Garypowell
Well-known member
Bought a new truck and it was time to put the Curt Q20 back in. Which really amounts to putting new rails in. First time to do this and it only took me 7 or so hours. Too much in and out and up and down for me to do it quickly. But done and I think fairly well.
Pulled to my mechanic this week to get bearings repacked and the new 3500 pulled like a dream. Not enough experience to know much about the exhaust brake but I think I am going to like that too. I do believe it kicked in a few time and stopped us sure and steady. But Florida roads in my area are fairly good......but no chucking or any undue noise other than what I am asking about below.
Even before pulling (and with my old 2500 and this curt too) I noticed there was always some "slop" in the fit of the hitch to the rails. Usually hear/feel this when starting and stopping. I decided to contact Curt and see what they had to say. Friendly person, who seemed knowledgeable, said they sold a kit to solve this problem but many just got a bike inner tube an cut it to around the tabs and adjusted the thickness by layers to make the hitch tight.
Bought the tube and cut out pieces to fit around the hitch tabs. You can see in the pictures they got cut. I noticed it was a lot smoother at first then more and more I could hear the clunk. Not as bad as before but still there. Once I had the trailer back in the storage yard I took the hitch out (store it in the basement) and I saw the cuts. The four shims I made were all cut.
Curious if anyone else has tackled this problem and what solutions you have come up with?
You can see that I cut my pieces to fit right over the tab that goes down through the rail. Maybe this aided in the cutting since there are edges there. Maybe I should have placed the rubber on other areas that are flat and where the hitch lays right on the rail.
Any suggestions to make this better.....and of course have my rubber last longer?
Thanks,
Pulled to my mechanic this week to get bearings repacked and the new 3500 pulled like a dream. Not enough experience to know much about the exhaust brake but I think I am going to like that too. I do believe it kicked in a few time and stopped us sure and steady. But Florida roads in my area are fairly good......but no chucking or any undue noise other than what I am asking about below.
Even before pulling (and with my old 2500 and this curt too) I noticed there was always some "slop" in the fit of the hitch to the rails. Usually hear/feel this when starting and stopping. I decided to contact Curt and see what they had to say. Friendly person, who seemed knowledgeable, said they sold a kit to solve this problem but many just got a bike inner tube an cut it to around the tabs and adjusted the thickness by layers to make the hitch tight.
Bought the tube and cut out pieces to fit around the hitch tabs. You can see in the pictures they got cut. I noticed it was a lot smoother at first then more and more I could hear the clunk. Not as bad as before but still there. Once I had the trailer back in the storage yard I took the hitch out (store it in the basement) and I saw the cuts. The four shims I made were all cut.
Curious if anyone else has tackled this problem and what solutions you have come up with?
You can see that I cut my pieces to fit right over the tab that goes down through the rail. Maybe this aided in the cutting since there are edges there. Maybe I should have placed the rubber on other areas that are flat and where the hitch lays right on the rail.
Any suggestions to make this better.....and of course have my rubber last longer?
Thanks,