I have a 2014 f150 145" wheel base with the 5.0 V8, 331 gears, brake controler and 20" wheels. It has the tow package. Tow cap is 8000lbs. I just bought a 27 ft TT with a dry weight of 5800lbs. 700lbs TW. Installed the E2 round bar 10,000lb wd and I still having problems with sway. What are the best upgrades I can make to improve towing. I was thanking airbags might help or a heavy duty shock. Is there a good f150 tow tune out there for better power. The sway wasn't bad but not good either. I measured the front and back of the truck and both were at 36". The TT is level also. I was thanking maybe I don't have the tongue weight right. At 70mph the truck stays in 4th at 2800 rpms and will sometimes go into 5th on flat ground. Is this to much trailer for the truck.

MORE TRUCK!There really is noting you can do or add th your existing truck.

Tell us more detail about your "sway". For your truck and size trailer...something isnt right. I wonder if you feel the rear of the trailer wiggle vs actually sway. If its actual sway, then your weights need to be checked, most importantly tongue weight and gross trailer weight.My trailer "wiggles" in certain situation, but never sways. For long distances, I felt things could be better, so I bought a Hensley hitch (Propride is their comp...which I wish I had bought instead). It does in fact improve the best towing travel trailer bumper pull rigs, but at a very high cost, higher maintenance, and other trade offs.

That E2 does not look like it has much sway control built into it.Just friction of the hitch.http://www.fastwaytrailer.com/shop/e2-hitch/

Your truck should be able to handle that load easily.Start by making sure your tires are aired up to their max. Also, how much did the front end drop when you tensioned up the spring bars?

The trailer seems to wag it's tail. When I first got on the hwy I hit a bump and the back end of the truck bounced up and down a few times, That's why I was thanking about the air bags.

F150 Towing Problems | Good Sam Community

cobra98
Explorer
May 19, 2015
Thanks for the info. The problem is I didn't buy this truck for towing, If I had I would have got one with a 373 gear and LT D rated tires. Even with the 331 gear it don't do bad. I thank the dealer didn't dial in the WD system right Because the front of the truck dropped 1" and from research and talking to a Fastway E2 tech that's to much so I added two more washers and now the front is at stock height and the back only dropped 3/4". The front is not higher than the back. Also the dealer had all the tires inflated incorrectly. One was ten pounds over. I have already looked into some light truck tires but before I go down that road I will test the new setup.
4X4Dodger
Explorer II
May 19, 2015
I noticed you said you had 20" tires? This may be part of your problem. Those tires are usually low profile for street and mostly for looks. If this is the case change them to a heavy duty LT tire like the Firestone Transforce.

Dont listen to those that are telling you you need more truck, that is pure baloney. What you need is to get this truck and trailer set up right. If you do so you probably wont need expensive sway control geegaws either.

Those that have told you to get the weight in the right place in the trailer and measure the "squat" of your truck before and after hitching up are on the right track. Also the guy who pointed out that the "bounce you are experiencing is a Weight distribution problem is right.

This problem is solvable WITHOUT resorting to buying a new and bigger truck. Good Luck.
BenK
Explorer
May 18, 2015
cobra98 wrote:
I have a 2014 f150 145" wheel base with the 5.0 V8, 331 gears, brake controler and 20" wheels. It has the tow package.

Good that it has the tow option

3.31 ratio is okay 'cuz of the close ratio automatics of today

20's are good for towing, as long as it has low profile tires (low
aspect ratio).

Still 'P' class tires and needs to be aired up to their max for towing
well

Ask if lifted in any way?

Tow cap is 8000lbs.

Forget this number, unless you own a 'curb' or 'stripper' model AND
only weigh in at 150lbs and no other people/pets/cargo/etc in/on the TV

Why it is best to go out and weigh the setup, axle by axle, fully
loaded as if going RV'ing. That is the only way to know where you
are in reference to the ratings of your TV

On that, what are your TV's ratings?

GVWR
FGAWR
RGAWR
GCWR

I just bought a 27 ft TT with a dry weight of 5800lbs. 700lbs TW.

Forget dry weight, unless you do NOT have any dealer installed components
like propane tanks & it's fill, battery, spare, etc. That varies from
OEM to OEM and dealer to dealer

Again, why best to go out and actually weigh it

That tongue weight is from the dry? If so, then the actual will be more

Installed the E2 round bar 10,000lb wd and I still having problems with sway. What are the best upgrades I can make to improve towing. I was thanking airbags might help or a heavy duty shock. Is there a good f150 tow tune out there for better power. The sway wasn't bad but not good either.

Before tossing money at this, try resetting up.

The TV's drop front and rear used to have a rule of thumb of even
drop, but with today's suspensions...best to follow the manual. Some
still say even drop front/rear, others just return the front to +/-
of unloaded height, etc

The trailer should be level at it's highest pointing and I prefer
slightly down when done setting up the WD

Have to do this on level ground

I measured the front and back of the truck and both were at 36". The TT is level also. I was thanking maybe I don't have the tongue weight right. At 70mph the truck stays in 4th at 2800 rpms and will sometimes go into 5th on flat ground. Is this to much trailer for the truck.

Do you have it in T/H ?

Note that trailer tires (ST class) are normally rated for 65MPH MAX

From your description...think too much or at the hairy edge

A 'can' vs 'doing it well' type of thing.
AZDesertRat
Explorer
May 18, 2015
What is the front wheel well measurement with the trailer hitched but without the WD bars installed? Ford says get at least halfway between that measurement and the stock measurement so the 36" is past where it was empty, you transferred too much to the front. You need to be somewhere between the hitched trailer height without bars and the original 37", not less than the 37".
Tystevens
Explorer
May 18, 2015
We tow a very similarly sized trailer w/ a very similar truck with no sway or other issues. Not an issue of not enough truck. I'm not sure, but maybe the E2 hitch doesn't provide sway control? We have the 4-way Equalizer, and really have never had any sway or trailer control issues. At any rate, you just need to get it dialed in.

There is a performance tune for the F150 ... it's called the 3.5 Ecoboost! Seriously, the 5.0 is gonna have to rev to make enough power. No problem doing that, but you're not going to tow in 6th gear w/ that engine.

Good luck!
APT
Explorer
May 18, 2015
So a lot of people have offered to spend $500-60,000 of your money in attempt to solve your problem on guesses. While many of those things tend to improve from whatever you have now, no one can find the root cause of the problem yet. I recommend starting with scaled weights as some have mentioned. With that you can find out how much TW amount and % you have, how well your WDH is adjusted, and where those weights stand with respect to all your truck's ratings.

cobra98 wrote:
The stock wheel well measurements of the truck are 38.5" rear and 37" front. After install and trailer hooked up with WD it's 36" all the way around. Dropped 1" in the front and 2.5" in the back. Trailer is level.

If those are accurate, I suspect you have have far too much TW as well as improperly adjusted WDH. Most half tons with 800-1000 pounds of loaded TW and the WDH adjusted to return front axle to unhitched height leaves the rear to settle about 1.5" lower than unhitched. But some scaled weights would be better before spending any money on random upgrades to the truck.
fla-gypsy
Explorer
May 18, 2015
Before spending any more money check the hitch adjustment. You may have transferred too much weight off the rear which could cause what you are describing. Air the tires to max sidewall pressure for towing.
noteven
Explorer III
May 17, 2015
Talk to a company like Skyjacker Suspension and ask them about using hydraulic rear shocks instead of gas shocks.
time2roll
Nomad
May 17, 2015
Good thread here with lots of options, weights, testing and a new hitch:

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28151229.cfm
goducks10
Explorer
May 17, 2015
cobra98 wrote:
The stock wheel well measurements of the truck are 38.5" rear and 37" front. After install and trailer hooked up with WD it's 36" all the way around. Dropped 1" in the front and 2.5" in the back. Trailer is level.

Your too low in the front. Definitely could be causing some of you issues.

I would recommend weighing the tongue on the trailer. You can do it with a bathroom scale. Won't be perfect but will get you a good working number.
https://www.etrailer.com/faq-how-to-determine-trailer-tongue-weight.aspx

Something seems out of whack a little. I get your stock measurements. But when I had my F150 I was closer to 2-2/12" higher in the rear. I see that you drop 2.5" when hitched. So if the rear is only 1.5" higher when empty and you only crank the front down to 37" to be close to stock then the rear is going to be lower than the front. Not sure that's a good thing. Seems like you have a really heavy TW.

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