From my experiences towing cattle, hay, or two RZR's you are going to need an Equalizer hitch for several reasons. One the rear bumper will drop about 4" and two the light aluminum bodied new generation sway all over the place. I had the Roadmaster Active Suspension on mine and with two rzr's on a 24' aluminum trailer I would not have towed it without the Equalizer as the rear dropped way too much.
I also found that my steel body '13 ecoboost was a way better truck for towing. After less than one year of ownership I traded the '16 ecoboost for a '17 SD. The new aluminum F150 is now just too light in my opinion for towing anything of any weight. On the flipside my 16 did get nearly 2mpg better fuel economy but if I can't tow safely what's the use of that?

Have a safe trip

 

By the time we load all of the parts that come with the truck my 2015 will be as heavy as a 2014. He has 145 pictures of parts, most of which have multiple items. And all the stuff is still in its shipping container, meaning the packaging itself will be significant.

We will load the rear brake drums & shoes, front calipers and discs, etc plus the tools I'm taking in the rear seat area. The ramps for the trailer, battery for the winch, the winch itself, spare tire, etc will go in the bed ahead of the axle. In other words, heavy stuff as far forward as possible. That should come close to equalizing the weight between the loaded trailer and the tow vehicle.

But, if that doesn't limit the sway then maybe an equilizer hitch is a good idea. I'm going to check with the local trailer shop to see if he has one I can take. If I don't need it I'll return it.

 

It's not just about sway, emergency handling has a lot to do with the need for a weight distributing hitch. The more weight you lift off the front axle, the more the front end will hop when you hit uneven pavement. The reduction of traction on the front axle will also cause severe understeer in the event you have to take any kind of emergency maneuver.

I would worry less about trailer sway, and more about vehicle handling.

 

He can shift the truck he is hauling and get it to pull really good. I pulled my brothers Suburban on his 3,500 lb trailer. and had to shift it once to get it centered correctly I could run as fast as I wanted to on I-20. I only slowed when it was raining. I used my 2012 with 3.31 gears and 3.5 Eco 4X4. i didn't check the mileage because I didn't care, we were doing what we needed to do. The 2015 4X4, I have now is rated to pull even more with the same setup.

 

That's the plan - shift it for the right balance. The flat 18' deck on the trailer gives plenty of room for that.

I loaded the truck today and got easily 200 lbs of kit in the back floor. And then got almost all of the rest ahead of the rear axle in the bed.

And I'm running 35 psi in the front tires and 45 in the rear. That should give good "feel" for the steering and load carrying for the rear.

We leave tomorrow at 1:00 and hope to be back on Thursday night. I'll let you know how things are going.

 

Good luck! and have some fun while you're at it Gary.

 

Just checked into the hotel in Montgomery. 750 miles in 11 hours with only one stop. Trailer did very well, although there is still some unbalance in the tires or, maybe more likely, flat spots on the tires from having been run unbalanced. Doesn't cause a problem, but 70 MPH is the worst spot, so we ran 75 all day. And the hubs are cold at each stop.

Now, for the MPG. I've been filling up with pure 91 octane gas, meaning no ethanol. And the first tank showed 16.3 MPG on the LoM, and calculated at 15.6 MPG since we used 31.681 gallons in 495 miles. And, the transmission rarely shifted out of 6th. Wow!

When we filled up it was with 93 octane gas with 10% ethanol. Immediately the MPG dropped to about 13.1 on the LoM and the tranny downshifted much more frequently. And, after 250 miles it is still showing 13.0 MPG.

But, my brother is quite impressed by the 3.5 EB. He was expecting lots of revving by the little engine, not sitting at 2000 and getting the job done.

 

Where did you find ethanol free gasoline? I can't find it anywhere near where I live. Good report for that empty trailer. The tires should hopefully round out some more when you get some miles with a load on it.

 

It is abundant in Okiehoma, where I live.

 

Which makes sense, oil wells are more common down there than corn farmers.

 

there's a website that lists stations with non-ethanol blends. Check the Googles. There is one station in my area, but it's not Tier 1 fuel. I only use it if I happen to be getting gas on the way out of town and know I'm going to burn the full tank at freeway speeds. Plus, it's significantly more expensive.

Gary - Not to be the Trailer Police, but if you're running ST tires on your trailer, they're rated for a max speed of 65mph. Just a FYI.

 

Those are really good MPG's. Thinking you'll get 8 or 9 mpg coming back to OKL.

Safe travels.


biz

 

We are north of Birmingham running 70 MPH on cruise. The '15 pulls like a tractor, and the '85 rides well on the trailer. Couldn't the get the trailer-mounted ratchet straps between the frame and the bed, so ended up just chaining the axles down, front and rear. Boomers on all 4 corners and it has not moved at all in 300 miles.

The MPG for the second tank last night, the ethanol 93 octane one, was 13.1. Put 93 octane ethanol back in, and we started back. The LoM says 11.3 after 320 miles, but we had at least 100 miles of slower speeds before we hit the super slab. It has been slowly dropping from 12.6 since we sped up, and we will probably end up actually getting 10.0. My Toyota-driving brother is impressed, both with the MPG but also the power!

Here are a few pics to prove it really happened. Vernon Bush/nonrev321 is with me in the first two, and that's my brother with him in the 3rd.

 

Great pix Gary! Looks like quite a little adventure.

 

Lookin Good!