hello out there, i´m a newbie to this forum after owning a bunch of gm products, but anyway
i need to know if i should beef up my rear suspension because i tow a 6500 lb trailer
often, 5000 miles a year. any suggestions would be welcome. thx

ps i own a 2016 f-150 6 cyl ecoboost, base

 

If it has a towing package, you shouldn't need to beef it up but you need a weight distribution hitch.

 

i do use one all the time, thx glc

 

And make sure the hitch has sway control.

 

i do have one on each side, but hoping to get less sway.

thx Roadie

 

You have sway control built in to your truck. If you're still getting sway with sway control in your hitch also, you must have way too little hitch weight. It should be between 10-15% of your total trailer weight.

- Jack

 

good point, i´ve never weighed both units, i should do this soon. thx jackand janet

 

This is NOT the same thing Jack.

The "Sway Control" built into the truck is there to step in and slow you down safely if your trailer sway gets out of control.
It will not prevent the trailer from starting to sway, in the way that hitch sway control systems work.


With regards to the original question - what is your tongue weight? Do you haul anything else in the bed? How is your stance when you are hooked up and loaded as the driving situation?

I tow a trailer that's perhaps a bit heavier than yours. My suspension was OK, but the rear end was a bit lower than I liked. I have long mudflaps on the rear, and they would sometimes rub when I hit a big bump. So I added some helper airbags. This leveled out the stance and makes it more comfortable to pull.

 

i have not properly determined my tow weight yet, but tt is level after hook-up but
truck is a LITTLE high in front. i do put some 500 lbs in bed, sway control brakes on both sides. thx Matthew

 

If you are putting 500# in the bed, you may be over the max payload/GVWR/GAWR for the truck, especially if you have several people or other cargo in the cab. You may need some airbags.

To see exactly where you are at, make 2 scale runs - one with and one without the trailer, truck otherwise loaded as you would be when towing and with a full tank of gas - and post each axle weight. Also post the GVWR and the 2 GAWR ratings from your door jamb sticker.

 

Matthew, I agree the truck's sway control is not the same as sway control on a WDH, but I don't think it just "slows you down". I believe it applies differential braking to counteract sway. Now, if I've got this wrong, please correct me.

Next, I don't think you corrected the "stance" of your truck properly by using airbags. If the truck's rear was too low with the trailer attached, this is an indication that your WDH is not set up properly. Ideally, it should transfer the weight of the tongue equally to both axles, which would not cause the truck to be "out of level".

So I suspect your hitch ball is too low and/or you need to shorten the chains/raise the L-brackets (depending on the type of hitch you have) to transfer more weight to the front axle of your truck.

Using air bags in addition to a WDH can easily result in having your WDH set up improperly. Don't inflate them at all until after you have leveled your truck and trailer.

I'm not trying to start a fight here, but remember what these devices do. A WDH distributes weight over your truck's axles. Air bags simply raise the truck's frame without removing any weight from that axle.

- Jack

 

One of the common challenges for F150's (as well as 1500's) is the limited payload. See the yellow sticker on your door which will probably indicate between 1500 to 2000 lbs of available payload depending on the options of your truck. 500 lbs in the box will take up a good chunk of the available payload. If you can shift that 500 lbs of weight (assuming you are okay on your trailer axle weights) you will lighten your payload by about 440 lbs because 500 extra lbs in the trailer will result in approximately 60lbs of extra tongue weight (assuming you are at the recommended 12-15% tongue weight). 450 lbs less in you box will probably significantly reduce the amount of squat.

 

You are correct on both counts.

The ESP system will apply brakes to the proper wheels to try and cancel out the yaw created by trailer sway, while slowing the truck. The ESP function is designed to keep the truck in control while slowing it down to a safe speed. This is what I meant earlier by "slow you down safely"

I've had some pretty good sway (due to getting hit by an unexpected stiff side wind) and never had the TSM (Trailer Sway Mitigation) activate on my truck.

Part of me wants to see what it takes to kick it in, but most of me is scared of how bad it must be for it to kick in.
Maybe one of these days I will get down to our test track and test it out on a company truck and trailer. They train our calibrators by purposely mis-loading a trailer and taking them out on the skid pad to show how bad it gets.


And for the weight distribution you are correct too. I think the main issue is that my mudflaps are a bit too long, so they rub. I use the airbags along with the WDH to balance the load, but with not very much pressure in the airbags. You have to be careful to check the setup and adjust everything properly.

I even can rub my mudflaps when I pick up 2 yards of mulch. So I use the airbags when I'm hauling heavy loads.
I suppose you could just shorten the mudflaps, but I like the long coverage to keep rocks off the trailer.