Advice on using air bags with a WD hitch

[daleyocum]

A non-scientific data point. When I towed my FC25FB home from the dealer they adjusted my hitch to get the trailer and truck level. I just had the air bags down at 5lbs, the minimum. On the way home we tried pumping them up to 20 and sure enough it felt better. There was slight porpoising before the inflation and that went away after. It also felt “tighter” as the previous poster said.

This might just be that the hitch wasn’t entirely dialed in by the dealer. As I said, unscientific.

It would be nice to be more deliberate about all this.

[gypsydad]

Did post #15 above help anyone besides me, understand the airbag and WDH relationship? I am wondering why airbags?>

[daleyocum]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

Did post #15 above help anyone besides me, understand the airbag and WDH relationship? I am wondering why airbags?>

If I didn’t already have airbags I wouldn’t buy them just to haul the Airstream. I just already had them on the truck so figured I’d see what effect they had. The jury is still out.

My F150 is pretty lightly sprung as trucks go. That makes for a great ride when not towing. The airbags help a lot if you are carrying heavy cargo in the bed of the truck occasionally. With my previous trailer, a 16’ Camplite, they were good enough to level out the trailer and prevent porpoising without the expense of a WD hitch (since I already had them.) Not the ideal arrangement in theory but it worked fine.

My FC25, though, needs a WD hitch for sure. The airbags may or may not be useful to fine tune on the fly or, as was mentioned, when going over rough terrain.

[Iansk]

Originally Posted by daleyocum

If I didn’t already have airbags I wouldn’t buy them just to haul the Airstream. I just already had them on the truck so figured I’d see what effect they had. The jury is still out.

My F150 is pretty lightly sprung as trucks go. That makes for a great ride when not towing. The airbags help a lot if you are carrying heavy cargo in the bed of the truck occasionally. With my previous trailer, a 16’ Camplite, they were good enough to level out the trailer and prevent porpoising without the expense of a WD hitch (since I already had them.) Not the ideal arrangement in theory but it worked fine.

My FC25, though, needs a WD hitch for sure. The airbags may or may not be useful to fine tune on the fly or, as was mentioned, when going over rough terrain.

Please let us know what you figure out. It would seem to me that the addition of airbags to the WDH would be a benefit in terms of adjustability for the reasons stated above. This is timely for me as I am in the market for airbags for my truck.

Thanks,
Ian

[Iansk]

Originally Posted by Airdream99

I will be towing my new 27FB twin when the winter ends up here in the great white north. I have an F150 EB, WDH and airbags. The WDH was installed by the dealer for the drive home but the trailer was empty so I will re-install once it it loaded. I have towed for many years and also other trailers and this truck has all the towing bells and whistles, nearly 2000 lbs cargo capacity, etc.

I am thinking to air up the air bags about half way and not change it, then install and adjust the hitch. Using the WDH hitch to level and distribute weight back to the front, etc. just like the air bags are not there. I will check everything out at the CAT scales, etc.

Can some of you comment on my thoughts that follow:

With the airbags inflated half way as the base, I will then have the ability to basically loosen and tighten my spring bar geometry on the fly (I have an on-board compressor with remote). Theory is that since you raise the trailer with the tongue jack to make it easier to add the bars in the first place that if you raise the rig with the airbags it would in effect "flatten" out the bars and reduce WDH effect. The opposite would also be true, bleed out air thus tightening the bars increasing the effect of the WDH. This would only be messed with to fine tune the ride in case of bad roads, porpoising, high winds, etc. Under normal conditions I would leave the airbags at the mid-point. An additional benefit would be the ability to temporarily lower the rear of the TV with a corresponding raising of the rear of the trailer to gain an inch or two of ground clearance going over a curb, backing into an uphill camp site, etc to decrease the risk of tail drag.

Any thoughts on all of this? Does it make sense? OR is it just easier to take the airbags out of the equation all together by keeping them at low pressure all the time. I do understand that the Airbags will not move weight, etc.

Some comments on this thread have mentioned adjusting the WDH with minimal air in the air bags, THEN inflating the bags after hookup. In my opinion this is the opposite that should be done since it messes with the angle of the hitch after adjusting.

Comments for anyone with experience using both would be greatly appreciated.

This makes perfect sense to me. I am adding airbags to my truck, but not primarily for towing. Though, it would be nice to know how well or poorly the airbags play with the WDH.

Ian

[Iansk]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

Did post #15 above help anyone besides me, understand the airbag and WDH relationship? I am wondering why airbags?>

The results in the video were exactly what I assumed they’d be.
Depending how you use your truck, airbags could be very useful.
I’m curious how they effect the use of a WDH, if at all. It would seem to be a handy option regardless.

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by Iansk

The results in the video were exactly what I assumed they’d be.
Depending how you use your truck, airbags could be very useful.
I’m curious how they effect the use of a WDH, if at all. It would seem to be a handy option regardless.

All boils down to "payload". Airbags don't change the payload rating.

[Iansk]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

All boils down to "payload". Airbags don't change the payload rating.

I think there is more to it then just payload.
It should be obvious that airbags don’t increase payload, they are simply adjustable shock absorbers.

[RETLEO]

I am considering both. Reason being for boondocking. Normal towing would be bags at min. pressure with the WDH installed. When getting to off road rougher areas the WDH bars would come off. Then when I get to steep, short grades I can adjust the bags. I'm afraid with WDH bars in place they could get damaged or damage the trailer frame in weird little dips and rises in the road.