New F-250 Truck, New Trailer = Rough Ride

[ratchet]

Looking for some advise for my truck trailer set up. I have the following:

2015 F-250 power stroke crew cab short box 4X4.

2014 31' Classic - The trailer scales out at 8,000 lbs. with 800 lbs. tongue weight.

Equal-i-zer hitch 10,000 lbs. towing and 1,000 lbs. tongue weight with an adjustable shank to drop the trailer ball down so the trailer rides level.

I set up the hitch myself because the dealer botched the job completely. I used the measurements on the front and rear of the truck suggested by the manufacture and verified the set up on the scales to ensue the proper weight transfer.

After driving the rig from Michigan to Indiana last week we went over some concrete stretches of I-69 north of Ft. Wayne that put the truck and I'm sure the trailer into a non acceptable repetitive bounce. I could see the backend of some semis bouncing the same way. I was towing at 65 mph. I also tried 55 and 60 mph. It slowed the bounce frequency down as well as the amplitude but it was still there. Since we had time I disconnected the weight distributing bars and drove over the same section of road again at the three speeds. Same bounce. Without the bars the trailer did have sway issues, it was windy. So I feel the hitch is working correctly since I had the bounce with or without the bars.

I see a lot of F-250's pulling Airstreams and I sure they all don't have the bounce issues. The trailer and truck ride pretty nice on Asphalt and some stretches of concrete.

My Questions:
1. Is the suspension of the F-250 to stiff for a nice riding rig?
2. Would a Kelderman air suspension, spring removal, fix the problem?
3. What is everyone else doing? Has anyone gone to the air suspension to fix the problem?
4. Is it me? Am I missing something?

Thanks for any input.

Regards,

Doug

[Moo1822]

Tagged for later...

[TexasMitch]

In 2012 I had a new 2012 Silverado 2500HD and distinctly remember experiencing the exact symptoms you described when I picked up my 2012 30' Classic. For what its worth I also have the Equalizer hitch.

From what I recall it was the section of concrete roads in Texas that caused most of the trouble. I went on to tow at least 6000+ miles with that setup and don't recall many more issues.

Good luck to you!

[SteveSueMac]

Not 100% sure. A few random thoughts:


1) do you need more tongue weight? 10% may not be enough

2) on my hitch (ProPride), I've noticed if the yoke isn't even (left to right) on the a-frame, porpoising increases. I have no idea if you might have a similar problem

3) what does Ford want for your setup in terms of "front axle load restoration" or FALR? With my Chevy 2500, it can range from 0 to 50 to 100% depending on a lot of factors. Sounds like you've been to the scales - how much was lifted off the front end when you dropped the trailer on the ball and how much has been restored with WD applied - and then how does that compare with Ford's instructions?

These are random ideas - not sure if they'll help or not. Good luck!

[PeterH-350LE]

Using a 1 ton TV pulling a 34' trailer, I had a terrible bounce using old short 1000 pound bars (which =~1200 bars on the new length bars). Since I changed to 800 pound bars on my Reese system, the bounce is very soft and independent.

[Andrew T]

Hi Doug

The Equalizer brand hitch is not doing you any favors from a ride standpoint. A tapered torsion bar will help quite a lot.

Make sure you have enough pressure on the torsion bars to keep the rear suspension off of the helper springs.

Weigh your combination and the use the correct tire pressure for the weight your tires are carrying.

Change the Airstream to P235/75R x 15" XL tires. Run them at 50 psi.

Andy

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by Andrew T

Hi Doug

The Equalizer brand hitch is not doing you any favors from a ride standpoint. A tapered torsion bar will help quite a lot.

Make sure you have enough pressure on the torsion bars to keep the rear suspension off of the helper springs.

Weigh your combination and the use the correct tire pressure for the weight your tires are carrying.

Change the Airstream to P235/75R x 15" XL tires. Run them at 50 psi.

Andy

From my experience towing with a couple of 3/4 ton trucks now, Andy's statement above is correct, and very important.

As you know, the truck will handle the weight without weight distribution, but if you don't have enough WD, the truck will be riding on the rear overload springs making the ride rougher than if you have proper distribution.

However, there are some of the concrete highways with humps at the joints that make the ride horrible. The only things I can tell you about that is to either slow down quite a bit, or take a different route. The ride on those type roads is bad even with a 1/2 ton truck.

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by SteveH

......... However, there are some of the concrete highways with humps at the joints that make the ride horrible. The only things I can tell you about that is to either slow down quite a bit, or take a different route. The ride on those type roads is bad even with a 1/2 ton truck.

I think Steve may be on to something in this last paragraph.

There was a thread here recently about the poor state of the Interstate highways in Indiana. No offence to the nice folks in Indiana. We traveled I-16 in our beloved Georgia about two years back from end to end, Macon to Savannah. BEAT ME TO DEATH. It was the road, not tow setup. There's a thread about that adventure as well. We were towing a 4000 # Airstream with an F-150 that normally has a very soft ride.

Jim

[arktos55343]

You might also consider an AirSafe hitch....which uses an industrial air bag to isolate the up and down movement of the back of the TV...and transmits only a small percentage of that movement to the tongue of the TT. I tow with a 2003 Ford F250 SuperDuty v10 Manual. The ride is very rough unloaded. But when I hook up the TT, the ride smooths out a lot.

[68 Overlander]

Did Inland Andy just give up on this? Sorry but haven't watched in a while.

[J. Morgan]

Some roads are just going to be rough to tow over, there really isnt anything you can do about it other than what you tried.

It used to be worse, whole states used to be miserable....

(Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi used to be the worst imho, MS is much much better now, AR and LA suck less than they used to.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, Take the overload springs off you don't need them. Make sure that your "L" brackets are located at the max distance 32"s. And some roads are the cause and you can't do anything about it.

[rbs]

Originally Posted by ratchet

Looking for some advise for my truck trailer set up. I have the following:

2015 F-250 power stroke crew cab short box 4X4.

2014 31' Classic - The trailer scales out at 8,000 lbs. with 800 lbs. tongue weight.

Equal-i-zer hitch 10,000 lbs. towing and 1,000 lbs. tongue weight with an adjustable shank to drop the trailer ball down so the trailer rides level.

I set up the hitch myself because the dealer botched the job completely. I used the measurements on the front and rear of the truck suggested by the manufacture and verified the set up on the scales to ensue the proper weight transfer.

After driving the rig from Michigan to Indiana last week we went over some concrete stretches of I-69 north of Ft. Wayne that put the truck and I'm sure the trailer into a non acceptable repetitive bounce. I could see the backend of some semis bouncing the same way. I was towing at 65 mph. I also tried 55 and 60 mph. It slowed the bounce frequency down as well as the amplitude but it was still there. Since we had time I disconnected the weight distributing bars and drove over the same section of road again at the three speeds. Same bounce. Without the bars the trailer did have sway issues, it was windy. So I feel the hitch is working correctly since I had the bounce with or without the bars.

I see a lot of F-250's pulling Airstreams and I sure they all don't have the bounce issues. The trailer and truck ride pretty nice on Asphalt and some stretches of concrete.

My Questions:
1. Is the suspension of the F-250 to stiff for a nice riding rig?
2. Would a Kelderman air suspension, spring removal, fix the problem?
3. What is everyone else doing? Has anyone gone to the air suspension to fix the problem?
4. Is it me? Am I missing something?

Thanks for any input.

Regards,

Doug

That is the worst newly constructed road that we have ever been on, we avoid it. I don't think you could find any setup to eliminate the bouncing on that section of Interstate. I can't believe the people of Indiana put up with that.

[overlander63]

Your problem is not so much the truck, but the road you were on. Avoid it if at all possible.

[dkottum]

Trouble is there are lots of roads like that. Andrew T. has good advice for us as best we can manage, light truck springs, soft Airstream tires, and a flexible hitch connection.

[AnnArborBob]

I have an F-250 and, as a Michigan resident, consider myself to be somewhat of an expert on bad roads. In general my F-250 does not porpoise as you noted happening to you on I-69, but this has happened to me and usually goes away after a period of time or a change in road. However, I do about 95% of my towing outside of Michigan where the roads are comparatively wonderful.

I think you hit the nail on the head with your observation about the semi's doing the same thing on that particular stretch of road. I would see how things are for you on a variety of other roads before I started spending money on changing up the hitch.

[Airrogant]

I'm sorry, but I can't find where you told us what size bars you were using with your setup. I've often seen it written here that a 3/4 ton truck doesn't need much WD. Would 600 lb. bars be a better choice for this application?

[dbj216]

I have the same bounce on bad roads with my rig. Some Super Duty fans report the FX4 rancharo shocks are way stiff. They say a Super Duty will ride better with Billstein 5200 shocks. If you are using off road shocks, consider changing them. I run 16" LT load E tires at 65 psi which stiffened the ride I'm sure.

But the highway bounce was about the same in my E-350 van and 50 psi trailer tires of years ago. And both tow vehicles ride decent on a good road. It just seems like some poured concrete gets wavy for some reason and the bouncing gets started. I should think there would be some way to pour the roadway flat.

I sure hope Airstream considers "earthquake" construction techniques. I'm sure the g-loads inside the trailer on a bouncy highway are really something. It sure can shake things apart.

David

[Moflash]

I tow my 28ft International with a 2015 F350 and the only drawback was the pounding my trailer took while towing.Concrete roads seemed to be the worst.Installed a Airsafe Hitch and now the trailer just floats behind with no bucking transmitted back to the truck on rough roads.Wont travel without it after having one.It is hard to avoid rough roads when traveling.The Airsafe hitch will keep from beating up your Airstream and keep it from beating you up.You WD hitch attaches to the Airsafe.

The FX4 shocks are junk made in China and are almost non functioning when new.I removed mine at 500 miles on my 2012 F350 and my 100lb wife compressed it with one hand and it took 1.5 mins to rebound!I replaced with Bilstein 5100's and it changed the total ride to the passengers but did nothing to help the trailer.

Removing overload springs is not the way to go with modern progressive sprung trucks.

[dbj216]

Thanks Moflash. I'm going to study these Airsafe hitch attachments.

David