Before you panic to much, I pulled a 29 ft (sprinter) with a 150 Avalanche, the weights were on the margin. I did several things to the truck first added airbags to the rear...second weight distribution hitch with sway control...banks air system. On the trailer I rarely towed with it loaded, most of the weight went into the truck, and mostly empty H20 tanks (8.34 lbs per gallon) bought groceries as we approached our destination.
Most of all enjoyed this unit for several years while the family grew up..and flew the coop.
Do not be despaired there are ways to make things work.
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Bill M
2012 Georgetown XL 360
2011 Chevy Equinox - 2006 Chevy Avalanche
Does anybody have helper springs on there trucks? I have been told that a good set works pretty good.
I am on team air bag...helper springs cannot be adjusted or taken out when not in use. The springs will make your ride harsh empty, where the airbags can be adjusted by adding or removing air to make a safe comfortable ride.
Because you have turbos, the thin air in the mountains will be mostly offset by your boost. That will minimize power loss, the person who needs to be comfortable with their tow setup is YOU and only you. As long as your reasonable and not putting people in danger, your the one who needs to handle the setup. Get on some scales, get some real weights, front and read of the truck with and without the trailer and some trailer weights, run your tires properly inflated and drive around to get a feel for it. If your white knuckled and sweaty when your thru, something is wrong!
As far as steering being off, many times the cause of this is a change in the ride height. When the rear of your truck squats 1.5 inches, howmuch does the front rise? your steering geometry changes when the height does.
Does the WDH change the amount the truck squats? If you get to a scale ona quiet day you can adjust the WDH bars with actual numbers. If you weigh the trucks front axle without the trailer, then with the trailer, you will see that the front looses weight when hitched. Now add your WDH and the weight should rise again, you are transfering some weight back to the front wheels. With our original setup 10 years ago I had the front weighing 75lbs more with the trailer because of the WDH and it towed and handled like a dream! We have a small private moving company nearby who let me play on the scale for an hr, take all the readings I wanted and charged me 25 bucks.
Happy motoring
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2007 Cardinal 362bhle 5er
2006 f350 Diesel CC LB 4x4 4.10 locker lariat
1966 Mustang coupe...under construction
2004 Explorer 4.6 awd (16 year old daughters car)
2009 Mazda 6 (wife's ride)
You may not be in as bad shape as we are making it out to be. Only a scale weigh (yep 3 tickets as discussed) will give you that peace of mind.
Just letting you know what to look out for.
In aviation, most kills are "unobserved." The dead guy was just sitting there "fat, dumb, and happy" when the sidewinder went up his tailpipe. We just don't want to see you on the side of the road going, "I wish someone had told me."
GO SLOW till you get a feel for what you are working with. That means if the speed limit is 70, do 55 till you are sure the rig is stable in those conditions. My personal max is 65 since my tires hit their max rotation speed there anyway (we cruise at 60 so doing the "When are we getting there" math is easy - a mile a minute to the rest stop).
Did I mention the weigh scales?
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Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
Come on guys. He is definataly not the first to be over the gvw. Look around any campground and I bet 25 to 30% of rigs are towing over their gvwr. Even the guy with a pop up is over with his midsize suv with a 6 cylinder. The fact is we take too much crap with us. I tow a Sierra 355QBQ 5er with a GMC 3/4 CC SB Duramax. The dry weight on the trailer is 12k. Loaded I feel it's close to 15k. My gvwr is 12,500. I too was told by my dealer that my truck would have no problem towing the 5er. For the most part they were right. It really tows well. While the chassis is maxed the engine has plenty of power. My mechanic even said that most vehicles are under rated for warranty purpases But after seeing plenty of the same tv with similar trailers. I was given good advice that I will pass on.
#1: Don't push it! Take it easy and put distance between you and anything else.
#2: Air bags! They help any tow rig and add steering control.
#3: Buy the best brake controller you can get. I know yours has the integrated one, and that's great.
I did all these mods and I feel confident with my tv.
i can't suggest anyway to get around the length of ur truck. if it turns out u r underpowered, a cheap alternative may be to change out the gears. sense u have a 4 wheel drive, i don't know what that would involve. a 2 wheel is a simple change out of the gears in the rear end. they also sell gear splitters (camping world has them) if u want to leave everything intact (may want the lower ratio for not towing). either of these would take some of the load off the engine and transmission.
If I read the tire right the load limit is 111, witch is 2500lb. They are the factory 20s. The WDH was put on at Camping World. It was windy has heck when I picked it up, I didnt notice any sway, and I was paying attention for sure. I didnt mesr the front but I am going out in a few to hookup and the do the mesrments. The truck pulled very well in respect to the power. I put it in tow haul and went. Today there is no real wind so Im going to use some gas and drive around to see if the steering is off or hopefully it was the wind. Wish me luck. I can say that this sight is great. I have allways heard campers were good people.
Ok went to camping world had then adjust the WDH ball raised it 2 inches. Front end sits about 1 inch higher with 100g water 35g gas. I still have quite a bit of adjustability in the WDH. My tires are Scorpin ATR P275/55/R20 111 S M&S.
Ok went to camping world had then adjust the WDH ball raised it 2 inches. Front end sits about 1 inch higher with 100g water 35g gas. I still have quite a bit of adjustability in the WDH. My tires are Scorpin ATR P275/55/R20 111 S M&S.
You are not going to like what you are about to hear about towing with P tires on your tow vehicle.
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Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
Ok went to camping world had then adjust the WDH ball raised it 2 inches. Front end sits about 1 inch higher with 100g water 35g gas. I still have quite a bit of adjustability in the WDH. My tires are Scorpin ATR P275/55/R20 111 S M&S.
Hi Tanker,
The reason I asked about the hitch is that you mentioned raising the ball and effecting your front end. I'm not sure that is what is needed. These two documents below might help to make sure that any adjustments you do are proper.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sfctanker
qeualizer 4 point
Basically your hitch, Equal-i-zer, wants to see a rise halfway between the first two measurements of the front wheel well I mentioned earlier. See (P.18) of the manual.
Ford agrees. With 2011 and newer Ford F-150s, the WDH should also be adjusted to eliminate 50% of the front end rise (halfway between the measurement from the unhitched height and the height hitched but without spring bars). That's on P. 269 of the manual.
So, you might want to check if the adjustment made by CW helps you to achieve this. You might still need to adjust the tilt of the ball to increase or decrease the distribution to the front end as needed.
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Scott
DW, 3 Kids and our Goldens
2012 Shamrock 233S
2008 Toyota Sequoia 5.7L 4WD
Guys thanks for all the info. Dang Ford why would they put a Passanger tire on a truck that can tow 8000lbs?? I guess that most people will never really tow with a truck like mine. The tires do say they can take 2409lbs when inflated to full psi of 44. I think Ill be changeing tires sooner than I planned. AAAHHHH. I need to get out and camp.
I didnt mesr the front but I am going out in a few to hookup and the do the mesrments. The truck pulled very well in respect to the power. I put it in tow haul and went. Today there is no real wind so Im going to use some gas and drive around to see if the steering is off or hopefully it was the wind. Wish me luck. I can say that this sight is great. I have allways heard campers were good people.
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