So I scored a super cool truck bed trailer for $200... It is an 82 model according to the registration. So I am not sure if it is from an F150 or not but I am beginning to think so. This is based on the fact that the suspension seems to be super soft. Unloaded it is super wallowey (if that is a word) and if you add any significant weight it it starts getting the wobbles at about 45.
So my question for the experts is how to firm up the ride and increase the capacity of the trailer. I am trying to make is safe to carry firewood, hay, and topsoil. You know, all the stuff you usually carry in a Truck bed....
Am I looking at shock replacement? Axle? Leaf springs?
I can't afford to go crazy with this but would love to add some functionality. What say you Ford Experts?
I attached a couple pics, there are no numbers on the axle, the toolbox and spare I added and the rack I had from my grandfather.

 

 

It came in handy for my bachelor party. My camper shell with an 18 ft canoe on top and two bikes on the toolbox. The redneck trailer was the hit of the party. mostly because of the car battery in the toolbox connected to a power inverter.

 

F150 and someone took most of the leafs out of the spring packs the way it looks.. If they overloaded it after that, it may have cracked the smaller leafs (which are the ones that gave it all its strength...

You could also by helper springs, but I think I would just get a couple of junkyard F150 springs..

 

So just any f150 leaf springs would work or am I looking for certain years/models?

 

It looks just like the 1981 I just sold.. That series of truck went from 1980 to I think 1993, but I don't know for sure...

 

The other part of the issue is the jeep sits lower than the trailer.


Turn the ball over in your receiver and see if you can make the trailer level. That will help as well.

 

Yeah, that may help a bit with the jeep pulling it but it is mostly being pulled by either an 83 F150 or an Expedition. It is horrible regardless.

 

Those look like F100 springs. My dad had a '79 F100 and it had about 1100 pounds of capacity. With a couple of people in it, it would sag with a heavy bag of groceries.

 

And on a side note, I'd shorten up that tongue on that trailer hitch. I think part of your wandering problem is that setup looks almost impossible to get the proper tongue weight ratio on your hitch. Your load is too far back. I bet that tail wags the dog something fierce when you get some real weight in that bed.

 

I mounted one of my old utility boxes on a PU frame and it never was very stable and it was on a 3/4 ton frame. That also looks like a short box so it will be harder to get enough weight in front of axle to stop it from swaying.

Denny

 

Too much weight aft of the axle will make it wag the dog.

 

Because it is a SB, there are more basic unsafe design issues than I can even begin to list here but....
1), load weight distribution is terrible based upon the wheel position & frame
2) Too tall of ride height for a trailer
3) tongue position is incorrect for the vehicle
4) springs are of an inadequate design/spec for the trailer, weight, capacity & use

basically, it is a backyard, jerry-rigged trailer that if inspected by a traffic officer would be deemed "unsafe for the road"...imho.

 

Wallowy and soft are terms I'd use for every pickup box trailer I ever built, owned or pulled. They are junk no matter how you cut it and for towing with that little Jeep, way too much trailer. Get yourself a nice low little factory made single and get ride of that pos to some goat farmer.

 

I fail to see how shortening the tongue would help add more tongue weight or make the trailer more stable. Probably just the opposite.