I know this has been discussed but I still don't understand. Hence my "dumb blonde" user name.

I just purchased a 2013 super duty f350 extended crew cab DRW.

I also purchased a 42 foot (box is 36) Goose neck Bison LQ horse trailer. Trailer weight is 12048 and tongue weight is 4468. Fully loaded I am about 18,500.

Truck pulls and stops great but it is obvious the rear suspension is sagging.

Of course the sales reps on both sides (ford and bison) told me the combo was no problem but with the rear sag is obviously is.....dumb *** me.

Now what? Do I need air bags? Timbren? Spring Coils? I have called several installers and they all say something different.

Please help this dumb *** blonde!!

 

Hi DumbBlonde and welcome to FTE..

You're good to well over 22k on trailer weight, based on the factory rating, so no worries there.

I would get a set of air bags to level out the rear suspension. That way you can deflate them when not in use. You can even get a system that automatically levels the suspension. if you want.

 

You have some really exact numbers so I'm assuming they come off a weight ticket from a scale, that means your head is screwed on straight so far. Far from a ******* at least.

I'd say airbags, a set with an on-board compressor and a way to fill/deflate from inside the cab. It might cost a penny or two, but it'll allow to to adjust the air based on the load easier. It's a horse trailer with LQ, so it's heavy enough on its own to where you'd need to adjust for just adding the trailer, plus adjust again for adding stock.

 

Yep. Airbags with a wireless remote compressor. Can't be beat. I don't have near the pin weight you do, and only an F-250, but it sure helped mine. Leveled it out and smoothed it a bit on the concrete jungle of Houston (and elsewhere when pulling the 5th wheel).

 

My pin weight is normally around 4,300 lbs. I vote in a big way, and use, air bags. My only difference between most folks is I see no need to have to adjust stuff on the fly.

I decided I want my truck to ride level, always, so I installed set of bags with an auto-adjust. I set the ride height when I installed it, and I haven't adjusted it since. If I hook my trailer, it pumps back up to a level ride. If I unhook the trailer, the system dumps air till it's level again. It doesn't matter if I'm loading a trailer, passengers, or just fuel, the system takes care of itself.

The only time I "control" things is when I'm unhooking the trailer. I have an on/off switch hooked up so when I unhook I can shut things off. If I don't as soon as I start to take the load off the system will dump air to level itself, which leaves the truck hanging from the pin a bit.

I just turn it off, pull away, and turn it back on. Done.

 

So how much pin weight will a 5th wheel or goose neck hitch take before it starts to sag on a 3500 DRW LB F350 say my 2013 Model? Not wanting to do that. Just wondering as I have a 5th wheel coming with a hitch weight of 3260#

 

Based on my 450, and the fact that the superduties of today are not strictly the "work" trucks they were in the olden days and try to have some sort of ride quality, I'm going to say not a whole lot.

 

Hope this thread is still alive. 2010 F350 DW LB CC V-10 pulling a 37' 5er RV. F350 is 7800#, 5er is 12400#. Hooked the steer axle looses 100#, pin weight is 2460# and 5er dual axles are 9780#. Ride is not what I would like it to be..slapping and jerky at times. Thinking I should go with air bags to level out. Firestone system??? any other suggestions?
Thank you, Darrell

 

If your truck goes past level when loaded you will lose weight on the front axle. I use Air Lift air bags to get the truck back to level, if you get the back to high when hooked up you can cause slapping and jerking so you have to be careful how much you compensate for the weight.

Denny

 

Makes sense Denny. The back of F350 squats a little. Not aggressively and the steer is unchanged visually.
My 5er is a toyhauler but I no longer have toys to haul. I am thinking the manufacturer allowed for the toy weight by setting the trailer axles back farther than they would have been in a normal live in 5er. Therefore, I could air bag the drive axle suspension and transfer the nose weight of the trailer back some. Also it would put the weight back on the steer. Does that make sense?
Thanks, Darrell

 

I've pulled a few different RV 5th wheel trailers and they all seem act a little different depending on how the trailer is balanced, what kind of suspension they have and the location of the axles. I've only pulled our trailer with our new truck once, it was only a short test pull and I had a problem with it jerking that's something this trailer has never done before. I dumped some air out of the bags and I think it went away, I'll find out when we leave in July I'm thinking I can control it with the air bags.

Denny

 

My trailer is 2300 on the pin and it squats the 13 dually past level. Trailer was built to be able to haul a jeep on the back and camper on the front. I have yet to have the jeep on it, maybe never will as I think I'm going to sell the endless money pit. So I'm running roughly 33% on the pin, which isn't ideal, I'd be in the ideal range if the 6k Jeep was added to the back though, but it's also why I went DRW. The only issue I see is that 44xx on the pin is getting the truck real, real close to max gvwr. You really don't have any more options far as as pickup goes 350 and 450 are now both 14K gvwr, but I'd sure do bags on it. I can say that with mine at 2300, it did not change the front axle weight at all. I'm looking into bags for mine also.

 

I vote air bags and onboard compressor and tank.

Don't forget the aux fitting off the air tank so you can air up tires and things.

Everything 08 and up has weaker spring rates now. 11 and up are the worst.

 

I can't argue the rest of your post, as I've never towed a light-duty 5th wheel. But this part is untrue; there is absolutely no mechanism to transfer weight off the front axle by simply increasing lift support on the rear. It just can't happen. As a former commercial driver there are a variety of things we did to get our axle weights to where they needed to be, but rear ride height was not one of them.

 

What I was saying is when the truck goes down in the back you can transfer weight off the front but by raising the back end back up it can be transferred back to the front.

Denny