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Old 03-13-2013, 05:59 PM   #1
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Ok, here is my dilemma and I hope some of you can help me out. My wife just bought our very first TT, it is a 2013 Zinger ZT 270 RL. I only saw it for the first time yesterday when I went and picked it up at Camping World and I must admit, it is a very nice TT. I have been spending the last few HOURS reading the post here, researching online and typically going crazy and blind trying to figure out what to do, how to do it or just throw my hands up in the air and give up. I would pull my hair out, but I already did that a few years ago .

Anyway, SHE has a 2010 Chevy Avalanche and it has a Reese WD hitch on it with sway bars and we also have the Electronic Brake on it as well. Yesterday when I went and picked it up, I had to tow it home which was about an hour away. When I was running anywhere from 35-45 mph, it towed fine, but once I got on the Interstate, the TT wanted to dance all over the road. We also have a 27' JAYCO Eagle that I have pulled with this truck and same hitch and it pulled fantastic behind the Chevy, but the Zinger was like trying to Dance With The Stars!! Any recommendations on what may be the problem? I placed the chains from the sway bars in the same link as the Jayco, the 5th link down.

Also, I have seen recommendations for certain TV Wall Mounts, looked at some of the links for them on this Forum and am even more confused than before I started. She wants to put a 32" TV in the living area and mount it to the wall, but my questions are ... will the studs hold a 32" TV? She also wants to put a 19" TV in the bedroom, same questions as above... and if so, I would like to find one that I can dismount the TV's for traveling.

What kind, if any maintenance, preparation should I do to the TT before we hit the highway? As I stated before, we have a JAYCO also, but it got broke into and trashed, but we only used it very few times as she wants something that we can evacuate and stay in IF we get hit with another hurricane (such as Katrina did us), so I guess you can say we are newbies to camping.

As I work on the Mississippi River, when we went on vacation, we always stayed in hotels, but now, we want to start traveling and camping on my days off the boat. It is mind boggling what I have to learn about TT's. I can shove 3 football fields full of barges up and down the river, but this is blowing me away .... someone .. anyone ... everyone PLEASE help me out.

Also, what size generator should I get to power the TT when we have no electricity, like we did after Katrina. I know that I will have many more questions, so please be kind with replies .

Thanks
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Old 03-14-2013, 01:07 AM   #2
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Well first, Congrats on the new unit and welcome to the forum.

Not sure whats going on with your tow set up, Was the truck and trailer level? Did you check the tires on the trailer to see if any were bad or needed air. It could be an axle problem. If you check everything and can't figure it out I would contact the dealer to see if they have any suggestions and have them check the axles. You will get a lot better responses on here then what I'm able to offer, but that's what I would do.

For the generator, I have a Honda 3000 watt and love it. It will run my fifth wheel just fine. It will run about 15 hours on 3.5 gallons of fuel. They are a little pricey, but well worth the money.

Good luck with everything
Safe Travels and Happy Camping


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Old 03-14-2013, 01:12 AM   #3
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Welcome and congratulations on the new Zinger (sorry to hear about your old Jayco). There are a few things that could be at play here. Is the TT swaying side to side inincereasingspeed and size of sway? Is it wiggling side to side and pushing the TV around? Or is it porposing up and down?



This sounds like a case of the WDH is not set up right. Also are you running P rated tires on the truck or LT tires on the avalanche? P rated tires are softer and will give you a more squirrelly kind of ride, the LT tires will firm up that ride some. Another possibility is the loading of the trailer. I have learned that my Zinger rides better with a heavier tongue weight so I load most things in front of my axles.



The weight of this TT is likely different than the tongue weight of your old TT. I would not be surprised if the zinger is a much heavier trailer than your old one. What are the capacities of your current avalanche? This trailer is 6500 lbs dry which is probably closer to 6800 or more leaving dealer and close to its gvwr of 7800 loaded. The tongue weight will be approximately 13-15% of that loaded weight so you are looking at around 1000 lbs of tongue weight. If that is the case, your avalanche may well be overloaded. Also what WDH are you running is it the dual cam, strait line, or is it WDH only (no integrated sway control)? What size barsare you running? Dialing in the hitch will help but not cure the problem if overloaded is the case. I would take a trip to the scales (with TV/TT loaded ready tocamp w/ all passengers, gear and pets that you plan to take camping plus full tank of fuel)and weigh the TV front axle on the first platform and rear axle on the second platform. Then hook the TT up and have TV in same set up as first weigh and put both TT axles on the 3rd platform. This will show you your weights. You want the front axle as close to unloaded weight as possible without going heavier when WDH is set up. But also take your loaded numbers and see if you are over the trucks GVWR and/or GCWR. I am betting you will be over on payload. Start with the WDH as that is the easiest and cheapest fix.



This is a link to a thread on another forum that talks about how to properly set up a WDH.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/17730894.cfm



Good luck and let us know how it goes.

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Old 03-14-2013, 01:23 AM   #4
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first of all congrats on new trailer now about your problem I think I would take it back to dealer and have them help you to check everything out if you pulled your other trailer and did not have problems there is something wrong with the hitch set up with new trailer I pull trailer from the factory's in In. and when we get to the dealer to deliever we tell the dealer if we have had any problems pulling and they usally fix it before you would take delievery of you camper but take it back and have them check it out Jim&Carol
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Old 03-14-2013, 01:39 AM   #5
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Unless you have the 2500 Avalanche that is a lot of trailer. In my opinion too much for a 1500 Avalanche which have very low payload ratings.
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Old 03-14-2013, 02:37 AM   #6
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I would look at the tongue weight first. As mentioned you must have 13-15% of the rigs weight on the tongue. Your dealer should set the WDH up for you and ensure everything is safe to drive. It sounds like (happens often) the selling dealer did not look at the tow vehicle and analyze all the weight limits to ensure a safe tow.

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Old 03-14-2013, 05:05 AM   #7
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Ditto;
Tongue wieght!!
New from dealer, TTmay beDry & Empty. You'll see a lot of wieght as you move all your stuff to new TT. Have new trailer as you would like to travel: full LP tanks, near empty Black & Gray Tanks, Fresh water as you like (lots of us carry just enought fresh water to get there, not full Fresh water @ 8#s per gallon), on & on. Then "set" your hitch; lots of sites will tell you how . . . Ask if you want Reese method before they got bought-out. Avalanche doesn't have as short of wheel base as original SUVs, shorter the tows wheel base the more sinsitive to traler movement
Next,go to a certified scale & get your wieghts (each axel, TT side to side, sub-totals, & GCVW. Adjust your bars & move stuff as needed. Enjoy RVing. River will look totally different from highways.
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Old 03-14-2013, 08:28 AM   #8
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Check your trailer hitch weight and then make sure your torsion bar hitch is up to it, you may have to go to a heavier hitch to help with sway control or a different type. We ended up buying an original equalizer hitch and have no problems. There are others out there but this is what we decided on as our hitch weight is 1,000 lbs and not want to be using something we felt was under the desired capacity. Also some of the hitches out there are good but do not help a lot with sway control as much as they say they do. Just do some research on the net and look for something rated a little higher than what the numbers say is ok. Also you may not be set up right with your present hitch as I have seen a lot of people pulling units that sag because they don't have the bars torqued up enough. Reese also make a good hitch, don't let a few hundred bucks scare you as it could be the answer to an enjoyable trip or a nightmare. Good luck
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Old 03-14-2013, 03:08 PM   #9
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Welcome and congrats on the new TT. We have a Honda 3000 and love it. It works great with our Seville and they are less noisy thensome others
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Old 03-19-2013, 01:13 PM   #10
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I also have a Chevy Avalanche 1500 (2008 LTZ) for towing my 2007 26RL (5300# dry). I have a Cricket Golf Cart (325#) in the bed when towing. I have the Reese Dual Cam WDH with 1200# bars (on the 3rd chain loop). I also put Timbriens on the rear and adjusted my 20" tires to 40#. It seems to have plenty of power for the flat roads here in Florida. I tow at 65-70mph on the freeway and get a little rear end wiggle (from the coil springs). To get it any better, I'd probably need to get a Hensley hitch or such. I wonder if the rear leaf springs from the older 2500 models will mount to this Avalanche? Also, I'd recommend the factory auxiliary transmission cooler for your rig, which I installed.

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