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Old 12-22-2005, 09:39 AM   #1
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Anybody know about Reese roadmaster?

I saw this http://www.reese-hitches.com/rm_act_...Suspension.htm while looking around the reese site. Anybody know anything about them? How they work, are they really better than adding a booster spring? I need to put something under my F150 before spring so any insight would be helpful. And yes, I have searched the fourm. Thanks
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Old 12-22-2005, 09:58 AM   #2
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ANY addition to the rear suspension system, such as an overload spring, helper spring, load levelers, inflated air lifts or inflated air bags, progressively reduces the function of a "load equalizing hitch", and can, complete render it useless.

Andy
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Old 12-22-2005, 11:50 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In
ANY addition to the rear suspension system, such as an overload spring, helper spring, load levelers, inflated air lifts or inflated air bags, progressively reduces the function of a "load equalizing hitch", and can, complete render it useless.

Andy
I am not sure I understand why this would be the case, which is not to say I am saying you are wrong, just that I don’t understand. How is adding to the load the suspension can accommodate any different than hooking up to a tow vehicle that has a more heavy duty suspension? I would have thought that increasing the suspension capacity would reduce the strain on the equalizer. Is that not a good idea? If I follow what you are suggesting correctly, then it ought to be true that removing a spring would make the load equalizer hitch more effective. Surely that can’t be correct. So I guess I need to add a couple more questions 1) is it not the case that you want to reduce the amount of load that the hitch needs to redistribute? And, 2) exactly how does increasing suspension capacity reduce the function of a load equalizing hitch and render it useless. Hopefully after some folks weigh in on this I will understand more about this system than I do now, so thanks in advance.
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Old 12-22-2005, 12:16 PM   #4
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Rodney.

The more strain (load) that is placed on the torsion arms of a load equalizing hitch, "the better it works".

When you reduce the load, you decrease the transfer of weight, therefore creating a poor handling rig.

Many Suburban owners remove the overload spring, that dramatically increases the load equalizing hitch performance.

Remember that the arms are "torsion arms" The must be loaded properly to shift weight.

Overload springs of any form, "DO NOT" shift any weight. They simply lift weight.

So your comment is exactly 180 degrees backwards.

Truck scales are there for you to use so that you can check out your theory, or make corrections as necessary.

Weight shifting is the key word, not weight lifting.

Rear end weight lifting, also removes some of the weight from the front axle, when you tow your trailer.

A proper rated, properly installed, properly adjusted load eqalizing hitch, does exactly that. It equalizes and redistributes the tongue weight of the trailer, as well as any possible excessive weight in the back end of the tow vehicle, so that you have an nearly equal load on each tow vehicle tire.

Two thirds of the tongue weight transfers to the tow vehicle and one third goes back to the trailer axle or axles.

When you add any form of overload, tha tongue weight goes back to the ball, creating a very poor handling rig.

Andy

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Old 12-22-2005, 12:29 PM   #5
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Reese suspension vs weight distribution bars

I can not tell exactly how they work from their site but it looks like helper springs with an additional shock absorber. If your 150 is bottoming out, they may be of some help. But you need to make sure it is not because your not transferring enough weight thru your weight distribution bars. If the w/d bars are doing their job and you are still too mushy, then you might be just overloading the tow vehcile and helper springs would help the aditude of the truck but may not solve the whole problem. You need to weight the trailer and the truck and find out if you are exceeding the max weight. If you just fix the springs, the brakes and transmission/rear end may still (and most likely are) overloaded. Which is not a safe situation.

Separate issue: The vertical spring rate of the tow vehcile has no impact on the effectiveness of the weight distribution bars, if the bars are properly selected for the proper spring rate and loading. I do not know where Andy is coming from on that one. If you have too light a bar, you can overload it and bend it, if you try to transfer too much weight to overcome the low spring rate of a particular tow vehicle in an attempt to make it level again. We used to have guy come to some of our outings that used an old soft sprung Caddilac. The back end of the car and the nose of the trailer almost touched the ground when he started out but he had optional airbags on the car and would inflate them rock hard to level the assembly. Never put any real load on his w/d bars. He thought it was just fine. He was not much of a mechanic.
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