Setting up the 15 for towing
03-20-2016, 12:24 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Setting up the 15 for towing
Setting up for season with the 15.
Damn these trucks are high, shallower box, but higher....
On the 13 screw the trailer combo just sat right, the 15 has proved more of a challenge. Having an old 5th with a welded pin box, means no height adjustment on the trailer, and the axels are already flipped so the trailer has already been lifted. Trailer sat way to high in the front, and to add to my woes, I pulled the Reese Titan and moved up to a Pullrite automatic hitch. No height adjust.
Now with the titan at its lowest setting I was nose hi,
Finally got her sitting pretty good with removal of the spring blocks on the truck. Added weight of the pullrite, and built an underframe storage, so a little more hitch weight. Still about an inch high.
With the blocks still in, truck was 1 inch hi with the trailer on.
Now with blocks out, i'm 1/4 inch low on truck, I think I can live with that. taking it for a 400 klm grocery trip today, see how it tows, if this set up isn't quite right, I may put blocks back in and buy low profile legs for the pullrite, blocks are 1 1/4", low profile legs would give me 1 1/2".
The 13 with 50 and 373's was doing 20.6 liters per hundred milage, my test loop yesterday I was showing about 23 liters per 100 with the 50 and 331's. Have better milage comparison after todays 400 klm test pull.
Oh, and 400 klm grocery trips with your rv are normal here in the north....lol
Damn these trucks are high, shallower box, but higher....
On the 13 screw the trailer combo just sat right, the 15 has proved more of a challenge. Having an old 5th with a welded pin box, means no height adjustment on the trailer, and the axels are already flipped so the trailer has already been lifted. Trailer sat way to high in the front, and to add to my woes, I pulled the Reese Titan and moved up to a Pullrite automatic hitch. No height adjust.
Now with the titan at its lowest setting I was nose hi,
Finally got her sitting pretty good with removal of the spring blocks on the truck. Added weight of the pullrite, and built an underframe storage, so a little more hitch weight. Still about an inch high.
With the blocks still in, truck was 1 inch hi with the trailer on.
Now with blocks out, i'm 1/4 inch low on truck, I think I can live with that. taking it for a 400 klm grocery trip today, see how it tows, if this set up isn't quite right, I may put blocks back in and buy low profile legs for the pullrite, blocks are 1 1/4", low profile legs would give me 1 1/2".
The 13 with 50 and 373's was doing 20.6 liters per hundred milage, my test loop yesterday I was showing about 23 liters per 100 with the 50 and 331's. Have better milage comparison after todays 400 klm test pull.
Oh, and 400 klm grocery trips with your rv are normal here in the north....lol
Last edited by Martiangod; 03-20-2016 at 12:28 PM.
03-20-2016, 08:47 PM
#4
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Well 400 plus klm, 23.5 liters per 100 or 10 mpg American
Definatly not as good a puller as the 13 with 373's, it would run 20.6 or 11.2 mpg, but adequate.
Sure as hell wouldn't want 9200 lbs that its rated for back there.
Couldn't find 6th gear except down hill, in 5th over half the trip, slight headwind coming home and it was 4th gear.
3 1300 ft climbs on this run, climbed about the same as the 373's, but the long runs is where it didn't do as well.
Now performance out of the way, either have to lift trailer more or lower front somehow. and i'm thinkin air bags if I can find inboard frame set up.
All in all, a ton of work to make the 15 do what the 13 did effortlessly, bumper pull me thinks is the wise route to take with these new gen trucks.
And Ford pushin 331's down everyones throats may come to haunt then as lite pullers may head elsewhere for TV's.
Up here 2 years ago, all 150's were spec'd with 373, now you cant find anything on the lot with anything but 331's, except the 2.7.
Almost makes me wish i'd taken the little one out for a test drive
Definatly not as good a puller as the 13 with 373's, it would run 20.6 or 11.2 mpg, but adequate.
Sure as hell wouldn't want 9200 lbs that its rated for back there.
Couldn't find 6th gear except down hill, in 5th over half the trip, slight headwind coming home and it was 4th gear.
3 1300 ft climbs on this run, climbed about the same as the 373's, but the long runs is where it didn't do as well.
Now performance out of the way, either have to lift trailer more or lower front somehow. and i'm thinkin air bags if I can find inboard frame set up.
All in all, a ton of work to make the 15 do what the 13 did effortlessly, bumper pull me thinks is the wise route to take with these new gen trucks.
And Ford pushin 331's down everyones throats may come to haunt then as lite pullers may head elsewhere for TV's.
Up here 2 years ago, all 150's were spec'd with 373, now you cant find anything on the lot with anything but 331's, except the 2.7.
Almost makes me wish i'd taken the little one out for a test drive
Last edited by Martiangod; 03-20-2016 at 08:50 PM.
03-21-2016, 09:25 PM
#6
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Lookin for some assistance here.
This 5th pulled and rode awesome on my 13, After yesterdays test pull, I have been trying to figure what's wrong. The ride was absolutely terrible.
Roads are not great here. but the pounding was beyond bearable.
I have the axel spacers out and as you can see still nose high. Starting to think I was hitting bumpstops, but have to re hitch to find determine that.
If I put spacers back in, nose is way up there, low profile legs for my hitch will drop me 1 1/2" as opposed to the 1 1/4" I gained with the axel spacers, so half inch lower then what I'm at now, but still not level, if I upgrade to 15 inch tires from the 14's, would help a little, but why does this truck ride so bad with a 5th on it?
I just cant figure it out. I I gotta figure it out, season is almost here and a ton of our customers drive 150's
This 5th pulled and rode awesome on my 13, After yesterdays test pull, I have been trying to figure what's wrong. The ride was absolutely terrible.
Roads are not great here. but the pounding was beyond bearable.
I have the axel spacers out and as you can see still nose high. Starting to think I was hitting bumpstops, but have to re hitch to find determine that.
If I put spacers back in, nose is way up there, low profile legs for my hitch will drop me 1 1/2" as opposed to the 1 1/4" I gained with the axel spacers, so half inch lower then what I'm at now, but still not level, if I upgrade to 15 inch tires from the 14's, would help a little, but why does this truck ride so bad with a 5th on it?
I just cant figure it out. I I gotta figure it out, season is almost here and a ton of our customers drive 150's
03-21-2016, 09:41 PM
#7
Not sure, I tow a GN horse trailer and have looked at 15s and 16s but my 13 is still so nice and pulls so good I haven't made the switch. Looks like maybe tire swap and shorter legs might be needed. Short of that maybe a new adjustable hitch box welded in?
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03-21-2016, 10:13 PM
#8
Senior Member
My guess is you need to stiffen the suspension.
I sure did with my 2011 when getting close to the GVWR.
And Ford may have softened the suspension even more in the 2015-2016s.
I sure did with my 2011 when getting close to the GVWR.
And Ford may have softened the suspension even more in the 2015-2016s.
03-24-2016, 01:14 AM
#9
Setting up for season with the 15.
Damn these trucks are high, shallower box, but higher....
On the 13 screw the trailer combo just sat right, the 15 has proved more of a challenge. Having an old 5th with a welded pin box, means no height adjustment on the trailer, and the axels are already flipped so the trailer has already been lifted. Trailer sat way to high in the front, and to add to my woes, I pulled the Reese Titan and moved up to a Pullrite automatic hitch. No height adjust.
Now with the titan at its lowest setting I was nose hi,
Finally got her sitting pretty good with removal of the spring blocks on the truck. Added weight of the pullrite, and built an underframe storage, so a little more hitch weight. Still about an inch high.
With the blocks still in, truck was 1 inch hi with the trailer on.
Now with blocks out, i'm 1/4 inch low on truck, I think I can live with that. taking it for a 400 klm grocery trip today, see how it tows, if this set up isn't quite right, I may put blocks back in and buy low profile legs for the pullrite, blocks are 1 1/4", low profile legs would give me 1 1/2".
The 13 with 50 and 373's was doing 20.6 liters per hundred milage, my test loop yesterday I was showing about 23 liters per 100 with the 50 and 331's. Have better milage comparison after todays 400 klm test pull.
Oh, and 400 klm grocery trips with your rv are normal here in the north....lol
Damn these trucks are high, shallower box, but higher....
On the 13 screw the trailer combo just sat right, the 15 has proved more of a challenge. Having an old 5th with a welded pin box, means no height adjustment on the trailer, and the axels are already flipped so the trailer has already been lifted. Trailer sat way to high in the front, and to add to my woes, I pulled the Reese Titan and moved up to a Pullrite automatic hitch. No height adjust.
Now with the titan at its lowest setting I was nose hi,
Finally got her sitting pretty good with removal of the spring blocks on the truck. Added weight of the pullrite, and built an underframe storage, so a little more hitch weight. Still about an inch high.
With the blocks still in, truck was 1 inch hi with the trailer on.
Now with blocks out, i'm 1/4 inch low on truck, I think I can live with that. taking it for a 400 klm grocery trip today, see how it tows, if this set up isn't quite right, I may put blocks back in and buy low profile legs for the pullrite, blocks are 1 1/4", low profile legs would give me 1 1/2".
The 13 with 50 and 373's was doing 20.6 liters per hundred milage, my test loop yesterday I was showing about 23 liters per 100 with the 50 and 331's. Have better milage comparison after todays 400 klm test pull.
Oh, and 400 klm grocery trips with your rv are normal here in the north....lol
Funny though, seeing a 5th wheel that small today, as most are monsters compared to travel trailers. These older 5th wheels look about the same size or even smaller than many of the travel trailers out there now.
Glad you got it to all work out. I guess that's one of the downfalls of a 5th wheel. That being getting it level on your truck. I've seen some people destroy their trucks to get them low enough for the 5th wheel. Once seen a F350 dually look like a low rider just so it could fit under the 5th wheel.
Last edited by Mike Up; 03-25-2016 at 02:45 AM.
03-24-2016, 10:48 AM
#10
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Just seen a 5th wheel just like yours, on the loop next to mine. I'm camping this week at the Dunes. Looked in very good condition as yours.
Funny though, seeing a 5th wheel that small today, as most are monsters compared to travel trailers. These older 5th wheels look about the same size or even smaller than many of the travel trailers out there now.
.
Funny though, seeing a 5th wheel that small today, as most are monsters compared to travel trailers. These older 5th wheels look about the same size or even smaller than many of the travel trailers out there now.
.
very little to go wrong with these old girls, after a bearing pack I had no qualms about heading out with a 25 year old trailer for a cross country tour last year, might again this year