Hello all,

I've posted various minor complaints about my F250. Much of it relates to bad luck and dealer incompetence. Annoying but I am still a proud 6.7 owner. No warranty issues.

I want to relate my first towing experience and ask guru advice.
The experience was quite positive. I brought a quarter million dollar race car from MI to NC for a friend. Not ideal for a virgin, huh? Yes I called my insurance company first. The car was in a covered Haulmark 20 footer, 7000 lbs. I had 10,000 pound straps around the wheels. It has no hooks and is almost impossible to secure due to spoilers and air dams. Tongue weight was difficult to get right. I need a home scale. Mileage was 12.1, not bad at 50-70mph and including the mountains. I would not want to try this with a gasser. V10 maybe. The cargo barely moved, and I checked frequently.

This nail biters were narrow construction zones and getting buffeted by semis. Tolls and bridges not fun either. I now have an even greater respect for truckers. If I could start over, I think I would want an F350 with 5th wheel. Better too much truck than not enough. Any advice? Thank you.

 

Well, I tow a lot, most of it with 16' and 18' trailers similar to your 20'. So I will tell you what I think and experience.

1. Tire pressures matter, max on the trailer, at least 70 on the truck. I run 75 in the rear most of the time. My opinion is that it stiffens the sidewalls a little, takes some of the squishy feeling away, especially on a bumper pull trailer (not literally, just a common term)

2. Tongue weight matters, you want more weight on the tongue, if not sure, then err on the heavy side. You probably already know this based on your post, but just being sure.

3. Use a friction type sway bar on your hitch block, it helps but does not eliminate wiggle.

4. If you used a weight distribution hitch, then you were set up with the best possible situation as long as everything was good and snug. This helps with stability too.

5. A long enclosed trailer is THE WORST thing to tow, a long camper would be even worse because of the high center of gravity and trailer axle placement, typically setting you up with a long overhang behind the trailer axles. This is the most un stable situation. Winds/air hitting the trailer behind its axles is what makes your front steer axle wander and you can feel the wiggle, then when a passing truck moves forward you get pushed the opposite way. Unnerving I know, it's normal.

Sway bars don't stop the initial wiggle from winds and air, they are effective at keeping things from escalating. Your truck also has an anti sway feature that is tied in with the traction control (lucky us, right?)

And, for what its worth, the Super Duty is the best tow vehicle you can buy. The most stable I have driven anyway....

Narrow road? We have the BEST tow mirrors so ride the white line (or yellow).
We have nice heavy trucks, helps a lot.
We have great power, manual mode really helps to use the power right when towing too in my opinion.
Great brakes. Great integrated trailer brakes, best I have used.

So, just think how bad it is for everybody else? I hope you feel better. It gets more comfortable over time. Just relax, let the air push you around, hold your ground, don't try to correct, it will pass. Over correction is why a lot of people get out of shape, with or without a trailer.

 

Good post....I'm going to get my first towing experience with the new 6.7 this weekend when I take the fifth wheeler up North, really interested to see how it compares to the beast of a 6.4 I had...

 

I will add to what ruschejj already said in that having a level trailer is one of the most important steps to a safe towing experience. When the trailer is level all 4 wheels have equal load placed on them and the brakes won't lock up under a panic stop, as long as the brake controller is set up properly. You can imagine if the trailer tongue was low the brakes on the front axle would do most of the braking and the rear axle could lock up under normal braking. It drive me nuts when I see trailer tongues too high or too low.

 

I am with you on that one. 5 years ago I took over managing a small construction fleet. One of the changes that I insisted on was getting all the truck hitches setup at the same height and all of the trailers the same. It drives me absolutely nuts to see an unlevel trailer especially if it is loaded heavy. People just don't get the ramifications of the trailer not being level. Until I got the problem fixed, I regularly had flat spotted tires, blowouts and various other problems caused by either the jack or the rear of the trailer impacting the ground on uneven ground.

Usually the people most guilty of this are light duty trucks such as F150s and Tundras. Once they put 400 lbs on the hitch, the trailer is 5" out of level. These are the same people that you see doing 40 mph in the fast lane with the trailer trying to wag the truck!

 

Ruschejj, reps for that one, I couldn't say it better, Gig

 

Thank you so much ruschejj. I did some things wrong but it is great to hear I did most of it right. It was very stressful. I didn't mention the fatigue or fog or full hotels and truck stops or getting stuck in small towns with impossibly sharp corners. I thought a lot about something going wrong with my 15,000+ pounds on a mountain grade.

My interpretation of the above is that I can eyeball the hitch height but should get accurate tongue weights of 10-15% gross.

My buddy just pulled a 24 ft camper with an F150 and no trailer brake. I made my objections clear and offered my truck.

 

Had my first experience towing my 35' fifth wheel a few weeks back. Nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. My only complaint, sag city man. Will definitely be getting air bags. Don't know which ones yet but will be getting them soon.

 

Markie, you could look into "Helwig Helpers" Its a little set of leaf springs that sit on top of your stock rear leaf springs, does not effect your ride when empty & no air bags to mess with, just my .02, Gigger

 

10-4 Gigger, appreciate that. I will look into that. Any more suggestions out there would be appreciated. Thanks, Mark

 

Markie did you have stabilizer bars attached to your hitch & trailer?

 

Markimark Get the Firestone bags I have them on my 11 sdsrw and I pull a 40foot 5er I love them!!

 

Ken, Thanks for the info. I was thinking the air lift system but heard a few complaints about those. Need to research the Helwig Helpers that Gigger suggested also. Thanks, Mark

 

My perspective. I have the Firestone bags and Airlift wireless system and love them. Firestone recently raised their prices to equal the AirLifts so it's worth checking into AL's. They supposedly have some superior tech in their bags.

The convenience value of the wireless control is awesome. Hitching and unhitching is faster because you can use the airbags to accelerate the up and down motion of the truck. Making adjustments while towing is also pretty useful. If you feel you need more pressure, you just press a button rather than stopping somewhere and pulling out a hose and gauge. It also maintains pressure and occasionally runs to keep pressurs where you want them.

Installing either Firestone or AirLift is not a big deal. The instructions can be confusing but there are enough of us who have done it and can help out.

 

Epic,

Excuse my ignorance as I have not researched the whole airbag thing yet. You said you have Firestone and Airlift. You lost me. I'm not as smart as your average bear so help me out. You have Firestone airbags and Airlift for the air? Is that what you mean? Thanks, Mark