So I traded my 2014 f250 xlt 4x4 cc 6.2, with the short bed for a 2016 f250 kr 4x4 cc 6.7 with the short bed. The xlt had the camper package along with the snow plow prep package. The kr has neither package and I noticed the difference when towing our 5th. wheel recently by the sagging rear end. The 5er weighs around 12k, not sure of pin weight. Question, would it benefit me to install the airbags or have the rear end updated to include the camper package components? BTW, will update factory shocks. Thanks.

 

I'd go with the airbags. They're a fairly simple installation and fully adjustable. The camper package would involve swapping out the rear spring packs or opening them up and adding the top leaf. You'd need a longer center bolt and U-bolts. Either way the spring pack would have to come out to do the upgrade. Bags are a lot simpler. -- EDIT: You have to install the overload bumpers/perches on the frame also.
-- Get ready for the weight police, you are probably over gross with that trailer on a highly optioned CC 250 diesel 4x4.

 

 

There are two issues: leveling the truck after the additional pin weight and body roll. The air bags will help both but the addition of the camper package rear swaybar will reduce the body roll induced by the additional pin weight of the 5th wheel hitch. The truck will be much more stable with the rear bar.

 

The weight imposed by a 5th wheel is low in the bed and centered. The anti-roll (sway) bar actually does very little in this case. A slide in camper is high and wide, and the rear bar is of considerable benefit in this instance. With a 5er you'll never miss it. The truck will also have better suspension articulation and off-road ride quality without the bar. I took the rear bar off my 350 for this reason.

 

My experience with most 5th wheels is, if they are tall and you are close to the pin weight max then the increase in CG will cause the truck to roll enough that I want the rear bar.

I don't tow a 5th wheel regularly but have towed my Dad's trailer quite a bit as well as others. With both his truck and mine. His had a rear bar and mine didn't, otherwise they were very similar. On those two trucks, with that trailer, the bar was great. Similar experience with other's. A typica 5th wheel hitch raises the CoG more than a Goose Neck.

I agree that the "Camper Package" is really intended for the big slide-in campers. Those _really_ need a rear bar.

 

You are correct, a GN does essentially nothing to the CG and a 5th does raise it slightly. Campers are a whole different subject. I'm glad that my comments weren't taken wrong and we didn't end up in a battle of the wits. I appreciate people like you who take the time to properly articulate their thoughts. Thanks.

 

I have a 2017 F250 long bed with a camper package I have towed my 5th wheel a few times both empty and full. I am comfortable towing with it as it is but it tends to squat a bit with a full RV, I will be bagging it shortly I just have to select the right bags.

 

Sumosprings are something of a passive airbag. My experience is that they also reduce body roll and keep my truck flatter through S-curves. They don't engage until there is a load.

 

I asked this question because when I pulled the 5th. wheel from empty(9100lb) with the 2014, there was no squat. Not so much the case recently with it loaded 12k+, and a different truck. I know I will upgrade the shocks to Rancho 9000's, as they performed well with the 2014 over factory installed. Just looking for the safest and most cost effective way to remedy this situation. Looks like I'll have the Airlift 5000 kit installed. Thanks.

 

If you 5ver is in fact at 12K lbs, your pin weight is going to be in the 2400 lbs range. Your current truck will have a payload capacity of around 2000-2100 lbs, so you are overloaded already before you even add the 5ver hitch......175-200 lbs rule of thumb. That will put you at close to 2600 lbs....trailer and hitch, and you've only got at best....2100 lbs of payload. Pretty easy to do the math on that and come up with about 500 lbs overloaded and that's before you add the driver's weight, passenger(s) weight, tools, wood, grill, whatever you put either on or in the truck. Don't know what to tell you other than you are overloaded and airbags do nothing to change/increase the payload capacity of the truck.

 

Cargo capacity is 1963, according to the sticker, and I'm aware of airbags not increasing capacity. Just trying to level the *** end of the truck. Unlike some, we are not travelling the country. Currently in west Texas, working in the oilfield. Besides, if we were to travel I'd go with dually and not look back. Thanks.

 

Air bags will definitely go a long ways to help level the truck.....I know, I had an F250 just like the one you just bought, except it was an XLT and not a KR.....which will have even less capacity than mine did. If I remember correctly, mine had 2148 lbs of payload and my Toy Hauler hitch weight was in the 1300-1350 lb range. It might have been enough truck except for the fact that I also run a 42 gallon aux. tank in the bed and between the tank weight and full of fuel, I had another 550-575 lbs of my payload taken up. With the limited use that yours is going to get as far as towing, you might be OK with limited travel.....and it sounds like you are fully aware of the amount of overload and what the air bags are and are not capable of.

 

Pin weight around 2400 lbs I'd estimate.

I'd airbag it.

 

I have an F250 (see the sig) with the camper plus 5er package. I also added air bags for more stability plus to fully level the combo. It pulls dead on straight. It does, IMO, need a heavier sway bar, i.e. Helwig, and yes, they do help though not in straight line driving. Where they do help is at interstate speed (60-70mph) and on a fairly tight curve, especially if it's on a curve while breaking over the top of a hill or on the downhill side The trailer tends to push the outside of the combination . This is where the anti-roll part of that design works.

As far as the internet weight police - .... they are what they are. You should know what your truck can do,