JuanEscoba

First of all I have towed my ~30’ travel trailer several times in some extreme weather conditions; eg. high winds in heavy rain on the interstate to and from Big Bend, TX. The Equalizer hitch has made the sway none existent, however I don’t think I have the setup ideal. The reason I am concerned is due to the Scale results I have been getting. The scale station is 10 minutes from where I store the trailer so I have plan on going tomorrow to weigh without WDH activated and maybe make some adjustments. Here are the results I got last week with the hitch activated.
TV front axle: 3180
TV rear axle: 4220
Trailer: 7620
This is with 40#s of air in the bags before I activate WDH.
The truck returns to correct front fender measurement and the rear fender is about 1/2” taller than the front with WDH activated.

Any suggestions?

Tow Vehicle:
2017 F150 Screw WB 145” 3.5 Eco with max tow.
2.5” Fox coilover front level with rear Fox shocks that add about 1” and rear Air lift airbags.
GVWR 7000 lbs.
Front GAWR 3525 lbs.
Rear GAWR 3800 lbs.
Cargo Capacity 1634 lbs.
GCWR 16900 lbs.
Tow Capacity 11500 lbs.
Max Tongue Weight 1220 lbs.
Equalizer 4 point WDH 1400/14000

Trailer:
2018 Keystone Outback 298RE
Dry Weight 7920 lbs.
Carrying Capacity 1580 lbs.
Hitch weight 925 lbs.

12B302

You need to set up the bars without the airbags. You arent transferring enough weight back to the front, due to the illusion of level with the bags inflated.

acdii

Yeah, take the airbags off, they are messing with your setup. Weigh the truck with everything except the trailer, then hitch up and try to return the front end to the same value. Once you do that you will find the RAW to be more to your liking.

Once you get it all setup this way, then add some air to the bags, but not enough to raise the truck any, just enough to stabilize it, otherwise you will mess up everythig you just did.

smokeywren

You're overloaded over the payload capacity of your half-ton pickup. So you need either more truck or less trailer.


You're overloaded over the rear GAWR. So you need either more truck or less trailer.


If you have to "make do with what you have", then about the only thing you can do is tighten the spring bars to distribute more weight off the rear axle and onto the front and trailer axles. You have capacity to spare for fGAWR. You'll still be overloaded over the payload capacity of the F-150, but not so much over the rGAWR of the F-150.


Don't tighten the spring bars so tight that the front fender is closer to the ground with the trailer than without the trailer. But having zero difference is okay.

JuanEscoba

Went scale yesterday.

WDH activated I then added 25 PSI to airbags.
Front axle: 3200 lbs.
Rear Axle: 3880 lbs.
Trailer: 7440 lbs.

Then I let the pressure out to 5 PSI.
Front axle: 3220
Rear axle: 3840
Trailer: 7480

I think I will add another washer to the hitch I’m at 5 washers now.

BCMIF150

If your hitch is set right you shouldn't need to use the airbags.

JuanEscoba

Bags are used for utility trailer and boat towing since I have coilover level. Less air with travel trailer definitely helped out in ideal weight distribution. I think adding another washer will both help in weight distribution and require less air if any.

chimmike

Hm. Well, the advertised hitch weight for your camper is wrong anyway. Figure on your trailer weight at 8500lbs with your gear in it.

15% of tw for WDH weight: 1275lbs. Add in weight of WDH itself and you're over 1300lbs.
1634 payload minus ~1325 for tongue weight and hitch weight: 309lbs
subtract anything you've added to the truck; bedliner, bags, whatever.
I figure you have ~200lbs payload capacity (i.e. passenger and cargo capacity) now. So if you have a person or two in the truck, you're over weight.

Ricktwuhk

Even with a WDH, you're likely over the max weight for the hitch itself, not to mention being overweight for your payload.

Tom_with_a_Truck

Just from the outside looking into the thread, seems like you need to shed some weight there.