So, as some of you folks may know, I traded my beloved 2017 dually for a 2018 Raptor about a week or two ago. Had it for just about a year, almost 15k miles on it...great rig. I like the Raptor better in every respect except for towing and payload capacities.

My max towing requirements for this truck will be 10k lbs. The truck is actually rated to 8,000lbs, 800lb tongue weight, and 1257lbs of payload. These 10k pulls will be relatively infrequent and short distance...I'd say about 16x per year and a total of 100 miles spread over those 16 trips.

Last night I attempted a 10k trailer pull and I decided against it because there was so much squat in the Raptor's rear suspension so I used another vehicle. The question is, will a W/D hitch help alleviate this problem...which brand should I buy...and how stiff should the springs be. I think my max tongue load would be 1500lbs...pushing it for the Raptor. I'm looking into airbag helper springs...nothing from Ride-Rite for this gen Raptor...maybe something from Timbrens...we'll see about that.

Thanks in advance.

 

A WD hitch WILL help you with rear end squat and some of them have built in sway control. A WD hitch will shift some of the tongue weight to the trailer axles and also to the front axle of your truck. The hitch will help level your truck and the trailer.

Some decent brand with sway control (recommend it) are Curt, Reese, Equalizer. I've used the Reese Straight-Line system with good success.

Also, I don't know how high your Raptor sits, but you may have to get a hitch insert that provide sufficient drop to be able to level your trailer.

Go to etrailer.com. They have some excellent educational information on WD hitches.

 

Look up the "Equa-Liz-ER" brand name hitch. Get a 10,000 lb, 1,000 pound square bars. Sway control is vertical and horizontal, weight transfer forward to front axle can be set up to level. The trailer must have at least 10 but prefer 15% hitch weight, and prefer trailer nose down slightly for best handling. The Raptor suspension is not made for this, to much travel, to light of springing. You will have to be very careful. Airbags or timbre mms might help but that suspension isn't going to be up to this challenge.

 

I second the air bags. That daddy long legs suspension is not made for towing.
That and an equalizer hitch to put some weight onto the front axle.

 

The Raptor suspension isn't drastically different than the standard F-150. Basically, the leafs are a little softer and it obviously has the nice Fox shocks with higher and sturdier than usual shock mounts which allow the long suspension travel. But really, the shocks don't carry the load anyway...just need to add air helper springs to help the leafs. Thanks for the info on the W/D hitches.

 

Well, it must me made for *some* towing since it does have an 8k tow rating. For reference, my dad's standard 2016 F-150 Crew 4x4 2.7L EcoBoost is only rated to tow 7500lbs.

I realize some upgrades will be needed (w/d bars, air springs) but I think this truck will suit my current towing needs adequately. The frame is stronger than any other F-150 frame, and it certainly is not lacking power or torque.

 

I really like the 2017 Raptor. Lighter, faster, more travel.
If I could afford another truck that would be my first choice.
I would have trouble keeping my sons out of it though.

 

It's a fun truck. The role I'm playing in my side landscaping business is changing and I'm no longer needing to tow the heaviest equipment around myself anymore. So I decided I'd switch to the Raptor which simply rides nicer, is faster, more maneuverable, etc. It is also cheaper to own and operate than the dually...better fuel economy, cheaper to register, cheaper to insure, and cheaper oil changes / services. I also cannot wait to drive it in the winter with the AWD mode compared to the less ideal part-time setup I'm used to.

 

Since you won't be towing often, you might consider something like this:
I personally don't love the sway control they offer(you'll need to buy friction sway bars) but the weight distribution itself does work great. There are better WD hitches out there but they will be 2-3x expensive. However, I've come to learn that all the different WD hitches have compromises, none of them are perfect.

 

I have a new 12K Equalizer brand hitch that I used twice on my 7k Travel trailer, (we moved to a TH 5th wheel). It worked great, did not squat the truck at all. more is better, as you can adjust the WDH.

I have it for sale, but it looks like you are a long ways from COLO

 

Since it sounds like most of your towing will be relatively short distances, have you considered just living with the squat? A WDH HELPS with squat, but that's not it's primary purpose and I doubt it will CURE it without air bags or changes to the rear suspension.

If I had to go 20 miles or so, I'd just let it squat, take it easy, and not mess around with the suspension. Especially if that 20 miles was on lower speed secondary roads.

 

I'd caution against that only because of all the extra stress on the frame and such. Though to your point, if after adding a WDH it still squats, then I'd just let it squat. I wouldn't bother with modifying the suspension.

 

It appears Timbren makes a 2017 Raptor-specific air helper spring. Its a new product and somewhat tough to find at this point but I'm going to order a set as soon as I can. Do you guys think it is worth running a W/D hitch in conjunction with air bags? Or does the W/D hitch become redundant with the bags?

I'm really looking for something that is "easy on - easy off" since I want to remove the Timbrens when I'm in the non heavy towing season so I can enjoy the Raptor's compliant suspension.

 

I currently have an 8000lbs trailer with an 2016 F-150 and I only use a WDH. With just the WDH and no suspension modifications and I can level the truck and even raise the rear end slightly if I wanted to. This is with the cheap round bar Husky WDH I linked earlier.

To me, the WDH to relieve frame stress is more important than something like Timbrens or airbags, particularly since you actually exceeding the max weight of the truck.

 

and don't forget the swaaaaaaaayyyyyy...