SFTorange

Hi All,

I have a 2014 Lariat Screw 6.5' bed EB max tow, 7700lb gvw, payload of 1676. I tow a Keystone Passport 2400bh that weighs in fully loaded at 6100lbs. I spent some time at the CAT scales last weekend and learned a lot. I now have a good idea if what it takes to keep the trailer load distributed under various circumstances to keep the tongue weight at or very close to 750 lbs. I am well within all specs for my truck when fully loaded truck and trailer using a Blue Ox sway pro with 750lb bars.
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For what it's worth, the Weigh My Truck app from Cat scales makes it much easier to get weights without having to deal with going inside the truck stop.

Anyway, I just installed a Roadmaster Active Suspension kit, which helped my towing ride a lot, but I'm looking for more. My wife is sensitive to motion, and we still feel bumps a bit more strongly than we'd like. I'm looking at Billistein 5100s for the rear and have two questions. Do you think they would help with smoothing the ride when towing? Is it OK to just install the rears for now while leaving the front stock?

Thanks in advance.
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joe mcmillan

I don't know how much the shocks will do for the ride comfort.
I use to have camp trailers.
Was amazed when I changed over to 5th wheels.
The tow vehicle rode so much better with the 5th wheels.
With the trailers there was always the see saw ride that was from the trailer hitch going up and down over the bumps.
The 5th wheel eliminated this. The 5th wheel also had very little sway ever from wind or passing large vehicles.
Just so much more of a pleasurable ride with the 5th wheels.

dlbb

throw some supersprings on
https://www.supersprings.com/products/supersprings

as for the Billistein 5100s i say replace all at the same time. to much differance in those and the oem. and i would love a report back on ride/ sag with the billistein. i am thinking of doing them myself. but i have a heavy duty.

Mike Up

Wow, those 750 bars seem awful light for such a trailer. My Jay Flight 26BH is nearly the same floorplan.






Your trailer is 1' shorter(27'10" opposed to 29'1") and 100 lbs lighter by the brochure weight. The 750 lbs are to light for my trailer. I use the 1000 lbs and I'm right at the instructional manual starting adjustment of 3 1/2 link from the spring bar to the bracket.

Also, you want your trailer nose level or slightly down, raised just a little bit will allow the weight to shift back and forth when hitting bumps and causes porpoising or bouncing at the hitch connection.

Also want to make sure your truck is as close to level as possible.

Having LT tires will take the flex out of the passenger (car) tires Ford puts on our trucks, even with the Max tow package. LT tires were an option when ordering. This will make a HUGE difference. The flex in the passenger tires will make the handling unstable in high winds as you rock back and forth.

So I see 2 possible reasons and maybe more if the hitch height is adjusted wrong.

The 750 lbs spring bars are most likely to weak unless your trailer tongue weight is freakishly light compared to most other trailers. This will cause poor handling, porpoising, and sway (since the sway control is in using the proper sized bars).

The tire's side walls are too weak for towing your trailer in high winds, and higher speeds.

Also, don't tow over 65 mph. That will add additional handling problems along with most trailer tires are only rated to 65 mph.

Also, when you're weighing the tongue, are you calculating it while the spring bars are hooked up?? This is incorrect, all you're doing is calculating how well the spring bars are distributing the weight to your axles. You need to weigh without the spring bars attached.

Seems like you are going at it all wrong. Adding aftermarket springs and shocks when the setup seems to be the problem. Go to a well respected hitch dealer with good reviews and have them check out your setup. Make sure they are a dealer or at least familiar with the NEW Blue Ox Sway Pro system.

After all is done above, if it still doesn't feel right to you, then I'd start looking at aftermarket devices.

SFTorange

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I've put a lot of thought into tires for sure. The truck came with an almost new set of Michelin LTX AT2 in P275 65 18, and I can't justify new tires yet, unfortunately.

I've been measuring my hitch weight two ways. I weighed the truck fully loaded with wife, kids, fuel, tonneau, bed liner, etc. I then weighed the truck without spring bars engaged and subtracted the GVW of the truck with no trailer from the GVW of the truck with the trailer attached with no spring bars.

I also have been weighing the hitch weight directly as outlined here. http://hildstrom.com/projects/tonguescale/

I have found that moving things around inside of the trailer can greatly affect hitch weight. I use two 6v Batteries that weigh in at 65lb each and if I store them on front with a full water tank, my hitch weight is well over 1k. If I move them and a few other things to the back of the trailer, I can get the hitch weight to 750 pretty easily. Do you think the 1k bars would be better even at 750l hitch weight?

I did a lot of measuring according to the guide to get the hitch set up, but my chain settings could be dialed in better for sure.

Mike Up

I camp mainly at Indiana State parks. They only have electric at the site so I bring 90 gallons of fresh water in my Jayco's two 42 gallon fresh water tanks and my 6 gallon water heater. My storage is front and the rear. More weight in the front.

In the rear storage, I keep my water hoses, fresh and waste separately () in sealed plastic tubs, septic accessories, along with my electrical cords, lynx levelers, jacks, chocks, Water heater back there too, and my coleman stove and my coleman grill.

Front storage has my 7 gallon aquatainers, laterns, large door mat, awning accessories, 4 Big Man Bass Pro tent chairs, 1 steel folding chair, one fold away aluminum 4' X 6' table, and my large 12' X 12' Screen house (maybe 40 lbs).

My water tanks are pretty much right by the axles so that weight doesn't affect tongue weight to bad, and the hot water tank's 6 gallons offsets weight from the front as well.

I previously used a Reese Strait-Line (HP Dual Cam sway control) hitch system with 1200 lbs. Reese doesn't offer 1000 lbs for this hitch. I used those for my Jay Flight 26BH when I had my 2012 F150 Screw 4WD 5.0L truck. It's suspension was softer and the larger spring bars worked well.

With the 2016 F150 Screw 4WD 5.0L truck's stronger suspension, I could not get the Reese Strait-Line system with those 1200 lbs adjusted correctly. The HP Dual Cam system is very finicky and will damage itself if not setup properly. So I had to buy a new Blue Ox Sway Pro system and LOVE IT. Much nicer than the Reese HP Dual Cam system.

I did previously use 800 lbs on my much smaller 2008 Jayco Jay Flight 19BH trailer that was 3900 lbs dry from the factory and about 5000 lbs loaded. I used those spring bars with both my 2008 Sport Trac 4WD 4.6L 3V truck and my 2010 F150 Screw 4WD 5.4L 3V truck.

I honestly can not see using even weaker bars on a trailer the size of my much larger, current camper.

I would call Blue Ox, they have great customer service, and talk to one of their people and tell them your weights. You want a spring bar that will be able to handle your heaviest trailer weight, not your lightest. This system is awesome in it being very easy to adjust for a heavier loaded trailer or lighter loaded trailer.

Also, the bars create your anti-sway effect. The angle they are aimed down puts added torque to pull your trailer back into alignment. The bars need to bend so that they may have the clearance from the road when angled down that steep. A heavier bar will not need to be pulled up as much, and may be to close to the road surface.

Give Blue Ox a call.

Good luck.

SFTorange

That is a good point. I will call Blue Ox. Fully loaded, my truck weighed in at 6880 pounds. That only leaves me 920 pounds of payload Left for tongue weight. Unfortunately, my water tank is right towards the front of the trailer along with most the storage. You do make a good point about using spring bars for the maximum weight you would be carrying, not the minimum.

it's pretty neat that your trailer has over 90 gallons of water capacity.

SFTorange

I just traded my P rated Michelins for a slightly used set of Cooper Discoverer AT3's to see how much it helps. New tires look great on the truck.

I called Blue Ox and re-read through the manual, and I don't think I've been putting enough tension on the spring bars. I'll experiment with that as well. They did recommend, in a perfect world, that I get the heavier bars, but real-world performance should dictate if I actually need to upgrade.

johndeerefarmer

P metric tires don't belong on a truck that tows. They are way to soft and squishy. The LT tires will help a lot.

Boulevard

Your best bet will be replacing the tires and I find the LT's way over rated for towing/everyday use especially at anything under 8000 lbs. I just find that the LT's ride way to harsh when unloaded and deflating them to 30 psi is just way too far out of spec for my tastes. Right now I am using Yokohama Geolander A/T GO15's in 275/60R20 and they are really great. They are rated at 51 psi and I have them inflated to 40 psi. I have never had a better all around tire and that includes the numerous LT's that I have used in the past.

If it ever does come to tires (and I am sure that it will) than to me you should looking for a P rated tire that inflates to 51 psi. I believe that the Cooper Zeon LTZ fits that bill.