Adding air bags to tow vehicle questions.

laknox wrote:

CarnationSailor wrote:
My situation is a bit different in that I started out with air bags and a Trail Aire Tri-Glide pin box. I have never towed our 5th without these aids; however, I came to this thread looking for a way to improve the ride. (I get more chucking and bucking - mostly chucking - than I expected from this setup.)

I have a 2015 Chevy 2500HD Diesel short bed, a Demco Auto-Slide hitch, Air Lifter air bags inflated to 40 pounds, and TV tires inflated to max psi (80 pounds) which I feel I need to get the full 2750 pounds of weight rating.

The trailer is a 36-foot Crossroads Rushmore with dry weights of 11,700 and pin 2100. I run load rate G's inflated to 100 psi on the trailer. Max psi on the tires is 110. (If I can find an inflation table for the Gladiator trailer tires, it might tell me I can reduce the pressure which might help.)

The trailer is about 3.5 inches nose up due to having to use the highest position of the hitch in order to achieve a minimum 6 inch clearance between the trailer and the bed rails.

After reading this thread, it seems to me that it is always going to be a rough ride on a rough road. Unless someone can suggest something else to try.

First off, if you have 16" wheels on your truck, with 245 OEM tires, go to 265's and you'll pick up about 900 lbs of tire capacity. Even without running the numbers, I strongly suspect that you're over on your tires' capacity. You NEVER use dry pin weight to figure out what your payload is. Second, towing nose-high could be contributing to the poor ride. Check the FW suspension and see if you have any adjustment to raise it. This could be extra holes on the spring shackles or by putting the axle under the springs (if not already done). There is an axle alignment kit you can add to gain about 2" of lift or you can add a sub-frame between the main frame and the spring shackles to raise the FW as high as you need for it to ride level.

Adding airbags to your truck won't increase its legal payload, but may help ride. If adding them raises the rear end, you'll have even less FW/bed clearance, so it's a 2-edged sword.

Adding shocks to the FW, if you don't have them, can also help. If you have shocks, make sure they're not worn out and replace them if they are.

Lyle