Cadillac 1975 Owner's Manual page 20

Check Automobile and Trailer Compo¬
nents Regularly—Trailer towing places extra
stress on a car's mechanical components. The
steering, transmission, tires, brakes, engine
and cooling system and the electrical system
should be in top operating condition before
embarking on a trip. Here are some sugges¬
tions that can save you time, trouble and ex¬
pense:
1. Check the hitch ball for wear. Keep it
lubricated with a light coat of chassis
grease. Inspect electrical connections
for proper contact. Check condition of
safety chains.
2. Inspect tires and maintain recom¬
mended pressures.
3. Check brake systems often. Make a few
test stops before taking to the open road.
Make certain both trailer and car brakes
are operating properly.
4. Check brake lights, turn indicators, and
running lights frequently.
5. Check all systems having a specified
fluid capacity regularly for proper level.
6. Check that your car is not overdue for
important services such as oil change,
engine tune-up, wheel alignment, and
wheel balancing.
7. Check cooling system to see that it is
clean and rust-free.
HITCHES
To assist in attaining good handling of the
car-trailer combination, it is important that
trailer tongue load be maintained at approxi¬
mately 10% of the loaded trailer weight. Ton¬
gue load can be adjusted by proper distribu¬
tion of the load in the trailer and can be
checked by weighing separately the loaded
trailer and then the tongue.
Adjusting Load Distributing Hitch If Your
Cadillac Is Equipped With Automatic Level
Control
IMPORTANT: Vehicle must have full gas
tank, spare tire in place, but no passengers or
luggage.
1. Exhaust all air from system as follows:
Exhaust compressor tank using service
valve. Exhaust shock absorbers by jack¬
ing rear of car above normal height.
Hold until no further air is exhausted ...
about 2 minutes.
2. Install frame-mounted hitch and set ball
height as specified by trailer manufac¬
turer with ail air exhausted as in Step 1
above.
3. Hook up trailer and adjust tension on
load distributing bars per hitch
manufacturer's specifications with all air
exhausted as in Step 1. Note this adjust¬
ment.
4. Compressor will recharge the leveling
system within 15 to 20 minutes of nor¬
mal driving.
5. On all future trailer hook-up>s. simply
attach trailer with the load distributing
bars set to the previously determined ad¬
justment.
6. The procedure described above applies
to all types of frame-mounted load dis¬
tributing hitches.
BRAKES
If a trailer brake is to be used with your
Cadillac make sure you follow the recom¬
mendations of the trailer brake manufacturer
for installation of the compronents required for
trailer brake actuation and balance. Refer to
the preceding cautions (three and four) regard¬
ing car and trailer brakes.
All hydraulic compronents must be capable
of withstanding 3000 psi. The hydraulic con-