A Frame Rack

[LACamper]

I recently purchased a 1998 Coleman Redwood. The previous owner mounted a rack meant to attach to a receiver hitch over the A frame to give him more storage space on the front of the trailer. The trailer seems to have a very bouncy ride, which of course affects my tow vehicle's ride. As he was pulling this trailer with a Ford F250 he never noticed. I'm using a 6 cylinder Toyota Highlander. Is the extra weight/balance shift of the rack causing this problem or this just the hazard of using a smaller tow vehicle?

[flyfisherman]

I recently purchased a 1998 Coleman Redwood. The previous owner mounted a rack meant to attach to a receiver hitch over the A frame to give him more storage space on the front of the trailer. The trailer seems to have a very bouncy ride, which of course affects my tow vehicle's ride. As he was pulling this trailer with a Ford F250 he never noticed. I'm using a 6 cylinder Toyota Highlander. Is the extra weight/balance shift of the rack causing this problem or this just the hazard of using a smaller tow vehicle?

I use to tow a '96 Coleman/Fleetwood "Yukon" that had a front storage compartment and loading that camper was very much a balancing act. Not enough weight on the tounge and it was sway city ... big time. Too much weight meant the TV boucies ... you could feel the excess weight traveling down the road. The last tow vehicle I used with that camper was an '00 GMC Sonoma which had a heavy duty suspension and could still feel that excess weight.

Just a question ... do you have a cargo rack (like for carrying a canoe) on the camper?  Might be moving that extra weight more toward the wheels might help that problem.


Fly

[wavery]

I recently purchased a 1998 Coleman Redwood. The previous owner mounted a rack meant to attach to a receiver hitch over the A frame to give him more storage space on the front of the trailer. The trailer seems to have a very bouncy ride, which of course affects my tow vehicle's ride. As he was pulling this trailer with a Ford F250 he never noticed. I'm using a 6 cylinder Toyota Highlander. Is the extra weight/balance shift of the rack causing this problem or this just the hazard of using a smaller tow vehicle?

The answer appears to be simple.

The F250 has about 10 times the tongue weight capacity (maybe a bit of exaggeration) of the Highlander. Therefore you should feel 10x the amount of impact on your suspension.

[LACamper]

No, there's not another rack. I think I'll take that front rack off. Having the extra storage up front is nice but I don't think I can balance the load. Thanks for the info!