If you need air bags to make your WDH work then maybe you need a new WDH. They come in different ratings. My Blue Ox had 1,000 lb bars but could go up a lot higher as well as lower.

A high PSI in the air bags will certainly stiffen the ride of the tow vehicle, but it beats the heck out of riding on the bump stops.

 

Just going back over the start of this thread, I would argue that your current WDH is working well. if I'm reading all this correctly, your main complaint is that the rear end is sagging too much, which isn't what a WDH is supposed to fix.

And just to be 100% crystal clear, you aren't happy with how it feels going down the road, but can you describe that a little more? It's entirely possible that changes to WDH and suspension will not make it feel "like it isn't there".

I'd hate to see you throw a bunch of money at this issue and still be unhappy.

 

Thanks for checking in. I have adjusted the RAS a couple of times. Trying to find the balance between harsh rear ride and rear sag. I understand that the wdh is there to redistribute weight to the steer axle.

Just looking for a good balance that will provide for reduced sag, weight distribution, and bearable ride.

 

Sounds like you are on the right track. it's a balancing act, and the rear suspension that provides the best towing experience isn't likely to prvide a great unloaded ride.
My preference would be to own two trucks, but for me and most people, that's not feasible.

 

On my half ton truck the WDH made a significant difference on the rear end sag. Maybe it just pushed the front end down to make the sag look better or maybe it actually raised the rear end some, I dunno. But it sure made a difference. Visible as well as how it felt when towing.

 

it does raise the rear, just measure the wheel wells. With too stiff wd bars you can actually unweighted the rear axle making for s whole other handling problem.

Steve

 

I'm not trying to say that it doesn't take weight off the rear axle, but that's not (in my mind) the primary benefit/function. You absolutely can have a well adjusted WDH system and still have too much rear end sag.

 

Another way to figure the tongue weight is to take the total weight of the truck (adding both axles) with the trailer attached in the weight carrying mode, and subtract the weight of the solo truck.

860 lbs. of tongue weight on a 6160 lb. trailer is equal to 14.0% (rounded up from 13.96 something). That is within the recommended 10-15% tongue weight for a bumper pull trailer.

1 concern of mine is that it looks like the solo truck weights might have been done on different day...........the different ink and a different person signing the ticket indicate that. I don't see the date on the solo truck weigh-in. If anything changed between the weigh-ins (passenger movement/deletions, cargo movement/deletions), and especially if the fuel tank is different, then there won't be accurate measurements to compare.

If the passenger, cargo, and fuel levels were the same with the solo truck weigh-in, the maybe a slight increase of the WDH might benefit. Not sure what kind of WDH is used, but usually tilting the hear assembly back 1 more notch will help that, or a shorter chain length between the snap-up bracket and the spring bars will correct that if the minimum length is not already being used.

 

I was waiting for someone to catch that I did the 2nd measurement on a different day. I had my 5 year old daughter with me on the first set of measurements as we were coming home from a camping trip. I was not comfortable having her with me while I did a full unhook, weigh, and hook back up at a truckstop. Instead, I took the vehicle alone back to the truckstop the next morning. I did not unload anything from the tow vehicle so that the weight could remain constant. Used less than 2 gal fuel between weighs.

​​​​​​​Good eye!

 

I recall an ad for EAZ-Lift hitches in 50's or 60's where they hitched a trailer to an Oldsmobile Toronado (front wheel drive), removed the rear wheels and actually filmed the car towing the trailer. So, it is theoretically possible to move as much weight as you would like to the front wheels and trailer wheels.

 

Wow, that's something that makes sense in theory but I would have thought was impossible in practice. Suspect it would be very difficult to do with my people's equipment but probably another thing to keep in mind.

And another reason why the cat scale is so important.

 

I much prefer actually using a tongue weight scale or use the bathroom scale method to get tongue weight. Trying calculate off of the weigh tickets can be deceiving unless of course you sit the tongue by itself on the scale. Depending on wheelbase and rear axle to ball dimensions the leverage can add a significant amount to rear axle load but you need a good tongue weight number to do it. To calculate the leverage effect measure the wheelbase on the truck, wheel center to wheel center, and then the distance from the center of the rear wheel to the ball. Add them together and divide this total by only the wheelbase. Multiply that number by the tongue weight and you get the effect of the lever on the axle. This number is usually in the 200-400lb range over actual tongue weight. CG shift rearward due tongue weight can also add to rear axle weight.

 

Wow, you are doing some good calculating there. Not that your method is flawed, but its pretty simple to deduce the exact TW with a few passes over a multi pad truck scale. (As long as you remember to account for front axle losses with the trailer hitched ) Along with the fact that the truck scales are frequently calibrated and certified I'm not sure how consistent the TW scales, like the Sureline are at various temperatures and if they maintain good calibration over time (or with even tiny amounts of fluid loss around the O rings if that ever happens?).

 

Personal preference I guess, buy yeah there is potentially error in if equipment is not working correctly.

 

There is margin for error in EVERY measurement, but having certified scales greatly reduces that margin.