Vehicle "rise" while towing.
Have towed for years with various vehicles. And have always followed the general rule of levelling the tow vehicle front, back to pre-tow hookup. In fact, I just read through most of the Sticky at the...
Forum Discussion
BenK wrote:
Generally, OEM's setup our pickups and SUVs with understeer with only a front anti-sway bar (anti-lean bar) and NO rear anti-sway bar
Exception are 'performance' (boy racer with lots of GO) where they might have a rear anti-sway bar, but most don't know is that the OEM also increases the front anti-sway bars diameter (higher torsional rigidity)
Why IMO...do not recommend installing a rear anti-sway bar and if insist, then to make sure to also change the OEM front anti-sway bar to a larger dia from the SAME after market suppler of the rear bar being installed
With that in mind, the old 'even drop' kept the above handling characteristics, but with the newer suspensions & the new 'drop' or 'return the front axle' recommendations...that 'even drop' has been put aside
I still adhere to 'even drop' for my setups. Maybe not if I ever get another +8K GVWR TV and know that GM's newer 4x4's has a secondary front axle spring in constant contact with the lower A-Arm and can NOT bring the front back to OEM height easily. Else there would be too much WD'ing weight off of the TV's rear axle
Glad to read John mentioning that 'push' trailers impart onto the TV's rear end. And during a freeway speed curve while braking, the trailer will both nose dive during braking to add weight to the TV's read end and 'push' it trying to go 'straight'.
That is where manhandling the setup comes into play.
It’s my impression that all pickups today have FF/RR anti-roll bars. On a leaf-spring pickup without a rear bar, yeah, install smallest rear and upsize front a minor amount (must be larger than rear by a %). LITTLE otherwise has such a beneficial effect. Trailer CANNOT exert anywhere near the force of moving the pickup bed against a pair of bushings as truck can now counter it.
KONI or Bilstein shock absorbers. MICHELIN or Bridgestone tires on stock rims with tread & rim width match. SECURE everything in the bed.
— Hensley hitch (or improved patent Pro Pride) eliminates most of the problems. Advantage of 5’er type hitch, but better than those as NO SWAY possible (after best scaled set-up).
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