well if you were doing 70 around here you be getting a big ticket speed limit is 55 towing anything and all big rigs is 55 so do not know what the speed limit is were you are but sure can understand the sway when you get going that fast

 

love mine! Everything is awesome with this thing except for the fuel mileage! It wasn't great before my lift and now is even worse. The regen suck 1-2 mpg per tank. Can't wait for the tuners and delete pipe

 

Glad to here you all like your new trucks. Yes yes i know i bought a dodge..... The thing is i paid like 15000 less for my dodge vs a equal ford. Yes i do agree ford is the best all round truck but was it worth the money? to me no. The dodge is treating me well so far i get about 16mpg through town and what not if i drive it normally like it alot and the manual trans is great. Would i have liked to have a ford? YES! Would i like to have a first year engine with SCR no not really. The new dodges are refined alot too now which make them nice. If you guys have a chance check them out. Not as nice as theford but still pretty cool and alot cheaper.

 

I checked my springs on my 2011 F250 and it's the same configuration that ruschejj mentioned...2 springs sitting on the 3rd.

 

My 2011 F250 has 1 short lower leaf then 2 long leafs and then 1 overload leaf that, as I understand it, is part of the camper package.

 

Hmmmm, some comparisons. Since you have the smaller gas tank, you must have the short bed. That by itself will contribute to a less stable towing platform giving you some of that sway and dance your talking about. My last truck was a short bed (1/2 ton Titan) and I'm quite familiar with the push out and suck you back in motion as you get passed by a semi. My new truck (6.7 SD) is a long bed and I am quite gratified at how rock solid it tows my 7K lb travel trailer. There's none of that dancing your talking about.... Which leads me to wonder, you say you put on the load leveler bars but are they doubling as sway bars? If they are, and your still getting the dancing, perhaps some simple adjusting will make a big difference. It took me a couple trips of fine tuning on the sway bars to get it dialed in perfect.
I'm also wondering what kind of a trailer your referring to? Is it a travel trailer or something more utilitarian. That may explain the handling characteristics a bit.
3.5"s of sag??? What's your tongue weight and how is the weight of the trailer distributed? My travel trailer has nearly 1k lb tongue weight and the rear bumper drops maybe an inch until I hook up the sway/load level bars and it brings it right back up level.
Lastly, I towed the same trailer loaded, full propane tanks, full water reservoir, with a load of cargo in the back of the truck (including a motorcycle) from 1,200 feet up and down some pretty serious grades to 9,000 feet in roughly 300 miles and averaged 10mpg.

Rest assured Ruschejj, I'm not attacking your or accusing you, just trying to give you some ideas for trouble shooting.

 

I have been driving dodges for 15 years, many of them have been awesome trucks until I bought this '06 its been a heaping steaming pile of dog crap. 7k in out of pocket repairs to get to 95k and the dealer tells me the ball joints and u joints are out AGAIN!!!!

dodge has a known weakness with a poor ball joint design, dodge did nothing to address this in the 2010 and up models, its still the same old crappy design. dodge does not use DEF so the engine is stuck ingesting larger amounts of EGR, running like crap and getting terrible fuel mileage. They are behind by not using DEF to meet emissions.

so good luck with the dodge, I am switching to ford

 

Just traded in my 2007 Dodge for my new 2011 F250. Trans on the dodge was never good for towing. It spent most of it's time searching for a gear that it was happy in. Haven't towed with the new truck yet(only180 miles on the odo so far) but it already feels more competent in it's gear selection and definitley has way more power than my old 5.9 Cummins. (Not bashing, just my own personal observations) To each his own...It's FORD for me!

 

Hey, no problems here. I got my truck on a Friday, hooked up the travel trailer (28ft, 8500 lbs) and hit the road Sat morning. So, I did not have time to set it up gradually.

1st, I raised the hitch block 1 inch. My WD bars are tight and I use the friction sway bar. Things got better with the inch lift on the block.

2nd, I always tow with at least 75psi in the rear tires. My fronts had 65 in them from the factory. I raised them to 75 and I don't believe what a difference that made. The blow and suck sway routine (make your own joke here) virtually disappeared. All but gone. Really surprised me.

3rd, My 28' travel trailer is the longest and tallest trailer I tow routinely. I also pull a 20' cargo, two 16' cargo's and an 18' low profile cargo, and a 36' fifth wheel cargo. These are all for work and in the last 5 years I have logged slightly over 250,000 miles. After pulling stuff this much, you pretty much know what to expect and when something feels different it kinda throws things off, which I think was my initial reaction to the new '11. Heck, I can't back up without a trailer. I almost always turn the wheel the wrong way 'cause I'm so used to pointing the trailer where I need to go.

The travel trailer has produced the lowest economy for me but I am referring to the first 3000 miles on the truck too. Might be better now? I generally average over 10 and less than 12.5 with all the work trailers.

My truck did not have the camper package and I understand this now, airbags are in a FedEx truck or plane at this very moment. I know they are not the same a WD bars, these trucks can handle the loads I deal with so I do not plan on using those anymore.

The new tire "squishy" feel is gone now. Always happens with new tires.

I have grown into the '11 now and have settled into what it feels like under load. It is so quiet and smooth it kinda scares me at times.

Thanks for the concern and tips. I hope yours is treating you well too.

 

I am nearing the 10000 mile mark. The truck gets better every day.

 

good for you

trailer sag with a 3/4 ton is par for the course...I'd consider upgrading to the 1ton srw spring pack...

-Rob

 

I have around 8,900 miles on my truck.....5,000 miles if which were pulling a 6,000 lb trailer.....12.7 avg. towing and 19.8 empty.....I love this truck!

Sorry about the RAM buddy.

 

I have got almost 2000 miles on mine since I picked it up on the 3rd of sept. So far it out does my 08 6.4 in every way. Better on fuel, better towing, no more bottom end electronic delay/bog. Only 3 re-gens in that time frame vs. 1 every 100-120 miles on my 08.

So far it is worth every single penny. The only thing I need is a rear sway bar as I forgot to order the camper package, then when I remembered it was to late to switch it.

But that is OK because I talked to Hellwig the other day and they said they were about a month away from having on for the 2011's.

I too am waiting on spartan so I can update my stuff to run on the beast.

As far as those that bought the piece o' Dodge best of luck. And enjoy the repair of the front end all the time. Everyone I talk to has put ball joints on them in 40-50,000 miles and brakes soon there after. What gives with that 16 years and counting on bad front end parts. 1994-2010+

 

It's great to see all 2011 owners are liking their trucks. I love mine!

While I like the 6.7 engine in all of it's refined greatness, I'm not completely sold on the SCR and the use of DEF.

I know Cummins, and Navistar are resisting the use of the SCR and when I read up on it they seemed to make a good arguement about not using DEF if their engines are already meeting the emissions requirements.

What's the plus of the SCR and the use of DEF?

I'm also a fan of inline diesel engines. Since Ford designed and built their own engine from the ground up I wonder did they ever consider the inline design instead of the V8 design. I know very little about Dodge or Chevy heavy duty pickups and really have no desire to learn but I'm speaking specifically about engine design.

 

Dodge is not resisting. Their chassis cabs have DEF systems. IIRC, their pick ups are getting it next year or in 2012. The advantages are many and have been discussed frequently. If you search a little you can learn a lot. Navistar is out of the HD pickup business, end of story. I do not know if Ford ever considered an inline six for their new diesel. I, personally, have not ever given it any thought. I have had both Cummins and Cat's in motor homes and a few v8's in pick ups. I liked them all but my relationship with the 6.0 I had was a trial.

Regards