jerky traveling

[IMRJVM]

My wife and I just recently bought a pu and have made a few trips in it. Well a couple of weeks ago someone broke into the toolbox on my truck and took everything including the hitch and ball.
I went and bought a new hitch and ball from the dealer where we had it installed. Last friday we were heading out and we both noticed significant jerking especially on the side streets before we got on the highway. Once we were on the highway it got smoother but would start jerking every so often.
Rather than take a chance on tearing up the truck we came home.
The next morning I checked to make sure that the ball was the correct size for the trailer and it was. The hitch part that slides into the square tube sleeve seems to have a little play in it.
I can't tell if that would be the cause of the jerking or not.
Planning a long trip to campout at Caprock Canyon State Park for Thanksgiving and want to make sure that we can make it.
Also, I dont know if it will make a difference, but we have a 01 Ranger with a small six and a 04 Jayco 10x.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, I am putting the truck in for a checkup before we leave.

[brainpause]

My Class III hitch has some play in it, but not enough to cause a lot of noise or jerkiness.

My first questions are: Do you notice any sway? Do you have the front of the trailer loaded appropriately? Are your truck tires in good shape? Is your truck out of alignment?

Just some starter questions....Maybe someone here has experience with your truck/trailer combination.

Larry

[chasd60]

Does the camper have brakes? Electric or surge?

[PopupSgt]

Does the camper have brakes? Electric or surge?

That's exactly what I was thinking, I started to get a serious vibration when I owned by 14SO due to the surge braking system acting up coming home from the Eastern Rally.  I don't know what the vibration was from but I was towing the camper to the dealer due to I traded it in for the hybrid.

[springer02]

It could be as simple as how the PU is loaded. We notice more of a bounce in the hitch -- could be called a jerk -- especially on jointed concrete when we don't have enough weight forward on the hitch.

Remember that there's a range for tongue weight (10-15% of trailer weight, but see owners manual) and checking the tongue weight is a good thing to do as you're learning to pack.

Dave