Do you drive a lifted brodozer?

I can see the extra height and slight amount of tongue weight being enough to blind everyone.

We have those. The roads are no safer, the state is richer. Shops feel pressured to fail you for any reason they can because the people running the program for the state are pressured to make the program look useful when it's not. It's just a corruption mill. I've got a cracked windshield that I'm "saving" for inspection time so that they can feel good after telling me to fix it rather than having to pull some random repair out of their asses to tell me to do.

 

I had read that the 11-16 models of the F-250 squat bad with not much load. The air bags may be overkill for actual load carry capacity but they certainly would help eliminate any sag that might be going on.

 

Unfortunately people think that Air Bags are for increasing the capacity of the truck, not so(but boy I wish they did). The typical airbag kits you buy for these trucks are for leveling use only. Other factors are used to determine load capacities even if to our untrained eyes they look the same. Brakes, tires, wheels, axles, springs are just a few.

And yes I have been guilty of running down the road with my headlights set to high, with a sagging back end, and overloaded. I've learned it from both sides of the fence.

 

Practically speaking the limit to the load capacity of these trucks is that if you load them too heavy they will be all over the bump stops which is likely to bend the axle and/or frame or maybe snap a wheel off given a sufficiently large bump or pothole. Things like airbags that increase the spring rate do very much increase the amount of weight these trucks can safely carry to a point (until you have to start worrying about the next weak link).

 

I've thought about this one every time I get the thread update notification. I still maintain what I wrote back in reply #8. Crank that equalizer hitch up another link and see if it does not bring your front end down the same amount as the rear comes down with the equalizer hitch engaged. Yes, I've run equalizer hitches for years, different sizes on different rigs. IMO, the instructions are a place to start your set up. Remember the equalizer hitch advertisement of many years ago where they put it to work on an Olds Toronado with the rear wheels removed? The car was level with the trailer...........Go here to see what an equalizer hitch can do....... .http://www.airforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=175465&d=1356813061

 

 

Hopefully, what you mean by "Safely Carry" is that the truck is still within the GVWR limit and the Payload capacity.....because airbags do absolutely NOTHING for increasing the capacity of the truck. They are made strictly for leveling. And as HRTKD stated, the earlier models of the F250 had some pretty soft springs until you got to the last leaf. But either way, the payload capacity does not change with airbags.

 

Up Date - I took the rig into a well respected RV service shop near me that has been in business for over 20 years that also sells the 4 Point Equai-li-zer hitch and had them look at the setup. They took a look at the measurements and said the hitch is set up correctly and not to change a thing. The hitch I have doesn't use chains with links, adjustments are made buy tilting the head with washers to achieve the desired lift. There are then solid bars the are swung into place and act as weight distribution and sway control. I suggested adding a washer to the setup and they said that would throw the measurements out of the factory specs, just as I thought. I am convinced that the factory setting of the headlights is too high. My low beams seem to point down the road more than my other vehicles that I own. I believe that this is the case because my truck has the factory heavy duty/tow plow front end that makes my truck sit perfectly level. I think the factory set the headlights for a normal truck that has a few inches of rake from front to back that most trucks have. I'm going to have the headlights adjusted lower to try and solve the issue. Here are a couple of pictures of the rig.

 

Thanks for sharing. Air bags will definitely fix any sag if It gets to the point that its bothering you. Also on the airbags some say they dont increase your weight capacity but why do they all say good for 5k pounds? I also have the overload springs on my truck. A local shop said that they can put a heavier spring and arch it where its only an inch from touching. The guy said it will work the same as the Tembrens. In your pictures I see very little sag so the headlight adjustment should be more then enough.

 

Overload spring. Will probably add more arch to lessen any sag when loaded heavy.

 

The latter statement is making the (generous) assumption that you know how to properly load your vehicle to the max and when it's appropriate to do so. The former statements is to cover their asses in case some dumb *** decides to load their truck beyond the weight rating (not really a bad idea by itself) and then proceeds to do something stupid (like drive like an *** in rush hour traffic, or take mountain roads with hairpins in the middle of a blizzard) and then things go south and lawyers get involved.

 

A clever feature on my buddy's Nissan Titan is the headlight level adjuster in the cab. When you hook up a trailer, or just want to adjust the up and down aim of the headlights there is a button you push. This was something I wish they had introduced on the 17' model with the LED headlights. Especially since the LED headlights are so bright and the truck is even higher than the previous model. Adjusting the headlights using the screws without using the DOT's method of alignment is a recipe for misaligned lights. Not to mention for people who routinely switch between a trailer and unloaded regularly this is a pain in the ***.

 

My Tundra has the same feature. Its a no brainer. Should be standard for a truck made to tow... But who needs that when I have a seat that blows air up my butt...Ok I dont but the new trucks do lol.

 

It really does not take too much of a difference in height on the front end, due to the back end being lower when towing, to throw off the lights. Even with the WDH working, there is not a chance of me getting my rear end back up to the unloaded height, when I have the trailer hooked up. I also find that I do not have to be even towing and people flash me in my Expedition, these new headlights that come with the vehicles now are a lot brighter than years past. Sometimes it seems that everyone is driving with their high beams on now, when going down the highway at night and seeing the approaching vehicles. And yes my lights are adjusted fine and at the lowest setting to try to better accommodate when towing.

 

FWIW: https://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html