I thought the frame was flexing too much....had the bed removed & found the frame broken in 2 parts & holding by the Airbag brackets
Both sides cleanly broken as if I had sawed them to extend the truck to make a limo....
Those y2k 1/2 Ton Silverados have waffer thin frames...DO NOT OVERLOAD them...I hauled a 2000lbs slide in camper & I think it didn't help
I hope the frame shop will be able to reconnect the front & rear of my truck & reinforce it too!
Good thing I was not towing the Safari the chains would have been no help
I would have to think,that when you air up those shocks,that you are transfering enough shock load to a small area on the frame,via the upper mount,that your creating a pivot point of regidity in the frame. You may want to toss those shocks,and if need be,use air bags. Good luck with the repairs on the frame.
In fact I reworded my post , as I have Firestone Airbags over the bump stop. I however think they are what caused the frame to brake for the reasons you stated.
The strange thing is that they broke from bottom to top...as if you would hold the front & cab down and lift the rear untill it broke
just the opposite of what one would expect with overloading.
Moe,
The hitchweight of a 71 Safari is not a hazard for this kind of truck, but a loaded heavy slide-in over bad roads is .
So no more heavy loads & no WD.
YOUR WDH hides the fact YOU need more truck for YOUR behemoth AS
Panhead John,
The "old glory" beautiful pic seems to indicate that YOUR WDH is not enough to keep your truck leveled , rear of the truck is low.
Originally posted by qqq The hitchweight of a 71 Safari is not a hazard for this kind of truck, but a loaded heavy slide-in over bad roads is .
So no more heavy loads & no WD.
YOUR WDH hides the fact YOU need more truck for YOUR behemoth AS
LOL! Not hardly! I'm not the one with the broken frame, and doubtfully will ever be, since Ford uses the same frame (and brakes) on the F250 through F350 dually models.
A WD hitch mainly keeps your rear axle from having to carry, in addition to the tongue weight, all the weight that was leveraged off the front axle, by putting it back on the front axle. The important thing is that it maintains the weight on your front tires to give them grip when turning, especially on wet pavement.
Don't get all defensive... I didn't say you didn't have enough truck for the trailer. You obviously didn't have near enough for a 2,000 lb camper (that was the DRY weight, right?) and the airbags hid that.
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