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Old 06-30-2021, 08:31 AM   #61
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Originally Posted by jsm5394 View Post
My search is over! I bought a 2011 GMC Denali 2500HD. It has the towing package and Z85 suspension. Thank you all who offered such great advice. Happy camping!!

Jim M
Great!!!!

You will feel the amount of stability the heavier suspension and tires gives you the first time you hook up and tow down the driveway. That said, even the 3/4 ton truck needs the WD hitch setup correctly to help be part of a good towing solution.

The Denali, you have about all the bells and whistles they offered in 2011. Hoping someone did not put a lift kit on it. While they may look cool to some, they do not help towing being that high up. If it has a lift kit, it can be brought back down to stock height if needed.

If you need any help setting up the new truck and camper, let us know. We are here to help.

John
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Old 06-30-2021, 09:06 AM   #62
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The truck is stock. I do have a good 12,000 lb weight hitch. I think it includes anti-sway but I haven’t seen this type before. I’ll post some pics
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File Type: jpg 4D55D8DA-01C6-4F14-BE6C-EE6AE61377E7.jpg (127.3 KB, 6 views)
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Old 06-30-2021, 03:59 PM   #63
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Originally Posted by jsm5394 View Post
The truck is stock. I do have a good 12,000 lb weight hitch. I think it includes anti-sway but I haven’t seen this type before. I’ll post some pics

Hi Jim,

It looks like you really scored on the 2500HD still in the stock configuration. Great!!

The hitch in your pics is a good one. It is the original Reese dual cam hitch with trunnion style weight distribution bars and hitch head with built in anti sway control. And you have one of the good old Reese drop shanks too with lots of holes for adjustment.

Your 2500HD is high up in the air, and as such you are going to have to setup the hitch and lower the hitch head down the shank. Odds are high it will be on the bottom set of holes. When it comes time to set up the hitch, load the truck bed with all the camping stuff and full tank of gas, air up the truck tires to door sticker pressure and find a somewhat level and straight spot to have the camper and truck hitched and we can start from there. Have the camper loaded as well. If you want info before then, just ask away.

Is there a rating sticker on the WD bars themselves. It should have max pull rating and max tongue weight rating. Since you said the hitch was rated for 12,000#, where did you see that sticker? Reese rates the components of the hitch differently. Need to make sure all the hitch parts are up to the correct size.

See here for 2 different size Reese trunnion bars. There are 2 ratings. Reese makes lots more sizes that still fit in the same trunnion bar hitch head.




Also confirming, your T2499 is a 2004 correct? Is so, the A frame rails would be 5" tall. Have a look and see.

John
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Old 06-30-2021, 06:22 PM   #64
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John,
See pics. The labels on the bars are faded and can’t be read. The previous owner said he bought the hitch setup together when he bought the trailer from the dealer. The trailer is a 2004 with 5” a-frame rails. The truck has a class 4 hitch and a class 3 reducer.

I truly appreciate all your great advice.

Jim
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Old 06-30-2021, 09:28 PM   #65
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Originally Posted by jsm5394 View Post
John,
See pics. The labels on the bars are faded and can’t be read. The previous owner said he bought the hitch setup together when he bought the trailer from the dealer. The trailer is a 2004 with 5” a-frame rails. The truck has a class 4 hitch and a class 3 reducer.

I truly appreciate all your great advice.

Jim
Hi Jim,

I'm not seeing the pics is this post. Maybe I can back into the bar size, post a pic of the entire WD bar so I can see the both ends of the bar and then the label up by the trunnion head. Get the best looking label pic even if only partly there. Also look for a number stamped into the WD bar. It may be more towards the end of the bar. (non trunnion head end) I'm not sure what year Reese started stamping them. Some of mine have it and some don't.

Also, just behind the casting of the trunnion head on the WD bar, measure the square size of the WD bar. I have the Reese 800, 1,200# and 1,700# WD bars here to compare the size to. The difference is very different between them.
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Current Sunlines: 2004 T310SR, 2004 T1950, 2004 T2475, 2007 T2499, 2004 T317SR
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2005 Ford F350 Lariat, 6.8L V10 W/ 4.10 rear axle, CC, Short Bed, SRW. Reese HP trunnion bar hitch W/ HP DC

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Old 07-01-2021, 05:19 AM   #66
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John,
The pics apparently didn’t upload. Trying again. The bar is about 1” at the trunnion head. Actually 1-1/8”.
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Old 07-01-2021, 05:22 AM   #67
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Here are the others
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Old 07-01-2021, 07:14 PM   #68
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John,
The pics apparently didn’t upload. Trying again. The bar is about 1” at the trunnion head. Actually 1-1/8”.

Hi Jim,

The pics came through good this time.

I can now see the "vintage" of Reese WD bar and dual cam (DC) you have. You have the straight WD bar with the bolt on DC adapters.

And your WD bar square is in the 1 1/8" range. Great pic with the tape measure.

As I stated, Reese rates different parts of the WD hitch differently. The 2" square hitch shank you listed was Reese 54917 and that part is rated for 12,000 # towing and 1,200# tongue weight.

I have one a few of them, they look like this. The 54917


The hitch shank on the left in this pic


The shank with the trunnion style hitch head on the 54917 shank. That style hitch head during that era also had a 12,000 # towing and 1,200# tongue weight rating.


Now to the WD bars sizing. The 1 1/8" square bars are "not" 1,200# tongue weight rated bars. That hitch head can accept different strength/size WD bars.

The 1,200# WD bar measured 1.480" wide/tall (square) very close to 1 1/2" on some of my 1,200# bar hitched. They may be declared as 1 3/8" nominal as the 1.480 does not measure like that on all the 1,200# bars I have. I have 3 sets of them here in my collection along with a 1,700# set the same size, but different temper.

The WD bars change rating by the physical size and the temper of the steel. Back in the era that straight WD bar were made, Reese made a 550 # & 750# wd bar in the 1 1/8" square WD bar. And they made a 1,000# WD bar also, but I do not have a size on that. It might be 1 1/8 or 1 3/8"/1 1/2"

Point: The WD bars may only be 750# rated bars. There is an outside chance they might be a 1,000#. I'm not sure, a call to Reese tech service may help tell the size of their older 1,000# straight WD bar.

Your older style DC is model 26000 or 26001 standard DC. The difference between those 2 models was the U bolt length on how tall a A frame they would fit over. The new HP Dual cam is model 26002.

At this point with the newer way of setting up WD on the truck, you can try the WD bars you have. If you come to find you cannot shift/return enough weight to the front axle of the truck, then you can buy new 1,200# WD bars to fit the head you have. You do not need to change the whole hitch, just the WD bars. The new Reese 66009 WD bar with the cam bent into the arm, costs about $108 plus tax per bar (amazon). Covid has raised these costs, they were not that high pre covid. You can also look on Craig's list as people do sell them often when they change campers a lot cheaper. If it comes to this, let's talk first as we have to check that your vintage hitch head can accept the larger size trunnion lugs of the 1,200# WD bar.

Here is what the newer 66009 looks like on Etrailer
https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...e/RP66009.html

You can see here the difference in size between the newer 800# WD bar and the 1,200# WD bar for the dual cam system.


1,200# on top, 800 on the bottom







With all that said... what else can I help you with now? Just ask.

John
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Prior Sunlines: 2004 T2499 - Fern Blue
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Old 07-02-2021, 08:05 AM   #69
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John, thanks for this. You are a wealth of knowledge. I truly appreciate your help. I’ll try the bars I have as you suggest and see how they perform. I’ll let you know.
Jim
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Old 07-02-2021, 06:18 PM   #70
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Hi Jim,

If you need help or pointers on setting up the WD hitch or the Dual Cam, just let us know.

I found the instructions for your vintage DC here. Download a copy before even this link does not work. It does not tell all the nitty gritty of the entire hitch setup, but it is what Reese was handing out in year 2000. https://www.towingproducts.net/appli...ons/n26001.pdf
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Old 07-02-2021, 07:11 PM   #71
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This is great. Thanks again John
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Old 07-03-2021, 11:04 AM   #72
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Hi Jim,

My foggy memory remembers when you were setting up your prior Sunline with your Suburban. It was June of 2017... Boy, where does time go! The second page towards the end showed how to setup the ball height etc before hitching up. In your case, figure truck squat at 1" to 1 1/2" with a 2500HD and a loaded T2499. (tow ball on truck to be 1" to 1 1/2" higher unhitched then a level camper ball coupler height up. ) Like this


I'm not exactly sure what WD hitch you ended up with, but parts of it may applied to your T2499 and the 2500HD if needed. Hitch shank, hitch head.

See this post from back then as a refresher. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...661-17671.html

Two tips not mentioned in the Reese DC instructions,

1. When setting up the WD hitch, when using the DC, (camper and truck fully loaded to go camping) make sure you set up the hitch to have 5 chain links under tension as minimum. You can have more, but in your case with the lighter WD bars, you may not be able to use any more then 5. Under tension means, counting chain links from the snap up bracket to the DC saddle yoke, the links under tension. These 5 links minimum create clearance for the WD bar against the DC arm in a turn to not create a bind. In your case, I would start at 5 links under tension and then keep tilting the hitch head back as needed until you get enough weight transfer to the truck front axle.

2. After you set up the WD on the truck, then you do the final setting of the DC. You need to track the truck straight in a line for about 100 ft to get camper and truck exactly in towing a straight line. (The instructions do show this). Then get out, look at the fit of the left and right WD bar how it fits into the notch of the cam. The cam lobe should be centered in the notch of the WD bar. If they are not a perfect fit, jack up the camper, loosen the U bolts on the DC, and tweak the DC bracket location along the frame to create this perfectly centered relationship. Retract the truck and check again when done to make sure it is right on the money.

Once all tweaked in perfect, mark the WD bar, Left and Right and always install them on the same side as you tweaked the DC in perfect. The WD bars and the hitch head are not machined perfectly and the lengths of the WD bar are slightly different. If you do not mark the WD bars which side you tweaked the settings in, the cam and the WD bar will never be perfect as the lengths are different. And when using the DC, if the cams are not set right, the trailer can at times fight it left to right trying to lock in the detent that can't happen cause the bars are on the wrong side from tweaking it in. Reese does not tell you to mark the bars, but experience using the hitch shows it matters.

Hope this helps and let us know how it goes.

John
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Prior Sunlines: 2004 T2499 - Fern Blue
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Old 08-01-2021, 07:56 PM   #73
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John,
I just want to thank you and the others for the great advice. I dialed in the WD setup and it tows amazing. I drove up through the Adirondack Mountains with a loaded truck and trailer. My 2500HD Denali towed it like nothing. I was amazed how easy it was to tow. The 6.0 gasser felt it on the hills but didn’t lose speed. I since then added nice towing mirrors so my rig is complete. ����������
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Old 08-02-2021, 08:38 PM   #74
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Hi Jim,

Your Welcome. It was a collaborative effort.

Thanks for reporting back. You matched that camper to the right truck. Now go have more fun with your new rig.

John
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