WDH with a F350?

Hannibal wrote:
Axle to ball on our trucks is closer to 5ft. I was surprised.

That's about average for most pickups.

Axle to ball on our trucks is closer to 5ft. I was surprised.

mkirsch wrote:
A Jayco Eagle 314BHDS is not a "light weight" trailer. Jayco's website lists the dry weight at 8110, and the GVWR at 9975lbs!

That trailer could easily have a 1500lb tongue weight, which would make an F350 feel floaty without enough WD action.

Physics is physics, too.

Weight from the trailer tongue presses down on the truck's receiver hitch, which lifts on the front end, whether your truck is a Ranger, F150, F250, F350, F450, etc..

The amount of weight lifted off the front end is based on the trailer tongue weight, and the distance from the rear axle to the hitch ball. If a trailer lifts 350lbs off the front axle of an F150 long bed regular cab, it will lift 350lbs off the front axle of an F350 long bed regular cab, even if it has a Powerstroke engine.

While a heavier-duty truck should be tolerant of having more weight lifted off the front end due to its higher empty weight, if you lift enough weight off the front end it will start to feel "floaty."

+1. The truck is designed to carry weight in the bed, where it's likely to be more centered over the rear axle. In that case it will not cause any weight to be removed from the front end. Place 1500# on a hitch ball 3' behind the axle and you have a nice lever.

Hannibal wrote:

shum02 wrote:
Set the WDH to the least amount of compression because you need next to ZERO!

Had the same issue with my rig, don't fight the truck or even think about compressing the front springs to move ANY weight forward. The truck does not need any of that.

This is how I approached our new Jayco 28RLS with it's 32.5' length and 850~lb tongue weight. Sitting it on the ball lowers the rear 2.5" while the front doesn't change. My Reese HP WDH is purely to satisfy the rating of the receiver. I hook the chains to their last link. Tows great. We feel cross winds and the occasional box truck but other than that, it actually feels better than our previous 5th wheel.
I'm betting the new tires are the culprit. Mine tracked like a boat even without the trailer when I put the Firestones on two years ago. 2k miles made a big difference.

I also found this to be true on my 2015 F250 (badically the same truck as the f350 without the overload springs in the rear)

I came from a Tundra pulling my 25' (6500lb empty/8000lb loaded) trailer, and initially I used the same setting from the tundra with 5 links under tension with the Reese Dual Cam WDH (1200lb bars). with this setup it towed ok, but not as stable as the Tundra, when small cars would pass, I would feel the trailer getting pulled...oddly Semi trucks didn't affect it as much.

I then moved to 6 links under tension and it tows much better. Initially I was trying to get the front closer to the unloaded height (it was only 1" higher), but no matter what I did, it didn't move much.

pulls much better with very little weight on the bars...at my tongue weight they are pretty much just there for sway control.

shum02 wrote:
Set the WDH to the least amount of compression because you need next to ZERO!

Had the same issue with my rig, don't fight the truck or even think about compressing the front springs to move ANY weight forward. The truck does not need any of that.

This is how I approached our new Jayco 28RLS with it's 32.5' length and 850~lb tongue weight. Sitting it on the ball lowers the rear 2.5" while the front doesn't change. My Reese HP WDH is purely to satisfy the rating of the receiver. I hook the chains to their last link. Tows great. We feel cross winds and the occasional box truck but other than that, it actually feels better than our previous 5th wheel.
I'm betting the new tires are the culprit. Mine tracked like a boat even without the trailer when I put the Firestones on two years ago. 2k miles made a big difference.

Set the WDH to the least amount of compression because you need next to ZERO!

Had the same issue with my rig, don't fight the truck or even think about compressing the front springs to move ANY weight forward. The truck does not need any of that.

On our 2016 F350CC PS (crazy amount of power) SRW I have a SwayPro1500 pulling a 9800lb TT. The CVW is 19,700lbs.

I've yet to get thing running 100% but it runs a little better if I turn the sway control off in the truck.

bluie5 wrote:
Thanks for all the help and comments. I'll be tearing the hitch down this weekend and starting from scratch on the set up. This new Super Duty is by far a better truck than the Ram I had.

That is a good first step. Let us know how it goes.

John

Ford does make a great chassis. Their factory springs are too soft though.

Thanks for all the help and comments. I'll be tearing the hitch down this weekend and starting from scratch on the set up. This new Super Duty is by far a better truck than the Ram I had.