Towing
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Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2000
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Towing
Hello All - new to the board.
I just bought a 24' Fleetwood travel trailer, it weights about 4500lbs, I had a load leveler and sway control installed on the trailer, and an electric brake controller installed in the truck (where do people put the damn box anyway?). What can I expect when towing? How will the truck behave? What level of maintenance should I jump to? I don't really care, but gas mileage? What should I set my tongue weight to?
Also - I want a chip and filter, are there ill side effects with a chip/filter and towing a heavy load?
-Jeffr
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'00 Black Lightning - Stock for now, shopping for a chip/filter
I just bought a 24' Fleetwood travel trailer, it weights about 4500lbs, I had a load leveler and sway control installed on the trailer, and an electric brake controller installed in the truck (where do people put the damn box anyway?). What can I expect when towing? How will the truck behave? What level of maintenance should I jump to? I don't really care, but gas mileage? What should I set my tongue weight to?
Also - I want a chip and filter, are there ill side effects with a chip/filter and towing a heavy load?
-Jeffr
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'00 Black Lightning - Stock for now, shopping for a chip/filter
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 409
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From: Duncanville, Tx
Welcome to the board. You can expect your 1/4 mile times to suffer when you're towing the trailer. JK. Shouldn't have any problems, and I can't help you on the tongue weight. On a chip you might want to consider one of the multiple position chips and have the tuner set up a position for towing.
[This message has been edited by Moonshine (edited 07-20-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Moonshine (edited 07-20-2000).]
Member
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 86
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From: Houston, TX, USA
I pull a 4,000 lb. boat every Saturday and Sunday to the river. It does great.
I did install a set of air springs made by Air Lift. They make all the difference in the world. Before, I was worried about bottoming
out on the bump stops, but now I just air the air bags up to about 40 psi. They make for a more even and sturdy ride while towing. When I get home from the river, I just release all but about 10 psi. I would highly recommend these to anyone towing.
The manufacturer is Air Lift and the part number is 59501. I called the tech department to make sure this would work on the L. When I first bought the kit the rear of my truck was at the stock height. Just before I received the kit I lowered the rear of my
truck 1-1/2" with the AIM shackles. Then I called back to make sure the air lift kit would still work, and the tech said no problem.
The number for airlift is 1-800-248-0892. They will be able to locate a dealer in your area. I purchased mine from Four Wheel
Parts Wholesalers in Houston. The price was $169.00. Everywhere else I called wanted $220.00 or more.
There are a few installation tricks, but all in all it is simple.
I hope this helps. If you are going to install the kit yourself and have any questions I will be glad to help.
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 1969
Posts: 113
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From: Apopka, FL USA
Hey Lstorm,
How's the ride with 10lbs in the bags? Do you even know they are there?
I tow a 6000 lb race boat with the L without a problem, non, nada! I've adjusted the tongue weight to ~300 lbs (the trailer tracks as straight and true as it did with 500 lbs) but I still get about 2" to 3" of sag in the back. No bottoming out problems but I was considering adding bags, if they don't effect the normal ride.
Most of the time I get very strange looks as I pull away from a light with 30+ feet of boat and trailer at the same speed as all of the surrounding cars! You gotta love the torque
BTW, I had a lively discussion with another L owner at the boat ramp last weekend. We were talking about the 5000 lb rating and what SVT told him. They said the rating was due to the suspension not being able to support more weight. Well, kind of!
The load ratings are mostly about the tires and a little about the rear springs. If you look, the weight rating on the tires is much less than the truck tires that normally inhabit the garden variety F-150. If you do the math you see that they can't take much more than 500 lb of extra weight over and above the truck's weight (hence the 500 lb load capacity rating). That translates into a 5000 lb towing rating assuming the standard 10% tongue weight (something they have to due because of government regulations and legal liability). That's why we have a 5000 lb rating.
As for the drive train, that's good to upwards of 10000 lbs if you consider the Powerstroke transmission and F-250 / Expedition rear end.
Sorry for the rant but I hate it when those marketing weenies at SVT spew out garbage in the name of information.
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Mark Whatman
mwhatman@earthlink.net
How's the ride with 10lbs in the bags? Do you even know they are there?
I tow a 6000 lb race boat with the L without a problem, non, nada! I've adjusted the tongue weight to ~300 lbs (the trailer tracks as straight and true as it did with 500 lbs) but I still get about 2" to 3" of sag in the back. No bottoming out problems but I was considering adding bags, if they don't effect the normal ride.
Most of the time I get very strange looks as I pull away from a light with 30+ feet of boat and trailer at the same speed as all of the surrounding cars! You gotta love the torque
BTW, I had a lively discussion with another L owner at the boat ramp last weekend. We were talking about the 5000 lb rating and what SVT told him. They said the rating was due to the suspension not being able to support more weight. Well, kind of!
The load ratings are mostly about the tires and a little about the rear springs. If you look, the weight rating on the tires is much less than the truck tires that normally inhabit the garden variety F-150. If you do the math you see that they can't take much more than 500 lb of extra weight over and above the truck's weight (hence the 500 lb load capacity rating). That translates into a 5000 lb towing rating assuming the standard 10% tongue weight (something they have to due because of government regulations and legal liability). That's why we have a 5000 lb rating.
As for the drive train, that's good to upwards of 10000 lbs if you consider the Powerstroke transmission and F-250 / Expedition rear end.
Sorry for the rant but I hate it when those marketing weenies at SVT spew out garbage in the name of information.
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Mark Whatman
mwhatman@earthlink.net
- 99.5 White Lightning (PSP Filter & Chip)
- 99 Buell S3 Thunderbolt (not stock!)
- 96 26' Velocity Offshore Race Boat (far from stock!!!)
- 89 Porsche 911 Turbo (930)
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Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2000
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Well, I started the thread - so I'll let you all know how it turned out.
I towed the RV clear across VT and NH on rte 89, a pretty hilly section of interstate. I have load leveling hitch and a two cam sway controller, but 5000lbs and 400 or 500 on the tongue is NO problem. Truck settles about two inches. I can run it up hills, pass traffic, etc. I got 9mpg running 65 ~ 70 for 200 miles.
FWIW - One thing I found interesting is that when towing, the boost gauge is showing boost all the time except down hills. Not sure how that thing works, but it must be related to engine load. You should hear the blower whine run up a hill in the interstate. :-)
-JeffR
I towed the RV clear across VT and NH on rte 89, a pretty hilly section of interstate. I have load leveling hitch and a two cam sway controller, but 5000lbs and 400 or 500 on the tongue is NO problem. Truck settles about two inches. I can run it up hills, pass traffic, etc. I got 9mpg running 65 ~ 70 for 200 miles.
FWIW - One thing I found interesting is that when towing, the boost gauge is showing boost all the time except down hills. Not sure how that thing works, but it must be related to engine load. You should hear the blower whine run up a hill in the interstate. :-)
-JeffR