There are 2 issues involved in setting up a weight distribution (wd) hitch. One is to transfer weight to the front axle of the tow vehicle (tv) to keep the front end from bouncing--and the headlights out of the trees--while at the same time restoring the loaded tv to close to the same attitude (angle) it was at when unloaded; and the second is to have the trailer (tt) as level as possible. While both are accomplished by adjusting the hitch, they are really two separate unrelated adjustments.
1. Your measurements indicate the loaded front fender line is coming up 1/2" and the rear is dropping 2 1/4". You also state you feel some bouncing in the front end while towing. Most likely the front axle of the tv is being unloaded by the tongue weight of the tt. The solution is to tighten up the wd bars, in single increments, by angling the ball further back and/or pulling up the chains to the next link. It's important to note that angling the ball or shortening the chain does the same thing. If you do both at the same time, it's a double dose. Angling the ball is what sets up the whole wd in the first place. The further back the ball is, the lower the ends of the wd bars will be. Pulling up the chains then also lifts up the rear end of the tv and tips some of the extra weight to the front axle. This lifting action also lifts any load in the bed of the tv, particularly what is behind the rear axle. It's pointless to set up the whole hitch with the truck empty and then drop in a couple of hundred pounds of people, and a big pile of firewood right in front of the tailgate. The firewood especially, is just like tongue weight and this extra weight again drops the rear end and throws off the whole setup. Carrying water in the tanks will also affect the setup.
There is no way you can take a hitch from one truck to another without doing a complete setup. If you are using the hitch exactly the way the previous owner gave it to you, it simply doesn't match your truck, and he may not have had it properly set up either.
Setting up a hitch involves a lot of trial and error. I don't know how Draw-Tite adjusts the ball angle, but I would start with that--add one more click, or washer, and measure the fender lines again. Try to get the front fender back to it's unloaded height--that would indicate that a certain amount of weight has definitely been transferred back to the front axle. Pull up on the chains only if the ends of the bars are not parallel to the tt A-frame. There's no reason why the bars should be level--it does look better--but if the ends are hanging down they could drag when exiting a driveway. As you add ball angle, pulling up the wd bars is going to become more difficult. This is part of the fun of hitching up a large tt--crank up the tongue jack to clear the ball, crank it down and lock the coupler, crank it up to lift the tv rear end which lifts the wd bars until pulling up the chains becomes manageable and finally crank the jack back down again. I find it's good exercise, but some people prefer power jacks.
Finally, there's nothing like an axle weight at a scale to tell you whether you got it right. My empty tv has a front axle weight of 3420 lb. and loaded weight of 3340 lb. When I adjust the hitch one more step to try and restore the axle weight, the rear axle unloads and the tires break loose in the wet. So I am still running with a front axle that's 80 lb. lighter and that seems fine for my combination. My tt has a tongue weight of 1000 lb. so, before wd, that is added to the ball and would really unload the front axle. With wd enough weight is returned to the front axle to bring it almost back to its unloaded weight. So there has been a lot of weight transfer to the front even though it is a bit lighter.
2. Somewhere in the above trial and error, but definitely before you're done, the hitch head should be positioned in the shank so that the tt is level. Adjusting the wd bars to add weight to the front axle should raise the tv ball and the tt coupler. To keep the tt level you may have to lower the hitch head in the shank. None of this has anything to do with the front end of your tv bouncing. You'll need a new shank only if you don't have enough holes to have the tt level when the wd setup is finalized. If the tt can't be levelled, nose down is better.
See JohnB's excellent advice to another member in this thread
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f7...3-a-12332.html.
Henry
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