Hey all, new to the forum and just want some towing advice on getting the squat out of my truck when I am towing my rig. I am fairly new to the camper scene so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have a 08 Keystone Cougar 304BHS pulled with a 14 Ram 1500 Crew Cab 4x4 5.7. No matter what I do I can't seem to get the nose down to make for a comfortable towing experience. I have a new WD hitch, but I am seriously considering an air suspension system to help out, but that is a $1200.00 option. Thanks again for the advice.

I put a pair of rubber supersprings in the coils of my Outdoorsman. They helped some, the real fix is a bigger truck or air bags. Soft springs make for a nice ride, but they only support an empty bed it seems.

Air bags will fix the sag problem and shouldn't cost $1200. I'm not familiar with that trailer. What is the loaded hitch weight? I am a MOPAR guy, but the 1500 doesn't have a lot of payload capacity. At the least you should confirm you are under the axle and tire ratings.

You will have to transfer more weight somehow. Maybe you need stronger spring bars. Any thing else you do to raise the rear will NOT lower the front, or return lost weight to the steering axle. If you do not return lost weight to the steering axle. You will always have the same problem, EVEN IF you can level the TV with air bags, or springs. The front will still be light, and you will have sway. So tilt the hitch head down and pull more weight with the bars. IF you do it right. You will transfer enough weight to the front to get it back down, and that will raise the rear. Truth is. You CAN raise the rear of the TV completely off the ground with a WDH. You don't want to. But you can. In fact. You don't want the rear to raise any higher than it was unhooked.So readjust it again. You will prolly need to get it so tight, that you have to raise the rear of the TV, and TT tongue with the TT jack to snap up the brackets.Again. Air bags, or springs will do you no good, will not fix your problem.

Timbren'sCheck out installing a pair of Timbren's. Much less maintenance than the air suspension. I had them in my 2007 RAM 1500, and it the first modification that I made to my 2014 RAM 2500.

Terryallan wrote:You will have to transfer more weight somehow. Maybe you need stronger spring bars. Any thing else you do to raise the rear will NOT lower the front, or return lost weight to the steering axle. If you do not return lost weight to the steering axle. You will always have the same problem, EVEN IF you can level the TV with air bags, or springs. The front will still be light, and you will have sway. So tilt the hitch head down and pull more weight with the bars. IF you do it right. You will transfer enough weight to the front to get it back down, and that will raise the rear. Truth is. You CAN raise the rear of the TV completely off the ground with a WDH. You don't want to. But you can. In fact. You don't want the rear to raise any higher than it was unhooked.So readjust it again. You will prolly need to get it so tight, that you have to raise the rear of the TV, and TT tongue with the TT jack to snap up the brackets.Again. Air bags, or springs will do you no good, will not fix your problem.I'm with Terry on this. If you have a properly sized and set up hitch, your truck should sit level. Maybe lower, but level.

Towing with 2014 Ram | Good Sam Community

15 Replies

tinner12002
Explorer
May 08, 2016
Air bags would be my solution...most sell uninstalled for around $350.
SouthpawHD
Explorer
May 08, 2016
doyle.saylor wrote:
All,

Thanks for the feed back. As I said in my opening post we are new to travel trailers. I think we rushed our decision on buying this TT, but we got such a great deal that we couldn't pass it up. I believe we just bought to much trailer for the truck and been looking around to trade. We are currently looking at a 2016 CrossRoads Z-1 272BH, which is almost half the weight. So I should get a much better towing experience.

Getting a TT that's only 3' shorter, with presumably only a little less weight, isn't likely to "fix" your problem. Unfortunately you should be looking to trade your truck if you are going to stay with TTs that size. But that is something YOU need to consider.

As a previous poster said, Ram 1500s are low on payload capacity, and that is something you NEED to watch carefully.
bluepost
Explorer
May 04, 2016
If you are looking at Crossroads, the Sunset Trail Super Lite st27bh is similar in design, a couple additional features, and 100lbs lighter. If you aren't too far from Dayton, Paul Sherry RVs had some really good prices on them.
doyle_saylor
Explorer
May 04, 2016
All,

Thanks for the feed back. As I said in my opening post we are new to travel trailers. I think we rushed our decision on buying this TT, but we got such a great deal that we couldn't pass it up. I believe we just bought to much trailer for the truck and been looking around to trade. We are currently looking at a 2016 CrossRoads Z-1 272BH, which is almost half the weight. So I should get a much better towing experience.
Rjdreyer
Explorer
Apr 24, 2016
That's a pretty big trailer for a 1/2 ton. Almost 34 feet of trailer and over 7300 lbs dry. Too much trailer for truck I believe.
Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Apr 24, 2016
All you will be doing is band aiding that 1500! Step up to a 2500 or better yet 3500 and enjoy the ride!
DwayneN
Explorer
Apr 24, 2016
The first thing I would do is determine what the tongue weight of the trailer is when you are loaded with your gear. That will determine whether you have the correct weight distribution hitch bars. If you have too light of bars you will be unable to get enough weight transferred to the front end of the Ram.

The Dodge Ram 1500 is known for exceptional ride but also for a relatively low payload capacity. I had a 2009 1500 Sport and was able to help the rear coil springs with Air Lift bags. They cost less than $100, do a good job and are pretty easy to install. With the air bags and 1,000 lb equalizer bars I was able to get good weight distribution from front to rear with my 27 foot trailer that had a tongue weight of about 950-1,000 lbs.

Even though I was able to level my Ram and tow it with the 1500 I didn't like the idea that I was over the payload capacity and ended up buying a Ram 2500. No air bags needed with that truck!

Good luck.
APT
Explorer
Apr 24, 2016
7695 pounds dry, 8500-9000 pounds loaded. 1000-1100 pounds of loaded TW. How much payload do you have? You are worried about a $1200 air bag solution, but you should really be concerned with the $40k+ 3/4 ton solution.
netaq
Explorer
Apr 24, 2016
That's a big trailer for a 1500 series truck...good luck.
Fire_Instructor
Explorer
Apr 24, 2016
When I was setting-up my previous WD hitch, I was missing a part from the kit, so I called Reese. In the phone call with the tech, he mentioned that it sounded like I had the correct weight bars, but that (like most people) I wasn't putting enough torque on them. He had me increase the tilt of the bar a bit, and use the power-jack to actually lift a bit to connect the dual-cam sway chains. This greatly increased torque, further reduced sway, and kept the truck level.

The Timbrens helped KEEP it level, once I put the kayaks on the roof, and loaded the back of the truck with all of the "extra" stuff that we all seem to carry.