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

X2
Laknox, almost exactly what I was thinking, must be 245/70-17E's to have that low of rating, OR a TYPO!
That would only give him 5,400# of rear axle rating based on the tires, it has to be a TYPO.

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

Lyle,

Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate your input.

I am running 18 inch, 265 tires on the truck, and, as I said in my original post, I put air bags on it before doing any towing.

I am not using dry weights to calculate payload. I just provided those figures to give a general sense of the size of the trailer involved. I have calculated the payload including an estimate of loaded pin weight, passengers, and cargo. I will get the rig weighed, but for now I wanted to pursue the problem using estimates.

I will look into options for raising the trailer if I am unable to improve the ride by other means. (It's a 2015 with only 1200 miles on the road, and I want to spend more time on the road before deciding what to do. I don't want to jump into a significant modification and expense prematurely.)

Thanks also for the suggestion to add shocks.

I don't think I will be able to get a tire load inflation chart for the Gladiators, but based on forum posts, it seems I could safely reduce the pressure from 100 to 85. This seems to be a common recommendation when going from factory E's to after-market G's.

Thanks again,
Gene

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

I had my Air Bags now for about 1.5 years. Best thing since slice bread.

^^^^^ Years ago my Dad fought a chucking problem and it just came down to his trailer / truck combo and the frequency of the road. The wheel base of the truck in combo with the distance to the trailer axles was killing him. He finally just got a different trailer. Some combos just worse than others.

Another thought might be a Joy Rider shock set up for the trailer.

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 3525 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.

I have a dually F350 fully within all it's weight limits and found that without the airbags my trailer was sitting on the overload leaf spring while stationary/static and would come off the overload leaf spring going over road bumps and undulations and then come down abruptly and harshly onto the overload leaf spring causing a very rough ride.
Adding airbags to the dually with 35-40 psi's of air allows me to keep the truck off the overload spring and has softened the loaded ride dramatically. I have simply put the truck back to an unloaded attitude front to back.
Bast option to making towing more enjoyable I have added. No I do not have any type of suspension pin box.

I just returned from my maiden voyage with my air bags and new 5r.
I only pulled my camper once without bags. About 50 miles. I would have to say the bags helped. They DID NOT completely eliminate the push/pull/porpoise action. But it was reduced.
I felt better with the truck level.

I also installed in-cab compressor. Ran at 40psi. I didn't try different pressures.
I would recommend them.
I previously had a 28ft TT.

2000 F250 SRW diesel. 2014 Keystone Springdale 10K lbs

grampscamper wrote:
I ended up getting the Air Lift Loadlifter 5000 air bags. I was lazy and had the dealer install them.
I ran them at 40 lbs. loaded and 5 lbs. unloaded. The ride has improved dramatically. I couldn't believe the difference they make. I drove over a section of rough road. I still get a little chucking but it's greatly reduced. If I go over one or two bumps in the road I can hardly feel the trailer at all. It's only when I go over a series of bumps I start to feel a little push - pull. The truck isn't as firm loaded, improving the overall ride and handling. The overload springs are no longer engaged. My truck sits about 2" higher loaded at 40 lbs. and the same unloaded at 5 lbs. I lowered my hitch one position. I haven't driven far with them yet but I'm impressed with the improvement so far. It looks like my 5th wheel is about 1" nose high now so I may try a little less air pressure.
I wonder why I waited so long.
Thanks everyone.

I hope they serve you well.

I ended up getting the Air Lift Loadlifter 5000 air bags. I was lazy and had the dealer install them.
I ran them at 40 lbs. loaded and 5 lbs. unloaded. The ride has improved dramatically. I couldn't believe the difference they make. I drove over a section of rough road. I still get a little chucking but it's greatly reduced. If I go over one or two bumps in the road I can hardly feel the trailer at all. It's only when I go over a series of bumps I start to feel a little push - pull. The truck isn't as firm loaded, improving the overall ride and handling. The overload springs are no longer engaged. My truck sits about 2" higher loaded at 40 lbs. and the same unloaded at 5 lbs. I lowered my hitch one position. I haven't driven far with them yet but I'm impressed with the improvement so far. It looks like my 5th wheel is about 1" nose high now so I may try a little less air pressure.
I wonder why I waited so long.
Thanks everyone.