Propride hitch thump

[SandSRay]

Just wishing to follow up on this. I just ordered a ProPride. Did adding the chain eliminate the issue? I have also read that greasing the stinger and the stinger receiver has helped the bump as well.

BTW, just found this post:
https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...e-3P-discovery

[sande005]

Just wishing to follow up on this. I just ordered a ProPride. Did adding the chain eliminate the issue? I have also read that greasing the stinger and the stinger receiver has helped the bump as well.

BTW, just found this post:
https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...e-3P-discovery

From my prior reply, in my case, it did resolve the issue.
Greasing the stinger and stinger receiver would do nothing for the "bump", since if you have hitched up correctly, they are very firmly locked together. But, in my case, my dealer and my storage yard don't have a good alternative to hitching up to the trailer for moving around their facilities, unless I pull the pin on the truck receiver, and leave the stinger in the ProPride socket Then they can use their receivers to hitch up to the stinger. But, if left for a fair amount of time (like over the winter), the stinger can get stuck in it's socket. I find it much easier to mount the stinger back onto my truck first, then hitch up according to instructions. But if it is stuck, then it is a nightmare trying to get the stinger end back into my truck receiver. There was two times where I had to hook a tow strap to the stinger, to "pop" it loose from its socket. So, a bit of grease on each helps each part separate after long term storage. No problems separating them since, I can do it by hand, now.
It's been three seasons now, and no bearing issues at all with the PP.

[Dale G]

Just wishing to follow up on this. I just ordered a ProPride. Did adding the chain eliminate the issue? I have also read that greasing the stinger and the stinger receiver has helped the bump as well.

BTW, just found this post:
https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...e-3P-discovery

We haven't been out since I added the longer chain. We were supposed to go to Texas this weekend but bad weather and a sore back made me decide to stay home. We have another trip planned for the first week of November so I will let you know if it stopped the bump. I really hope it does.
Dale

[Dale G]

Just wishing to follow up on this. I just ordered a ProPride. Did adding the chain eliminate the issue? I have also read that greasing the stinger and the stinger receiver has helped the bump as well.

BTW, just found this post:
https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...e-3P-discovery

I just had to take the camper down to the dealer to get some work done and I did not get any thumps out of it. It wasn't a long drive but it was through town so it should have acted up if it was going too. So maybe the longer chain worked. We will find out the first week of November because we are going to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. I will let you know when we get back.
Dale

[Dale G]

Well the bump is still there and the longer chains did not help. We were driving in the hills down by the Smoky Mountains and I even got it going down hill when a big rig blew by me. Really caught me off guard and it actually did it twice that trip going down hill at 65 mph. It also did it at slow speeds while maneuvering. I think the slow speed bump is because the Ford brake controller releases the trailer brakes right before you come to a complete stop allowing the trailer to push and rotate the hitch pivot forward. Then when you start back up the slack comes out with a thump. As far as the bump while driving I would imagine it is from going down a steep grade and basically the same thing happens because of using the engine and down shifting to manage speed. I might need to manually touch the trailer brakes to keep the trailer from riding up on the truck. I just know I didn’t like it at highway speeds.

Any other suggestions would be great.

Dale

[bigb56]

Well the bump is still there and the longer chains did not help. We were driving in the hills down by the Smoky Mountains and I even got it going down hill when a big rig blew by me. Really caught me off guard and it actually did it twice that trip going down hill at 65 mph. It also did it at slow speeds while maneuvering. I think the slow speed bump is because the Ford brake controller releases the trailer brakes right before you come to a complete stop allowing the trailer to push and rotate the hitch pivot forward. Then when you start back up the slack comes out with a thump. As far as the bump while driving I would imagine it is from going down a steep grade and basically the same thing happens because of using the engine and down shifting to manage speed. I might need to manually touch the trailer brakes to keep the trailer from riding up on the truck. I just know I didn’t like it at highway speeds.

Any other suggestions would be great.

Dale

I think you figured it out, I was thinking the same thing after post #4 . I don't have a ton of towing experience, and I don't own a PPP (yet) but one thing I have learned with any hookup is that you are in better control when the hookup is in tension rather than in compression. Once the hookup is in compression, the trailer is pushing the TV and trying to pass and with some hookups this can result in sway and loss of control. I know a lot of people use compression braking with no issues but I have to believe it is because the TV or the hitch setup is substantial enough to resist the pushing of the trailer into a sway or loss of control situation.

Everything I have heard about the Hensley Bump points to braking, and everything I have heard also suggests that, while it is annoying, it is also harmless.

[Dale G]

I think you figured it out, I was thinking the same thing after post #4 . I don't have a ton of towing experience, and I don't own a PPP (yet) but one thing I have learned with any hookup is that you are in better control when the hookup is in tension rather than in compression. Once the hookup is in compression, the trailer is pushing the TV and trying to pass and with some hookups this can result in sway and loss of control. I know a lot of people use compression braking with no issues but I have to believe it is because the TV or the hitch setup is substantial enough to resist the pushing of the trailer into a sway or loss of control situation.

Everything I have heard about the Hensley Bump points to braking, and everything I have heard also suggests that, while it is annoying, it is also harmless.

I really think it is the Ford controller causing the problems. On the trip home I did not have any issues either at speed or at slow maneuver. I changed the way I was doing braking. At slow speeds I tried to slow down earlier so when the trailer brakes released at slow speeds I was not having to brake so hard with the truck. Of course this only works if you aren't surprised by a red light or some idiot pulling out in front of you. For going down hill at speeds when the truck was using engine and transmission to maintain speeds I would every now and then reach over and lightly apply the trailer brakes just until I felt a slight tug on the truck from the trailer. This seemed to help keep the slack out of the system and even with a 15MPH crosswind I never had an issue when trucks went by.

So I think all of my troubles are coming from the design of the Ford brake controller at slow speeds and engine braking when going down hills.

Dale

[sande005]

I really think it is the Ford controller causing the problems. On the trip home I did not have any issues either at speed or at slow maneuver. I changed the way I was doing braking. At slow speeds I tried to slow down earlier so when the trailer brakes released at slow speeds I was not having to brake so hard with the truck. Of course this only works if you aren't surprised by a red light or some idiot pulling out in front of you. For going down hill at speeds when the truck was using engine and transmission to maintain speeds I would every now and then reach over and lightly apply the trailer brakes just until I felt a slight tug on the truck from the trailer. This seemed to help keep the slack out of the system and even with a 15MPH crosswind I never had an issue when trucks went by.

So I think all of my troubles are coming from the design of the Ford brake controller at slow speeds and engine braking when going down hills.

Dale

It's very hard to find detailed information on the Ford controller. I know my Ford dealer has been absolutely clueless on it. With mine, even on a "10", the classic test for trailer brakes does not lock up the trailer wheels. Yes, they have looked at it, and my GD dealer has gone over the trailer brakes (as well as my previous Jayco dealer back when I had a fifth) with no issues found. But, I can feel it being the first to strongly slow everything when braking at that setting, and after tens of thousands of miles with it, I have no concerns about its overall ability to supply braking. I have found references that the controller is moderated by speed, so a "10" (or whatever) is not always the same if at higher/lower speeds. Probably Ford's engineers trying to make trailering safer by reducing chances of unintended rear end excursions in braking situations. It would be great if someone finds technical information about how it works, and how to evaluate it! I have never had the issue Dale G. reports with my very similar setup.

[goducks14]

Years ago I had an HA and towed an SOB TT with it using two different trucks. 1st truck was a 2010 F150 OEM brake controller. Zero bump.
2nd truck was a 2012 Ram 2500 Cummins. Had bumps often. The reason I had bumps was from using the exhaust brake and then applying the trucks brakes. It would set up that spot where the HA was sorta floating between being drag vs catching up to the truck.
An example would be exiting a freeway and lifting off the gas pedal and having the EB do the slowing down. As I got closer to the intersection I would need to apply the brakes to stop. Thats when the bump would happen. Same scenario in slower curves. I was also using a P# with the truck as the OEM TBC was terrible. Love the hitch, hated the bump.
Once in a while it would spook me a bit.

[Dale G]

It's very hard to find detailed information on the Ford controller. I know my Ford dealer has been absolutely clueless on it. With mine, even on a "10", the classic test for trailer brakes does not lock up the trailer wheels. Yes, they have looked at it, and my GD dealer has gone over the trailer brakes (as well as my previous Jayco dealer back when I had a fifth) with no issues found. But, I can feel it being the first to strongly slow everything when braking at that setting, and after tens of thousands of miles with it, I have no concerns about its overall ability to supply braking. I have found references that the controller is moderated by speed, so a "10" (or whatever) is not always the same if at higher/lower speeds. Probably Ford's engineers trying to make trailering safer by reducing chances of unintended rear end excursions in braking situations. It would be great if someone finds technical information about how it works, and how to evaluate it! I have never had the issue Dale G. reports with my very similar setup.

Mine is the same way, a setting of 10 will not lock the brakes up. I was told that with the stock Ford controller it will never lock up the trailer brakes, because that is dangerous. But a setting of 10 is a lot more aggressive than a lower setting. I find running with it set at 10 is almost too much because when you apply the brakes you can really feel it pull hard on the truck and it is instantly. A setting of 9 is more civil but still brakes the trailer more than the truck. But no matter which setting you use you can feel the trailer brakes release around 10MPH as you are slowing down. Someone commented before the stock controller is set up that way to make slow speed maneuvering and backing easier. It is only an issue when I stop at an angle then take back off, that is when I get the bump. If I stop straight ahead I don't get it. I need to take it out to a big parking lot and do some off angle stops using just the manual trailer brake controller and not the truck brakes and see if it does the bump, I am thinking it won't.

Dale