Towing questions,,,

Welcome to the forum!

On the tires, yes they will get better. they need to be "heat cycled" once they have done that the "squirm" will be gone. one sway bar should be good, you may need 2 if you have the tongue weight set up properly.

Congrats on the win!!!

My old truck did pretty good on our trip. It was a choppy ride on some of the cement roads. Best part is I won my class at the spring shoot out in Des Moines!!!

I tow a 28' enclosed car hauler with a Dodge 1500. The empty weight on the trailer is 4500 pounds. I carry about 2000-3000 pounds of cargo. I have a WD hitch and airbags on stock suspension. The rig rides great, pretty much no issues at all. I think it has a lot to do with the way the trailer is loaded. The trailer is designed to carry one car toward the rear with the engine just foward of the rear axle. They are not made to have a lot of weight up front or on the back end, it's a balancing act. I don't haul a vehicle so I spread the weight out putting the heavy stuff just foward and on top of axles, lightest stuff up front and on rear. I think if you load differently it will help you, if that's even possible with tractors. If one is heavier put the front end just a little foward of the axles. Also be sure to check air pressure on all tires. Make sure they are inflated properly.

Hello, A little update.

I did some reading on setting up a weight distribution hitch. Got it all set up. Right now trailer only has two tractors in it and figured out the weight from empty weight plus what tractors weigh plus other stuff in trailer.

I came up with about 6620 lbs. I made a bar to use on a bathroom scale that cut the weight by 4 times. I have around 940 lbs on hitch. The leveler bars I have are rated at 1000 lbs. I set up the hitch so the height on the front of the truck dropped maybe 1/8" and the back dropped about 1/2" with nothing in air bags.

Just put new E rated Bridgestone tires on the truck and new rear shocks. I went for a little test drive today and it rides way smoother than it used to. But there was a pretty strong cross wind and I was all over the place. I don't have a sway bar on the hitch but just ordered one.

Will a single sway bar on it make a huge difference in a cross wind or am I off to far on the weight on the hitch?

Is there any truth to what I heard that new tires will get better with some miles on them?

We are going to a pull next weekend that is about 6 hrs away and will have 4 tractors in the trailer so total weight will be in the area of 8500 lbs with all the other stuff we take also. So I am trying to get it as good as it can be with the truck I have.

Tom

The load leveling hitch or what ever they are called lol I have says 10,000/1200 lbs on it.

I agree, to much trailer for my truck. I did park it on a level road and set up the hitch so trailer sits level with load hitch and some air in the air bags so back of truck drops maybe 1 1/2" or so when trailer is hooked on so I am pretty sure its not on the helper springs.

The hitch is probably not heavy enough for the trailer though. My brother in law had it left over from a camper he had, the camper he has was not near as big and heavy as my pace trailer is.

I will try and get it weighed up to see how heavy it really is.

I totally agree with Barney's post. I think your on the overloads also.

Load the trailer normally and check out the spring pack when hitched up.

To tell the truth, it sounds like your overloading the truck with the trailer you have. I would be interested in the weight of the trailer loaded ready to go and the TW of the trailer loaded normally.

Let us know what you find out.

It sounds to me like perhaps your truck is riding on the overload springs when hooked up to the trailer. That would account for the rough ride when loaded.

I would take a look at your weight distributing hitch setup. Get the truck and trailer weighed when loaded so you know exactly what your tongue weight is, and then set up the hitch accordingly. I suspect your tounge weight is much higher than you think. Your truck should ride better when the trailer is hooked up - not worse.

There is a good possiblity your hitch is either undersized for the load or is not set up right. You most likely need stronger WD bars or need to raise them higher to transfer more weight forward to the front axle of your truck and remove it from the rear axle. There should be no need for the air bags if the hitch is sized and set up properly.
Take a look at the hitch set-up sticky at the top of this forum for some help.
Barney

long story as to how I ended up with 3500 springs. When I got the truck it was set up for a 5th wheel hitch and had some really heavy after market springs in it, much stiffer than the 3500 springs.

The farm I help out at has a 97 K3500 they pull a big 5th wheel cattle trailer with and the springs were not strong enough so we switched the real heavy springs that were in mine with the 3500 springs. Worked out good for both trucks.

My truck rides much worse when pulling the trailer. My truck is a factory HD truck also, F in the vin number.

I want to get new rear shocks, don't know if that will help much or not.

I have the same truck as you sans the 3500 springs and mine is a 93. My truck rides just fine with 2500 springs in it.

Why do you have 3500 springs in your 2500? Overloaded?

You need to get total weight for the trailer and put about 10 to 15% on the tongue. I like to have about 15% on the tongue because the closer I get to that number the more it will handle like a slot car on back of my truck.

Move your tractors around when you go to the scale and get it weighed several times.

I have had 1 ton in the back of my pickup many times and it handles the load just fine.