as pavement). When it is, the planetary gears are forced to rotate around the sun gear, generating the reduction.
Here's how it's used.
The appropriate size of socket (not depicted) is attached to the output drive of the torque multiplier (red). The reduction bar is placed on the ground to the left for clockwise torque application, and the torque wrench (blue) is attached to the torque multiplier.
I thought the torque wrench would be set to 1/4 of the torque specification, but such is not the case. There's a torque ratio that doesn't quite correspond to the reduction gearing - on this wrench the ratio is 1:3.33. So by dividing the torque spec by 3.33 I got the wrench setting. For 250 ft-lbs, it was 75.
