Hitch for F-350

[Swanny]

Hello everyone,

Well I've scoured this forum looking for suggestions for what type of hitch to use on my 1 ton truck to buffer the impact of the springs of the truck.

I did some research into 'buffered hitches' by Air Safe and saw a few other firms. Does anyone have a suggestion regarding if these things are worth the money and if so which brand works well with an Airstream..

Cheers

[rmpray]

I just installed a hitch pn my F350, but it has a cab and chassi frame and while sprung heavy, the suspension is designed soft (guess they did not like bouncing around the "cargo".)

[RoadKingMoe]

There are two vastly different versions of the F350. The single rear wheel version uses the same springs (and pretty much everything else) as the F250 and certainly doesn't need an air hitch. The only difference between them is the 4WD version of the F350 uses 3.5" blocks between the axles and springs, while the 4WD version of the F250 uses 2" blocks. So you'll need more drop on the F350 hitch. This difference doesn't exist in the 2WD versions.

The dual rear wheel F350 has MUCH heavier rear axle and springs and I definitely would think about a cushioned hitch. As a young RV tech years ago, I saw cracks in the A frame of a quality SOB the more experienced techs attributed to being towed by a dually. In this case, search for posts by Femuse, who put an air cushioned hitch on a box truck they use to tow their Airstream to festivals.

[ArtStream]

Hi,
I have been using a Airsafe hitch with a reese duel cam setup/550 bars for about a year/35,000mi now.

I installed it after I had some front end separation issues.
I also installed a set of Centermatics(sp) wheel balancers.

In all fairness it would be hard to say if these things WORKS/HELP or not.

What I can say is that the front end repairs have held.

F350 1ton,dually

Michael

PS, here at JC I have seen over 5, 30-34 footers come in for front end separation over the past 2 weeks.
1994-1998 mod's, 1/2 ton to 1 ton TVs

[Swanny]

Originally Posted by RoadKingMoe

There are two vastly different versions of the F350. The single rear wheel version uses the same springs (and pretty much everything else) as the F250 and certainly doesn't need an air hitch. The only difference between them is the 4WD version of the F350 uses 3.5" blocks between the axles and springs, while the 4WD version of the F250 uses 2" blocks. So you'll need more drop on the F350 hitch. This difference doesn't exist in the 2WD versions.

This is great info. Our F-350 is the 4WD version with single rear wheels. Everything seems to ride great; however after reading other posts on this forum I was concerned that I wasn't using the correct hitch.

As for the drop you are correct. I had to find a 12" drop that could handle 10k++ pounds. We use the WD bars and I've found that I don't really need the sway control since the truck has a long bed. Thanks again everyone!