So I bought a 2003 f350 7.3.. not a dually.love it. I noticed it has about 6 inches of airbags in the rear .what exactly do airbags do? Improve the ride while towing? Increase payload capacity etc?? I'd like to possibly do some 5th wheel towing with it, car hauler possibly. I saw an f250 the other day with a a 2 car hauler on it, I thought surly if he can do that so can i.

any way curious what functions the airbags serve. ..

thanks for any info.

 

 

One thing to remember about airbags........any brand of airbags, it doesn't matter; They DO NOT increase payload capacity of whatever vehicle they are on! Period! They are used to level a vehicle when a load is placed on the rear of the tow vehicle. In the case of a tow behind trailer, if the truck squats enough that it is an issue, you probably need to be using a Weight Distribution Hitch (WDH) anyway. In the case of a 5ver, where the weight is placed almost exactly over the rear axle, there will also be some squat, and as long as you are not exceeding the payload/RAWR/Tire load rating of the truck, airbags can be used to help bring the truck back to level....or at least the same height front and rear as the truck sits when unloaded. 5ver camping trailers will put approx. 20-25% of the GVW of the trailer on the bed/5ver hitch of the truck, and this is call pin weight. So, for example, you have a 5ver camping trailer that weighs 12,000 lbs. You can reasonably expect that trailer will put anywhere from 2400 - 3000 lbs of weight on the 5ver hitch in the truck. Does your truck have that much payload capacity? The only sure way to know what you've got is to scale the setup by going over a CAT scale or some other trusted scale to see exactly what the truck weighs, the pin weight, and what the trailer weighs. And remember, anything and everything that goes in or on the truck (tools, toolbox, 5ver hitch, passenger or passengers, firewood, extra fuel, etc.) counts against the available payload of the truck. In my example above, let's say your truck has 2800 lbs of payload and the trailer puts 2400 lbs of pin weight on it. The 5ver hitch is going to weigh in the neighborhood of 175 lbs, so now you have 225 lbs of available payload left for everything else. Put a couple of 150 lb passengers in it or 300 lbs of toobox and tools, and you are technically over the payload limit. Hope this helps a bit.

 

 

In my simple mind, air bags and other rear axle suspension modifications only do one thing. They reduce the squat of the truck when under load. You still need to pay as much attention as before to axle weights and payload capacity, as well as weight distribution and sway control.

 

Yup to the above. The only reason I put bags on mine is because I leveled the truck. Without them or without airing them up the rear of the truck squats and the headlights would be blinding oncoming traffic. The tongue weight is only about 400lbs.(within limits of the hitch & payload) but with the truck starting out level it doesn't take much for the headlights to point upwards.

 

thanks xrated.. I think this has to be printed out and referenced.. Lotta good info..

I'm think my truck isn't gonna be the greatest for towing large large loads. I think my Max tow cap is 12k and even though it's a 350.. I don't think my payload cap is more that 1900.. I was hoping to be North of 3k.. But I ran across some disappointing literature.

I think the 3k payloads are the duelys. But surely I figured more than 2500.. Here's my sticker.. I'm about right??

 

Put these in mine yesterday.

 

 

Towing capacity is really kind of a red herring. It's a number used by manufacturers to gain bragging rights, and by salespeople to sell F150's. Even a Toyota Tundra can pull a space shuttle.
Cargo capacity is where it's at - most trucks will run out of cargo capacity long before they run out of towing capacity. To find your cargo capacity, there should be a yellow/white sticker in the driver door jamb that has a statement along the lines of "weight of cargo and passengers shall not exceed..." - that number is your cargo capacity and a much better indicator of what you can and cannot tow.