Bumpy Ride?

29000 lb load legal tandem placement but bumpy ride in general do you get a smoother ride with a light load if you have the drives or the trailer tandems a little heavier? Any tips?

What kind of truck, because some just aren't as smooth. In our Freightliner daycabs regardless of load weight it's a bumpy ride unless your 5th wheel is sitting all the way back. In our volvos 5th wheel placement doesn't seem to have much effect. Ideally you want your drives and tandems balanced as much as possible, with more on drives if necessary. I've noticed if I have more weight on my tandems the ride isn't as smooth. If this is an ongoing problem with various loads and trailers there may be an issue with your trucks suspension.

Thanks so much for your reply. It's a 2022 International and it rides pretty smooth with heavy loads but never with lighter loads

I've got the fifth wheel in about the middle position

Too many variables to really answer this.

Load placement within the trailer, the product, the roads, tire pressures, etc.

Balance your weight. Scale to be legal and secondarily to achieve weight balance.

Although there definitely are many more variables as Packy suggested, I’ll bet you have substantially more weight on your tandems than on your drives.

Think of this, more weight on the tandems than the drives, will make the kingpin/front of the trailer kinda ride slightly up higher, causing the bounce effect.....Because there's not enough weight load on the tractor. (if any this makes sense to ya) Why it's good to get the balance of drives/tandems, as close to equal as ya possibly can....