Towing with 2” level

[s1000pre]

Being he already purchased the F-150, the Hensley/PPP was just a suggestion to improve the towing experience. I am at my payload maximum with the Limited. I will be moving to a new F-150 in February with a payload package and less bells & whistles to gain more payload. I do have to inquire about the “overrated” comment and ask if you have ever used a PPP or Hensley Hitch? I think they do everything as advertised.

[RVDreamer]

Originally Posted by s1000pre

Being he already purchased the F-150, the Hensley/PPP was just a suggestion to improve the towing experience. I am at my payload maximum with the Limited. I will be moving to a new F-150 in February with a payload package and less bells & whistles to gain more payload. I do have to inquire about the “overrated” comment and ask if you have ever used a PPP or Hensley Hitch? I think they do everything as advertised.

Yes, I owned and used one for about 6 years towing maybe 75,000 to 100,000 miles in that time frame. If you want to immediately alleviate about 200 useless pounds of tongue weight, I would suggest getting rid of that heavy hitch.

While it does perform well for removing sway it adds a lot of unnecessary problems. It adds a lot more weight over a conventional WD hitch. It makes it more difficult to hitch, unhitch and reverse. It lengthens the distance from truck to trailer which promotes porpoising on rough roads. It provides a stiff connection between truck and trailer which causes unnecessary wear and tear on the trailer. It costs a lot more.

Today's modern trucks have built in automatic sway control. They have heavy duty stabilizers for controlling sway. A properly loaded trailer with proper WD won't have a lot of sway issues anyway. So I would recommend a light duty, WD hitch that is lighter and provides more flexibility between truck and trailer.

[s1000pre]

Originally Posted by RVDreamer

Yes, I owned and used one for about 6 years towing maybe 75,000 to 100,000 miles in that time frame. If you want to immediately alleviate about 200 useless pounds of tongue weight, I would suggest getting rid of that heavy hitch.

While it does perform well for removing sway it adds a lot of unnecessary problems. It adds a lot more weight over a conventional WD hitch. It makes it more difficult to hitch, unhitch and reverse. It lengthens the distance from truck to trailer which promotes porpoising on rough roads. It provides a stiff connection between truck and trailer which causes unnecessary wear and tear on the trailer. It costs a lot more.

Today's modern trucks have built in automatic sway control. They have heavy duty stabilizers for controlling sway. A properly loaded trailer with proper WD won't have a lot of sway issues anyway. So I would recommend a light duty, WD hitch that is lighter and provides more flexibility between truck and trailer.

I’m glad to hear you have experience with it. I hear opinions from many others who have never used one. I hear you with the hooking up, I have had a couple trial runs that could have gone better. I have not noticed any of the other issues. I do pack my load to keep the hitch weight at 860lbs. with the Hensley installed.
I do noticed how the Hensley controls sway much better than either the Blue Ox, or Equalizer connected to a truck with all of the stability sway controls available. Hensley gave me a five month money back trial period ($200ish for shipping). That was the motivation that got me to roll the dice which I’m glad I did.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Abenhamo

The truck has a payload of 2100 and can tow 13,900 lbs. do you really think I need an f-250?

Hi

Yes

My F250 had a payload of around 2900 pounds. The classic will take up around 1,200 pounds of your 2100. The hitch might take another 100 or so. That leaves you with 800 pounds for passengers ( how many do you have?), dogs (how many do you have?). Let's guess that's another 500 pounds and you are at 300 pounds.

At this point you have an empty bed with no generator(s), no fuel, no bikes, no tools, no spare parts, no this, no that.

So sure, you *could* get away with it. 99% of us seem to toss a bunch of stuff in the bed. I swapped out the 250 for a 350 simply because the 250 was at / over the limit ... (without anything very weird in the bed).

I would also suggest that most folks are a bit variable in how they pack. If you are going to run right at the limit *and* pack for each trip, plan on hitting the CAT scales on a regular basis. Even if you are not changing things around, you should run past the at least once.

Tow rating (and likely payload as well) is impacted by altitude and multiple other things. The 13,900 number is at sea level and going 45 MPH (along with a bunch of other qualifiers). You will be ok, but you don't have quite as much margin even there as you might think.

Bob

[djb75]

Ref Post #15. His payload is actually 1535 lbs. So using Bob's numbers of 1200 for the trailer and 500 for cargo, he's now 165 lbs over his payload limit.

[gamakai]

There are diverse opinions as you have seen. I installed a 2 1/2 inch leveling kit on my f150 and it did not affect my towing. I, also, swiched to Michelin LT e rated tires. My hitch was an Equalizer and it was adequate. I switched to a Hensley hitch and found it far superior to the Equalizer. Last month I added Roadmaster Active Suspension system (3611 heavy duty). The loaded and unloaded ride improved with the RAS. Good luck

[uncle_bob]

Hi

The Classics are heavier than any other trailers in the current AS lineup. Much of that weight is in the very nice cabinetry. This (and the rear A/C unit) puts the weight high and back in the trailer. None of this is good for stability.

One of the normal tricks if you have a lightweight TV like an F250 is to run with the fresh water tank full. That adds weight "down low" and noticeably improves things .... There's actually a YouTube video about it ....

Yes, how you load things into the trailer also impacts all of this. The layout (sofa up front, lots of storage to the rear ) pretty much guarantees an "empty" trailer will do better than one that is fully loaded.

We've been playing with all this for a while now ....

How much my truck is like your truck is a "that depends". Do you have a 2WD or a 4WD? What size tires do you have? .....

How much anybody else's experience applies to somebody else is very much a "who knows?" sort of thing. If you never drive over 45 MPH and I drive 65, my experience will be different. If you only drive on the dead flat on calm days and I'm always in the mountains with wind, that's different. If you always tow on roads that are in good shape ... can I come live by you?

Fun !!!

Bob

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by RVDreamer

snip quote

The ProPride hitch while nearly eliminating sway weighs 200+ lbs. That would put him above max payload. Also the PPP adds distance between trailer and truck which can cause porpoising which stresses the suspension of the truck even more.

That very well may be the case...BUT.
Why put the well being of the TV, over the well being of those riding in the rig by eliminating a possible 200lb 'overload'.🥴

POI... That added distance is mitigated by the fact that the ppp hitch moves the pivot point forward closer to the axle.

Porpoising is not 'caused' or worsend by a ppp, it's all in the lash-up and or road conditions, the latter cannot be fixed by the traveller.

Bob
🇺🇸

[davidrrand]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

The Classics are heavier than any other trailers in the current AS lineup. Much of that weight is in the very nice cabinetry. This (and the rear A/C unit) puts the weight high and back in the trailer. None of this is good for stability.

One of the normal tricks if you have a lightweight TV like an F250 is to run with the fresh water tank full. That adds weight "down low" and noticeably improves things .... There's actually a YouTube video about it ....

Yes, how you load things into the trailer also impacts all of this. The layout (sofa up front, lots of storage to the rear ) pretty much guarantees an "empty" trailer will do better than one that is fully loaded.

We've been playing with all this for a while now ....

How much my truck is like your truck is a "that depends". Do you have a 2WD or a 4WD? What size tires do you have? .....

How much anybody else's experience applies to somebody else is very much a "who knows?" sort of thing. If you never drive over 45 MPH and I drive 65, my experience will be different. If you only drive on the dead flat on calm days and I'm always in the mountains with wind, that's different. If you always tow on roads that are in good shape ... can I come live by you?

Fun !!!

Bob

I try to always run with full fresh tank. Tried once without and noticed less stability. Empty the gray and black though!

[dnsapp]

Yes

[franklyfrank]

Originally Posted by Abenhamo

I just bought a new 30’ classic and a 2021 F-150 Platinum with a max tow package. I was going to level out the truck by installing a 2” ready lift on the front of the truck. Does anyone know if this will adversely impact my ability to tow the classic?

Been there done that.
You are going to be experiencing a lot of tail wagging the dog white knuckled situations.
A 1/2 ton is not suited to handle a 30' Classic.
That trailer will be bullying the truck.
And modifying the stock suspension to compensate is even a worse move.
Again I been there done all of that plus some and ended up with a 3/4 ton F-250 - Super crew with the 162" wheel base.
The longer wheel base is especially useful with the 30' Classic .
There is a lot of trailer hanging behind the rear axle of that thirty footer.

[djsula]

I had a dealer talk me out of a f250 and go with an eco boost f150 back in 2011. Hooked up a small box trailer and went to florida. Got a dismal 8mpg. Was never happier when a little old lady hit the f150 at full throttle and pushed it 8 feet and totalled it in my parking lot at work. On my second f250 diesel and will l never look back at a f150.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Back in the day, there was a *lot* of difference between the F150 / F250 / F350. The ride "quality" changed dramatically as you moved up that sequence. The options and interior also changed a lot. These days, there basically is no real break between the F250 and F350. Even the transition from F150 to F250 is not even close to what it once was comfort wise. Twenty years ago, this was a "major hassle" tradeoff. These days ... not quite so much.

Bob