Let me jump in @ this point. I did a lot of research on air bags b4 I bought them and put them on my van. (I tow a pretty good sized travel trailer-30 ft) I found there are 2 major brands-Air Lift and Firestone. Both seemed to be nearly identicial in design and installation and cost. I decided on the Firestone's because of the warranty. Firestone has a 2 year and Air Lift has a 1 year. Also I was a little put off by the Air Lift warranty. They have a 1 year warranty if you just by the standard air bags. If you spend a bunch more money and buy the on board compressor-they will double the warranty. If they are good enough to extend the warranty-it should be the same with or without their expensive compressor. Just my thoughts.

I bought mine @ www.trucksprings.com

I have 2 personal friends pulling 32-34 ft 5vers w/Dodge 2500's with the Cummins diesel. I think you will not have any trouble at all.

 

I have seen a few other guys on here buy Firestone's and they seemed pretty happy with them...

 

Thanks Jim:

I went to work tonight and spoke with a young man whos dad and him own the largest wrecker service company in central Alabama and this is what he showed me. I think this is the way I'm going to go. They have them on fifteen fo their wreckers and have bought them for years (they swear by them)===
go to www.timbren.com

 

I think I have my F250 loaded to nearly full capacity and everything seems perfectly fine. However, I have been thinking about installing airbags, and after reading the last several posts to this thread....it sounds like a good idea to get some. I do agree with the earlier comment about Ford sometimes misleading the customer with their published payload/towing data. I probably should have bought a F350 instead, but the salesman at the dealership told me the ONLY difference was the extra 500lb payload capacity. I should have done the research before buying the truck. Never the less, here is my situation:

My truck is a F250 Super Duty Crew Cab 4x4 7.3 Turbo Diesel.
My fifthwheel is a 35' Toy Hauler that weighs 11,500 lbs loaded with all my gear, full water, full gas (for fuel station), 1 quad and 5 dirtbikes. Together the whole setup weighs in at 20,000 lbs. This comes from the CAT scales with my wife, two kids, full tank of fuel, loaded fifth wheel and all our stuff (tv, groceries, clothes etc)

I have 64,000 miles on my truck so far (about 12,000 with this trailer) and the truck seems to tow it fine. I get between 8 and 10 miles per gallon fully loaded, can easily cruise at the highway speed limit (75 mph here in Arizona). I do slow down a bit on steep grades, but not dangerously slow. Overall, I'm very impressed with the performance of the Super Duty.

My only problem has been the weight on the hitch. I didn't know that fifth wheels have 15% to 20% of their weight on the hitch. I was used to the standard 10% figure that we all hear about regarding tow behind trailers. I bought my fifth wheel new and the dealer flipped my axles before I took delivery. Because my truck sits up pretty high, there wasn't enough clearance between the trailer and bed rails (only 2 inches or so).....plus I take the trailer off road sometimes...so we decided to flip the axles.

Now I am second guessing the pin box set up from the dealership. The trailer seems to tip forward too much. The dealer says my truck needs airbags and that'll solve the problem and everything will ride level. Using the CAT scales, I've deternined that my front axle has 4600 lbs, the rear axle has 5020 lbs and my trailer's axles have 10,380 lbs. Compare this to
my truck weights of 4620 lbs front and 3100 lbs rear....this gives me 1,920 lbs of hitch weight from the trailer sitting on my rear axles.

So, basically, I'm overloaded on my rear axle by about 350 lbs. This comes from my door sticker that says the GAWR (Gross AXLE Weight Rating) is 4800 front and 4670 rear. Yet my GVWR is only 8800 lbs. So, 670 lbs is missing somewhere......still trying to figure out why my axles can carry 9,470 together, yet my truck as a whole can only carry 8800 lbs? If anyone has an answer to this, please share with me so I can understand.

Anyway...back to the airbag and pin box height issue. With the fifth wheel connected, the truck sits level. With full fuel, my family and my toys.....my truck sags about 1 1/4" in the rear. In fact, it sags so much that 20 lbs is taken OFF of the front axle! This past weekend I had just my truck and trailer hooked up (no family, no toys, no stuff and 1/4 tank of fuel). My truck sat level, but the trailer was a full 3" lower in the front than the rear. So, I'm wondering if my pin box is just too low and if I adjust that, will my hitch weight lighten up a bit as well? I'm going to try making the adjustments this weekend and take it to the scales and see if any difference is made. Yet, I still have a feeling that I need the airbags as well, just to account for varying loading weights etc.

I think the F250 will be fine, I just need to make sure my hitch height is set so my trailer is loading it's dual axles more evenly, and airbags on my truck should take care of the extra few lbs on the rear axle. I probably should have bought the F350, but this is a daily driver and the ride is much stiffer on a 350 than a 250....as it is now, it's a challenge to change the radio station without bumping the controls several times because the suspension is so stiff when unloaded. So, the airbags might be a wonderful way of getting a faux F350 out of a F250 without having the rough ride when unloaded.

Just my 2 cents.

BTW, if anyone knows the torque specs for 5/8" grade 8 bolts that secure the pin box to the trailer....I'd be very grateful. Thanks again!

Greg

 

I,m only guessing here, but I think that the axles can handle their GAWR individually, so you could handle that load at either axle, but handling that load at both axles would be too much as a whole. The truck is rated for a GVWR of 8800# total; but not for maximum capacity at both axles.

I agree that it probably should have been rated for the sum of the axle weights. And I do not know why it's not, anymore than I know why the F350 has a higher GVWR.

Both trucks have the same components(based on what I've read) except the tires are rated for 3415# each as oppossed to 3042# each on the F250, and the 4" spacer instead of the 2" spacer. They have the same axles, but the GAWR is determined by the weakest link in the axle ***'y(axle, bearings, wheels, and tires). That's why the GAWR of the F350 is 6830#(3415+3415) and the GAWR of the F250 is 6084#(3042+3042). So, why wouldn't the F250 be rated the same as the F350 if you put on the same tires?
That's the BIG question???

 

Sounds like the F350 SRW is a F250 in disguise.

Ford may be trying to pull a fast one...

Older trucks had big differences between the F250 and F350 SRW.
Maybe they did away with the beefy components of the 1 ton and are now selling a slightly modified 250 as a 350, making people think there is a difference.

Long live the F350 DRW...

 

Take a few weeks and check and see if anyone of you guys know of someone, who is using the Timbren springs.

Go to www.timbren.com and see

 

I am considering purchase of 250 SD CC SB 6.0 Auto. Due to towing decrease and additional weight of 4wd I plan to either buy two wheel drive or go to 4wd f350 drw.

Question is why should I buy 4wd? Will the extra weight of deisel sink me in soft dirt?

 

Mike0227,

Where do you live? You live in an area that requires 4x4? If you don't need it, don't get it.

I've never heard of people having a problem in soft dirt. Sand on the other hand...

 

Don't worry too much about the legal ramifications. The only time you might have problems is with a new guy or someone who has a chip on his shoulder. The towing laws are there for a good reason, but the regular citizen who is retired or just traveling is not the targeted audience of weight enforcement. The targeted audience is the people who buy a 250 or 350 and load it with 25-30k lbs and try to drive it up and down the road for money. The truck may handle it, but the brakes and tires were not designed for the load. Also the tax money you pay goes up considerably as well as the licensing fees. That's why there is commercial weight enforcement.

I would not worry about the weight difference as long as you don't exceed the ratings by more than 2k lbs. The biggest worry is the tires. You have to add up what the tires will carry then divide it between the axles and weight. You don't want the rear tires of the truck to be carrying more than their rated capacity.

If the truck sits level and the tires don't look overloaded you will not recieve much attention from the scales. It's when you have a truck that is squatted to the ground and all the tires look flat when they have 90lbs of air pressure that you start drawing undue attention.

Put the airbags in the rear. Firestone is the only company that I am aware of that manufactures the ones that you will need. For about 250-300 dollars you can get them from J.C. Whitney. That will alleviate any sagging in the rear of the truck if you have any. Then go out and enjoy your new purchase. Relax and don't worry so much. Live life, enjoy, you've earned it.....

 

I had Firestone air bags on my F150 for 2 years w/o problems. Have not instaled a set on my 250 yet but expect to over the winter.

 

I realize this thread has been dead almost a month, but I am reading everything here because I plan to get a fifth wheel. First, I have a 99 SD psd, 250 that has 4 inch blocks. As far as I know it came from the factory like that.
I would like to make one point about GCW. (as an ex OTR driver). The laws concerning weight do exist mainly for commercial trucks. However, IF (God forbid), you get into an accident and severely injure someone, mister lawyer will be finding a way to weigh your rig. If you're overweight, you may be looking at a problem. Even if you know your truck can handle the weight, people on the outside probably won't understand.

 

Very well put.

 

Just looked and you stated that you were going to have a GCVW of near 20k? With a 8000# truck that means you are wanting to pull about a 12k 5ver and with about 21% of that weight in the bed you are looking at a pin weight of around 2500#. Your truck will have a payload margin in the area of 1650# less passengers (based on a 250 PSD SRW 4X4) to stay within the GVWR of your truck. This does not take into account the 200# hitch so you are down to about 1k or less of payload so you are looking at about 1500# of overweight at least not 200 to 400#. The crew cab really reduces the weight you can handle. The ratings given are for a gas F350 in the table and you read the fine print and find that you are much reduced from that. The PSD is heavy and mine weighed out at 7150 on the scale with no driver.

 

great points made about balancing the loads, ride heights additional air suspension
the ratings on the srw trucks is centered on the tires ability and the wheel studs.
if you buy a 12,000 lbs trailer it will have larger brakes than a 8,000lb trailer and possibly larger tires....the trailer has to stop itself and yes the truck needs the ability to stop it's pin weight and passenger goodies in the truck
the tires have a max weight rating hense more weight needs more tires
there is not a tractor on the highway that could stop without those trailer brakes and balanced weight distribution