Hi all, I am looking for some advice, suggestion on upgrades for pulling a travel trailer. I have a 96 f150 with a 5.8, e40d, 3:08 ls rear. The trailer dry weight is 4600 pounds. I use a weight distributing hitch when pulling. The trailer pulls ok with the OD off , but I do not want to tear anything up, and I really do not want to buy another truck right now. I am thinking about changing the gear to a 3:73, or changeing to a full floating rear. The rear is an8.8. Has anyone used air bag helper springs, are they the price? Thanks for your help. machinist

 

#4600 dry means you are probably at least #5600 going down the road.... Hope you have a tranny cooler and service it regularly...

Anyway, going to a 3.73 will surely help out the trans and make starting from a stop a bit easier on the drivetrain. Might even allow you to go into OD on the flat stretches of highway....

The only way to go to a full floater rear end is to swap out to a 3/4 ton axle. Then you'll have to deal with 8 lug wheels and such, but you will still only have a 1/2 frame, so you really won't be able to claim to have a GAWR of #6000 just because you swaped axles....

Air bags and helper springs help when you are carrying a heavy load in the bed or have a trailer with no WD hitch..... If you are already using a WD setup, then that should level out the sag if setup correctly....

Now, having said that, I run Hellwig overload springs on my truck.... That's only because I like to be able to use the bed to acually haul stuff when not towing and it's rather embarrasing when you go to the local Home Depot and load up the bed and it goes to the bump stops!!

I can now load over #1000 in the bed and it'll only drop about 2".... When I hitch up my travel trailer, it only drops about an inch... I still use a WD hitch setup, as it brings the truck back up it's unloaded ride height, and it just tows better, plus keeps the headlights aimed correctly as well....

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Hi Mitch, thanks for the reply. I have only had the trailer 3 weeks. I have not had a chance to use it yet. I had already planed to add an additional trans cooler. I just wanted to make shure i cover all my bases beforehand. Cheap insurence ya know. sorry about the repost

 

Hi Mitch, thanks for the reply. I have only had the trailer 3 weeks. I have not had a chance to use it yet. I had already planed to add an additional trans cooler, and a bigger radiator. I just wanted to make shure i cover all my bases beforehand. Cheap insurence ya know.

 

I have a 97 with 4.6. I found the best bang for the buck when towing was 4.10 gears. If you are going 3.73 anyway might as well go the 4.10. Ford Motorsports makes a good set for the 8.8 rear. I am towing a 25 ft 5th wheel with a dry wt of 4100 and loaded wt about 5000 with no problems. I only lock out OD when on very steep grades. I agree a good transmission cooler is a must. I have a Troyer active cooler installed. I also recommend full synthetic trans fluid.

 

Thanks WLF, I was debateing on 3:73 or 4:10 , but do not want to loose too much fuel milage. not that there would be that much difference. This truck is my daily driver and i drive 52 miles round trip. I found out on saturday this truck has an auxilary trans cooler in front of the radiator. Do i need to add an additional cooler? The truck has a gvwr of 6050 pounds.