Weight Dist. Hitch or Air bags

[kylesbds]

I have '01 F150 and towing the boat or the toyhauler is always sketchy. So what do you think would be the best solution? I know I probally need a bigger truck but thats in the future. So just wondering what the best way to go is, the rear air bags or a weight distribution hitch?

[Havasu Hangin']

How much tongue weight do you have?

[Zaairman]

What is your current set up? (Truck - gears, motor, transmission, cab, bed, etc. Trailers - weights, etc)

[kylesbds]

The truck is x-cab shortbed 5.4 V8 autotranny 3.73gears 6" lift 33"tires. The motor has the power the truck just gets pushed around alot. The toy hauler is worse than the boat but Im guessing 500-700lbs tounge weight and about 6500lbs total trailer weight.

[RitcheyRch]

Air bags gets my vote

[Zaairman]

the toy hauler is worse than the boat but Im guessing 500-700lbs.
:confused: We need details so we can help you...

[kylesbds]

Or is there anything else I could try to fix this?

[voodooCanoe]

Both!!! Bags on the truck are great and the hitch will take the "shock" out of the ride. With the hitch you won't notice the loading and unloading on bumps like you would otherwise. The bag will be good for all load hauling, just not the trailers. just my .02

[Zaairman]

The truck is x-cab shortbed 5.4 V8 autotranny 3.73gears 6" lift 33"tires. The motor has the power the truck just gets pushed around alot. The toy hauler is worse than the boat but Im guessing 500-700lbs tounge weight and about 6500lbs total trailer weight.
I'd start out with a WD hitch and add the bags later if you're still not happy. The 33"s with 3.73s are a good combo. I had 32"s on my 4.6 F-150 (stock height) and was gonna swap in 4.10s for the 3.55 that was in it. 6500LBS is about max weight for a 1/2 ton, so don't expect it to tow like an F-250.
You do have a brake controller on the truck right?

[kylesbds]

Yeah I got the brake controller that definitly helped out but after every bump on the freeway I still have to check my shorts.

[Zaairman]

Well, I just remembered that you had a lift. That isn't helping things at all. I'd go with both the WD hitch and the air bags. Hello Christmas presents.

[YeLLowBoaT]

Lifted trucks and towing don't go together well.
1st thing to check is to make sure the frame of the trailer is running level( IE make sure you have the right drop hitch) a unlevel trailer will tow very poorly... and since by far thats the cheapest thing to /try/fix( and you need to anyways) start there.

[Mandelon]

The bags are a cool deal, they help hold the rear end up for sure, but they make for a rough ride when not towing.
Is the sway caused by big tires with lots of flex in the sidewalls?

[Roaddogg 4040]

The WD Hitch definitely gets my vote. They are a must for your set up. IMHO...
Steve

[Jordy]

So what do you think would be the best solution? I know I probally need a bigger truck but thats in the future.
OK, at least you know you need a bigger truck, sooner rather than later... Hopefully before you wad your truck up and take someone else out in the process though. :notam:
How much weight are you pulling around?
Airbags and WD hitches are apples and oranges when it comes to towing. Ideas of total weight v. tongue weight would be helpful here.

[BlueNun]

I just picked up my 26ft. trailer in Oregon. I picked it up in town and drove it back to the house with just the hitch. I have a 99 yukon 350ci. 373's etc. Every bump made me a little nervous for the 20 mile ride back to the house. I picked up the WD hitch and drove it 650 miles home to Ca. with no issues. The ride and yukon evened out 90% and it towed a ton better.
WD hitch. I got mine used "mint" for $160 with a sway bar.

[Zaairman]

The bags are a cool deal, they help hold the rear end up for sure, but they make for a rough ride when not towing.
Is the sway caused by big tires with lots of flex in the sidewalls?
Which is why you empty the bags when you're not towing. And while the sway is normally caused by big tires, he's just running 33"s, which is about the stock size of a F-250 4x4 tire. Whoa... just thought of something. You are running LT tires right? At least Load Range D? :sqeyes:

[redneckcharlie]

OK, at least you know you need a bigger truck, sooner rather than later... Hopefully before you wad your truck up and take someone else out in the process though. :notam:
How much weight are you pulling around?
Airbags and WD hitches are apples and oranges when it comes to towing. Ideas of total weight v. tongue weight would be helpful here.
Theres alot of truth to that, sarcastic, but true. Ideally you probably need a larger truck, but, your on the right path for now. When towing with your truck, you should sit level and so should your trailer. You first need to establish the right drop for your truck. After that, if the truck squats below level the air bags will aid you in bringing the truck back up to level. When picking a bag, make sure you pick a kit that has the compressor option as well as the proper gauges in the truck. This will let you know how much pressure your pumping the bags up to. The bags will not affect your ride when the truck is unloaded. You simply leave them uninflated or with just a couple of pounds. The one real bad thing with the equalizer hitches, is its vey difficult to back up with the rods installed. They are really designed for straight line duty, and thats all. As someone stated, a good trailer brake controller is a must. Make sure the one you are using is rated for the number of axles your trying to brake. Most trucks are set up with 70-80 percent of the braking being done by the front end. Squating your rearend a couple of inches will drastically change the braking performance. Your truck has to sit level in the towing position to have the proper braking. For the people that say you can't tow safely with a lifted truck, thats completely untrue, as long as the truck is set up properly to tow. I have an F350 crewcab on 38's and 11 inches of lift. I routinely tow a 35ft tag trailer that loaded weighs 13-14 thousand pounds, depending on whats loaded on it. My truck is equipped with a large equalizer type hitch(the style that will allow for a setback) and air bags. My setup at seventy five does not sway an inch, regardless of what the cross wind is. If your setup correctly you should be able to an emergency type stop(basically lock the whole shootin match up) and the truck and trailer will stay straight. Good luck.

[kylesbds]

The tires are load range E so I dont think that is the problem. But Ive been looking at the wd hitches and It looks like they hang about 6" lower than the ball won't that be scraping going into gas stations? And whats the difference cause theres one made by curt mf thats like $150 and one by equilizer thats like $380? They both have 12000lb cap. my trailer is only about 6500.

[rcfan]

I have a 26' gearbox(tandem axle) not a very big trailer. It cracked my factory hitch on my 03' gmc 2500 h/d. Like someone was saying these tounge's are way underrated from the factory(fleetwood)!!! I went round's with mike thompson(foutain valley) when it cracked, and they finally stepped up to the plate, and replaced it with a class 5 hitch which is rated for like 1700lbs. Well when I went in to set the trailer ride height, the service mngr. said "lets just weigh that toungue, I have a calibrated toungue scale"?
He kinda had that tone in his voice like I had been exagerating....so I said cool, lets weigh it! Needless to say it was 1500lbs. to the tee!!! Nice trailer very overbuilt for a 26' trailer!!!! Bottom line, even if the manufactor give's you a weight dont believe it....expect more!!!

[Havasu Hangin']

It sounds like we have a similar setup. I have a 6" lift w/33's, and tow 12,000lbs w/1,450lbs of tongue weight. I've used bags, but currently use a Reese Titan WD hitch with the stock Autoride shocks.
What is your stock hitch rated at?
The big problem with alot of tongue weight is when the rear of the truck squats, it will throw off the steering geometry, and sway gets exaggerated.
Bags will level your truck, and are usually fine as long as you don't exceed the tongue weight limit on the hitch, or exceed the tire weight rating on the rear axle. Bags will lessen the sway alot- just don't tie them together (run the airlines separate) so the pressure won't transfer from one bag to the other.
A WD hitch will transfer a couple hundered pounds to the front axle, but is pretty hard on the tongue and hitch.