I recently purchased a 2015 f150 4x4 extended cab to replace my trusty 97. I have a 2001 27' travel trailer which I have pulled with my 97 for years. The problem seems to be the rear suspension. When I adjusted the ball height and connected the weight distribution bars, the trailer is level but the truck drops 3" in the rear and about 1" in the front. Is this normal? My 97 only dropped about 1 1/2" rear. I am I doing something wrong? Would air bags or over load springs solve the problem? Suggestions? Would like to go camping before the summer ends.

 

I know I don't have a 15 and it's just an old 13 F150, but this is what I did on mine recently..



Wish I had done it sooner, but I have just recently did the brakes and the shocks. Added the overloads last.

Makes a very nice tow now. Like I said, wish I had done all of this sooner!

It only drops about 2" now. It used to drop 3" before the springs and before I put the WD bars on the hitch. After the WD bars go on, it raises it almost back to normal ride height.

When I did the shocks, I set the front on the 1.5" "Level" setting, so I wanted to keep the rear sag to a minimum..

Working well for me.

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Thanks for your input. Over loads are definitely on the top of my list. I love everything about my "new" truck especially the gas mileage, and ride but was a little disappointed on the rear suspension. I did notice that unloaded my 97 f-150 sits about 2" higher with same tire and rim size, but also has a much more "truck like " ride.

 

Bob, I have nothing against overload springs, but from your description, you don't have your Weight Distribution Hitch (WDH) set up right. Look at your directions or study some of the many videos online to see how to transfer more weight to the front axle of your truck.

Overload springs may well cause the truck to sit more level under load, but they don't take weight off the rear axle, which, I suspect in your case, is now badly overloaded. (You could find out how much it is overloaded by driving your current setup to a CAT scale and getting the readings on your truck's axles and your trailer's axle.) You need to correct that overload condition to prevent dangerous stress to the axle and the rear tires.

- Jack

 

You also may need a drawbar with a different drop.

 

My draw bar had two more slots to raise the ball height. Moved it up one more because as noted earlier the trailer was level at the previous setting but the rear of the truck dropped 3",the front dropped about an 1"with the distribution bars set at the minimum of 5 links. That didn't work. Now the nose of the trailer without distribution bars is much higher. Not sure whats going on.

 

Bob, my WDH does not use chains, but on level ground, with the trailer level and the truck backed up close to the trailer tongue but not connected, the ball of my trailer hitch is just about the same height as the inside of the hitch coupler on the tongue. That is where it is supposed to be according to the directions supplied with my WDH. What is the relative positions of yours? If the hitch ball is too high, you would not be able to set the distribution bars high enough (shorten the chains enough).

My WDH also has an adjustment where I can increase or decrease the angle of the ball on the stinger which tilts the WDH bars more up or down. If your WDH has such an adjustment, you could increase the angle that the bars point down, which would give you more chain to work with, allowing you to lift the rear of your truck and the tongue more.

One additional concern is the state of the trailer while you are towing it. If you have tandem axles, it is VERY important that the trailer rides level. If it is "nose down", more of the trailer's weight is being carried on the trailer's front axle. If it is tail down, the weight is increased on the trailer's rear axle. You want both axles to carry similar loads, or you will be putting excess stress on the overloaded axle, wheels and tires.

When I got my new truck, I went through several changes to the setup of my hitch before I got everything right. Even though things looked right, the truck did not track properly when towing and that told me I needed to adjust things. It involved a lot of "trial and error".


- Jack

 

Jack,
Thanks for your suggestions. My WDH instruction are similar for ball height. It also states that to add 1/8" for each 100 lbs of tongue weight. Calculating tongue weight by length of trailer (27') distance from rear of trailer to center of both axles (10') and loaded weight of trailer (6000 lbs) approximate tongue weight would be 780 lbs. This would then equal an addition 1" rise to the ball height. This is what I did originally and with the WDH bars set at the minimum of 5 links resulted in a 3" rear and 1" front drop. At this setting the trailer sat level front to rear. I am considering returning to that ball height.
On the head of the ball mount I have currently 5 spacers that adjust the angle. Right now at that setting the top of the hitch ball seems to be level. If I understand you correctly, reducing the number of spacers and tightening the adjustment bolt will increase the angle of the distribution bars and allow for more adjustment on the links. I will give this a try . Is there a acceptable amount of drop. My WDH instructions says a "vehicle should settle evenly with in a 1/2'". What does that mean? With my previous best scenario, the rear settled 3"and the front 1". Will changing the angle of the ball mount and bars provide the 1 1/2" difference? If the truck "settles" 2 inches front and rear, that is acceptable?
I have been told at other web sites that perhaps my WDH is not rated high enough. I don't believe this is the case. I have used this same system with my other truck for years. It is a Curt round bar system rated gross trailer weight 8,000-10,000 lbs, tongue weight 800-1000 lbs.

 

You need to take the rig to a scale and actually weigh the trailer and the tongue. You may not have it loaded properly.

 

Bob, glc has given you good advice regarding weighing your rig, but I'd try to correct the WDH setup first.

IF (and that's a big IF) your trailer weighs 6000#, and your tongue weight is 780#, your WHD rating would be fine. In fact, it would be about perfect. You want a WDH that has a higher tongue weight rating than your actual tongue weight of course, but it should not be too much higher, or it will be too "stiff". Naturally, it should be rated higher than the gross weight of the trailer too, and I'm sure that's the case. My experience with trailers though is that they weigh more than they are listed to weigh. I would not be surprised to learn that yours weighed in at close to 7000# and I think your tongue weight could be higher too, maybe around 900#.

Now, back to your setup. In my hitch, adding washers increases the angle (drops drops the ends of the bars). To get more chain (and more weight transfer ability), you want to drop the ends of the bars. If yours drops the bars by reducing washers, do that. I also think your ball is set too high. I tried a higher ball height when I got my new truck and found it was NOT the correct thing to do. It made hitching and unhitching the trailer more difficult due to the need to lift the ends of the bars more to level everything. And, the truck did not track properly when towing. My original instructions from my hitch company were like yours regarding ball height, now, they want the ball to be about the same height as the tongue coupler and that's where I have it.

"Settling evenly" refers to the amount of drop measured at the front and rear wheel wells of your tow vehicle. It's a rough way to tell if you are transferring a nearly equal load to the front and rear axles of that vehicle. My instructions say the drop should be within 1/2" of equal too. Your current drop difference is 1 1/2", with too much at the rear (as you know). That means too much weight on the rear axle. An ideal drop would be 2" at both axles with your trailer level too. (The suspension on my truck has close to the same weight limit on the front and rear axles - the front axle is a bit less, so the load increase on both axles should be pretty close too.) The springs on our trucks seem to have about the same resistance to loading on each axle also.

To get an accurate reading of your truck and trailer loadings, you need to do two weighings on a truck scale - that's what I did. The people at the scale were very accommodating when I told them what I needed and, as I recall, the cost was about $15 for each weight reading. First, in your tow configuration, drive your rig on so the front and rear axles of your truck are on the two front scales and the trailer is on the third. This will give you the towing load on your truck's axles and the towing load on the trailer axles. The WDH transfers some of the loading back to the trailer axles too, so that reading is NOT the trailer weight.

Next, I disconnected the WDH bars and drove the total rig back on to the scales, stopping so that I could momentarily "drop" the trailer on the third scale. I cranked down the tongue jack and lifted the tongue until it just separated from the truck's trailer hitch. Then, I had them weigh everything again. This gives you the total trailer weight and the unloaded axle weights of your truck. You should be in the truck for both weighings.

Now you can see if you have a nearly equal increase in loading on each axle of your truck (which is ideal).

I bought a Sherline scale to determine my trailer's tongue weight. It was about 100# higher than the listed weight. My truck weighs considerably more than the listed "dry" weight too.

Hope these thoughts help. Ask me to clarify anything that's unclear.

- Jack