Airbags on F150 Supercrew w/3.5 ecoboost

[Steve DCW]

Hello everyone:
We recently shifted back from a Forest River 255 RDS to a travel trailer - a Flagstaff 30WRLIKS.
We have a Husky 1200# WDS with integrated sway control, and our tow vehicle is a 2016 F150 Supercrew with the 3.5 twin turbo ecoboost engine and the tow package (11,600# tow capacity). The Ford also has electronic trailer sway control, which seems to be pretty effective. (On the way TO our first campground, I hadn't figured out the truck's sway control, on the way HOME, I had - we thought we noticed quite a difference.)The trailer dry weight is around 8600#, and tongue weight is around 900# with the trailer loaded.
My question is, would we benefit from installing airbags? What exactly do airbags do for us? Do they help further reduce trailer sway?
Thanks for any help.

[Seachaser186]

The F-150 sway control per say does not prevent sway when towing. It is a safety feature that kicks end once you've experienced a dangerous sway situation. Believe me you will know it when it happens.

[Steve DCW]

Thanks, Seachaser. Yeah, I wondered about that. The "improvement" was just in my imagination.
Still like to know what - if anything - airbags will do for me.

[lbrjet]

Airbags lift the rear end of the truck. You are probably just getting pushed around a bit since your trailer weighs so much more than your truck. The wind catches that giant sail and transfers forces to your truck. Sway is when the trailer is oscillating back and forth, not just a little movement now and then.


2010 F250 5.4L 3.73
2011 Flagstaff 831FKBSS
Equal-i-zer 4pt 12K

[Seachaser186]

I also have a '16 F-150 3.5 EB and they do need some help in the rear end with that much tongue weight. I went with the Supersprings but most people seem to prefer the air bags. Hope you have LT tires pulling that much TT.

[Dmaster79]

Definitely get some LT tires. That will help more than you realize. The wdh should take care of moving the weight to the front but I did put airbags on my F150 eco to help firm up a little more. I did notice the most improvement though with the LT tires.

[Baldicon]

As previously stated, change to LT tires first, made a big difference with our 2012EB.

[ddbck]

Tires, tires,tires....get a good set of Load Rang "E" -10 Ply tires. Big O - Big Foots are near the best you can get. Air bags will help but really don't need them with a weight distribution hitch.

[5picker]

Air bags will only help level the truck. I would think the difference in sway with or without air bags to be minimal... unless you are way out of level rear bumper to front bumper. But your WDH should be correcting this.

As mentioned, if you still have the stock P rated tires, get yourself some good LT tires.
Changing the tires seems to be the top mod for improving sway, at least on these forums.

[awellis3]

Originally Posted by Steve DCW

My question is, would we benefit from installing airbags? What exactly do airbags do for us? Do they help further reduce trailer sway?
Thanks for any help.

According to the folks at etrailer.com: "Air bags and similar products are best for carrying loads in a vehicle, not towing a trailer. When you use both at the same time, the air bags and weight distribution systems can work against each other and you will not get the full benefits of either system."

[D. J. Schuler]

The F150 EB max rated tow is one thing, what's the payload sticker? Have a 2011 F150 EB tow 11,200 and payload 2,393, had no wiggle with Equalizer hitch and Prime Time Tracer 30 footer. Moved up to a 5r, I'll never go back to a TT.

[Seachaser186]

Looking at your numbers you mention a dry weight of 8600 and a loaded tongue weight of 900, tells me you are towing rear heavy which will induce sway. I am also surprised the the 3/4 and 1 ton boys haven't chimed in yet telling you need a bigger truck.

[SailorSam20500]

Originally Posted by Steve DCW

The Ford also has electronic trailer sway control, which seems to be pretty effective. (On the way TO our first campground, I hadn't figured out the truck's sway control, on the way HOME, I had - we thought we noticed quite a difference.)The trailer dry weight is around 8600#, and tongue weight is around 900# with the trailer loaded.

FWIW, I've seen posts on various forums suggesting that, if you have a sway control hitch, you may want to disable the Ford anti-sway. To show the truck anti-sway in action, check out this U-Tube from the Fast Lane Truck guys. Pretty scary! But then again they set their trailer up with about 0 tongue weight for the test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrpowvtn0d8

[Seachaser186]

I wouldn't think progressive helper springs would interfere with the WDH. Some may argue whether they are needed with a properly adjusted WDH.

[Big1]

I have Firestone air bag on my 2500 but I do have a good WDH also, I haven't tow with my air bag in yet but I will put about 10 to 20 lbs of air in them only and I should get a little more stable and firmer ride out of them. Theirs some good info here so if you use these it should solve your problem.


BTW: I think that you have enough truck to tow that though.

[BusyRetirees]

We have a 2015 F150 Ecoboost and we added Super Springs to the rear. Big difference in towing and no difference when not towing. They are idiot proof, totally mechanical and require no maintenance. We had looked at airbags as we had them in our previous truck (RAM) but opted for the springs after talking with professionals. As to the sway, we had two bad experiences and the automatic sway brought our 5th wheel back into alignment right away. It is great, it does everything to reducing your speed and braking your truck and trailer at various points to eliminate the sway.

[dustman_stx]

As you can see, you'll get lot's of "theoretical" information here on the forums. Here's my real world experience. I had a 2013 F150 SCrew 4x4 145"WB Ecoboost pulling a similarly sized trailer. I installed LRD BFGoodrich T/A KO2 tires, Firestone RideRite airbags and Rancho RS9000XL shocks. It was rock solid when towing after these modifications were made. IIRC, I ran the tires at ~50PSI, 30 PSI in the airbags and shocks at 10(firmest setting) when towing. On second though, I may have actually run the rear tires closer to max, which is 65 I think, but it's been a while.

[jamesroadking]

I run Firestone airbags and a Reese weight distribution hitch with bars that have friction pads on the ends. My F250 pulls my unloaded weight of 10,K lbs. loaded about 12K lbs. Work and Play 30WRS easily.
I've pulled the trailer with and without the WDH. The airbags will level the truck just fine, and I can adjust the tongue height on the fly with the wireless controller, raising and lowering the tongue height I can eliminate the trailer swaying. With airbags alone there's too much weight on the rear tires and not enough on the front tires of the truck.
The airbags along with an electric hitch jack really help hooking and unhooking up the weight distribution bars.
My son has an 2015 ecoboost 3.5 and from my experience with his F150 and my F250 you should trade up to a F250 and I'd recommend a good weight distribution hitch system.

[Seachaser186]

Yep it took awhile but here's the 3/4 Ton guy saying you need a bigger truck.

[Steve DCW]

Thanks to everyone. Seems like the common denominator from all responses is tires, tires, tires.
Guess I'm going to be out some bucks!
We don't have those "Big O" tires/dealers in GA.
Any other recommendations?