I have an 05 6.0 ex. We tow a 27 ft. travel trailer weighing in around 9k lbs. Early towing was truly a white knuckle experience and since I had my most valuable cargo with me (my whole family) I said no more dangerous towing. So I went with v/c code springs from Junior at ATS. I added air bags with remote air fill control from ride rite. I've noticed that with the new springs, its nice to have the springs but not essential after springs. Hellwig sway bars front and rear. Huge difference with these. And I had a rear sway bar stock. I upgraded brakes to powerstop and Crown steel braided brake lines. 08-12 towing mirrors, FICM with Atlas 40 from ficmrepair.com takes care of the turbo lag when starting from a dead stop. But the absolutely biggest upgrade for safe towing was a ProPride hitch. Designed to absolutely eliminate sway. It is a sway elimination hitch unlike a hitch using a friction plate to try to manage and slow sway. It is also a weight distribution hitch. The ProPride is similar to a Hensley. Yes it's a bit more pricey but like I said, I have my most precious cargo onboard and I want to endure that everyone and everything is safe as I tow. Good Luck

 

I would get you hitch dialed in. That will help a lot. And you don’t say if you had one, but if not get a rear sway bar. That’s what fixed the handling on my X.

 

Oops! Wrong thread!

 

Before anything else (other than getting the track bar bushings squared away, did you replace the factory track bar with an adjustable one along with the new taller springs?) get your scale weights at a certified three pad commercial truck scale like a CAT Scale. https://catscale.com/cat-scale-locator/
Getting your true scaled axle weights loaded as close as possible to how you travel will help to troubleshoot towing issues and get the WD dialed in to the best it can be.
Im not familiar enough with your model WD hitch to offer any advice about the adjusters stripping out under loading, have you contacted the manufacturers tech support about it? Can you provide a few pictures of that situation and the hitched up combo here?

1. Let's see what exactly is going on with your current hitch first. Contact their Tech Support and snap a few pictures for us here.
I do tow with a Hensley Arrow (that I bought used for $650!) and they are as good as advertised, but there are also plenty of other really good WD hitches with built-in sway control available that are proven performers.

2. What are you hoping to preload with taller blocks? They will only make the rear of your wagon sit a little higher, doesn't change any spring functions.

3. Do some precise measuring to see if you need an adjustable track bar with the new taller springs, axle should be center to the frame sitting at rest.
Is your front end alignment recent and good? Do you have the results from it?

4. If your sway bar bushings are shot, for sure replace them, let's get the hitch setup dialed in before deciding on a Hellwig.

5. Air bags to address what issue? A good side shot of the EX and TT hitched up would help show how much squat you have, give us a shot of the unloaded EX too. I also run F-350 rear springs and our TT has 1840 lbs of tongue weight, it does squat but not excessively. (But I do have air bags on my wish list).

6. I think that you can take these off the shopping list, I'm sure we can get your combo towing better without them.

 

Thanks for all the input.

I do have a factory rear sway bar

eith taller blocks I’m hoping to get a little more weight forward. On the front end

the Weight distribution hitch is probably my main problem in handling. Along with the shop track bar.

Reason for air air bags is I feel like I’m getting a lot of rear steer.

Everyone is correct in that I need to get a true weight rating. The camper dry is 8700lbs. I’d hate to guess it’s loaded weight

 

Above you mentioned that the EX has 285/75R16 E rated tires, what pressures are you running in them and on the trailer tires?
I think that you NEED to get your track bar/front end squared away as well as those end links and then get the WD hitch issues figured out, pictures of the parts that are stripping out would help to troubleshoot that issue here. Pictures of everything mentioned above would be a big help (EX solo, side shot of EX/TT, hitch loaded.....). Then once you have a WD hitch that CAN BE worked with head to the scales to get it dialed in correctly.
That size TT should be fairly easy to control behind an EX, I tow a 41' (hitch to bumper), 12' tall, 11,300 lbs TT with 1840 lbs of tongue weight (with 1400 spring bars on the WD hitch) behind our EX (without air bags) and it tows and handles pretty well, at 65/70 MPH on the highway it is one hand on the wheel comfortable. Crosswinds and big trucks passing will ALWAYS cause some movement but a good WD with built-in sway control or sway elimination will make the truck and trailer feel more like a straight body truck with little to no unwanted trailer wagging. But the tow vehicle's suspension and all steering components must be in good working order for this to be possible.

 

I have a 2004 X 6.0 and tad some of the same problems everyone else has. I put airbags on before I even towed with it, thinking I would need them. Probably could do without them. I did find a major difference going from the 23mm factory X sway bar to the upgraded super duty one, I believe it is 30mm. I also did the spring sway from ATS, I wish I did this 10 years ago, made a huge difference. I just moved up from a 32 foot unit around 6000lbs to a 36 foot that weighs over 9k when loaded up. There is a significant difference in the towing experience.

When I lived N. Carolina and Texas, it was very easy to tow at 70+. There was not a log of congestion on the roads, and you could leave a couple of car lengths without someone trying to jump in front of you. Since moving back to New England it is not nearly as pleasant an experience towing. Too many *******s cutting you off. Are you using tow/haul mode? I found that if I left it on, which I do, it could be hard to get into top gear because I had to let off due to traffic conditions. Do you have any way of monitoring your engine parameters? I did a lot of research on the 6.0 prior to buying and I am very conservative with how far I push things. I recommend a cts of scanguage if you don't have anything. You need to know what your engine is doing before you just try to stuff it and try to push it up a grade. I just recently installed a 4" CAT back exhause, so I am hoping that I will have a little more wiggle room when I need to give it more fuel. I usually keep my EGT's under 1100ish for sustained runs, with the occasional burst up to 1200. Some may say it is too conservative, but I am at 235K on original head gaskets. I don't have deep enough pockets to drop the hammer, and my paycheck fixing things because I was ignorant.

It might not get perfectly dialed in overnight, but with the help of these knowledgeable members they will steer you right. Good luck and happy trails!

 

good on the sway bar. Don’t do taller blocks! They will only make the problem worse.
Get your WD hitch dialed in. And get a good WD hitch with built in sway control. I highly recommend the Reese Dual Cam.

If your camper is 8700 dry then you are going to be at least 10k if not more loaded. With a 10k lb trailer you want 1200 lbs tongue weight minimum (12%). And it will take some work to get the bars loaded. Most of us use the power tongue jack to raise the truck and trailer together and then snap the bars up by hand. If not set properly you are putting too much weight on the rear axle and taking too much off the front!

 

I've got a 2003 V10 Ex 4x4. We used to have a 12-Passenger E350 that towed our 33ft TT great. We just purchased the Ex and I'm looking into the rear sway bar addition. I was pretty surprised to find that mine doesn't have a sway bar. Is the Hellwig the upgrade I've heard it is? I have a Hensley Arrow, so sway isn't a problem, but I've never experienced body roll with the Ex, should I be concerned? Is the Hellwig necessary? Thanks!

 

the Ex only needs a rear sway bar as a band aid if you have changed your suspensions ,spring rates/shock package and ride height to the point it is off balance. Get the balance correct and it doesn’t need a rear sway bar however many people have installed one to try and fix Wander or other handling quirks rather then fix the real problem.

And yes I have had front and rear Hellwig bars as well stock bars and after extensive testing have gotten the Ex to handle great with no front or rear bar.

Your Ex sounds like it handle great, no bar required.

 

Depends on how you intend to use your vehicle and what you want.
Upgrading anti-roll bars is like upgrading springs, the larger diameter bars add more roll resistance which improves cornering control and reduces crosswind effects.
If you're offroading the additional roll resistance will create annoying jarring over uneven surfaces.
When going over speed bumps straight on with large diameter anti-roll bars you won't feel any difference, but go over the bump at a 45 deg angle and there will be some rocking.
Given the improvement in road handling and control of the vehicle, especially when towing, the bars are worth it.
Our 2WD Ex did not come with a rear anti-roll bar and the springs were a lot softer than on a 4WD.
After upgrading the rear leafs to F250 springs and installing the Hellwig front/rear bars our Ex handles, corners and tows very well.
I think a rear anti-roll bar is included with the "Tow Package" for later year Ex's or increased in size on other applications.
More info - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-roll_bar

 

the RWD uses the same rear spring rate as the 4x4, the only difference the 4x4 has a anti-wrap leaf to handle axle wrap when in 4 low.