Air Shocks
What about air shocks on a towing rig. Anyone use these instead of air bags? Or is that to much pressure on the shock mounts?
Forum Discussion
Most pickups are designed such that the rear is a little higher than the front unloaded. Take a look at any half ton pickup truck forum for front end spacers to "level" the truck unloaded/lightly loaded. Clearly these people don't tow/haul anything significant. Same could be said of people who put aftermarket exhausts on their trucks.
My prior TV was a 2003 F-150 Supercrew. Lariat, 4WD, lots of options, low payload, about 1300 pounds. Great all around truck for our family for 8+ years. I used it for many landscape supplies where a loader dumps a yard of various materials in the truck bed. I had been across the scales empty to 1500 pounds over GVWR. While the weight was more central over the rear axle than a trailer hitch, I know what the truck stance was for the various weights and how it drove (for short trips) at lower than RV towing highway speeds. Near GVWR, the truck looked level.
So when I see nose high/rear low TVs pulling RVs, I know either the WDH is not adjusted well or they are very overloaded. People often report their scaled weights on this forum. Most people are pleased with the subjective how it tows. Some are surprised to find out where they stand with respect to their ratings. This is my reasoning for saying the rear suspension aids mask an overloaded situation.
Now browse the Towing and TV areas. Every couple weeks there is a somewhat lengthy thread asking how to adjust a WDH on a vehicle with air bags. Different OEMs recommend different methods. The geometry of the Reese dual cam WDH causes the cam lobes to move with respect to the detents on the WD bars based on how much force on the bars and the ball height. These are reasons why I say rear suspension aids complicate WDH adjustment.
My prior TV was a 2003 F-150 Supercrew. Lariat, 4WD, lots of options, low payload, about 1300 pounds. Great all around truck for our family for 8+ years. I used it for many landscape supplies where a loader dumps a yard of various materials in the truck bed. I had been across the scales empty to 1500 pounds over GVWR. While the weight was more central over the rear axle than a trailer hitch, I know what the truck stance was for the various weights and how it drove (for short trips) at lower than RV towing highway speeds. Near GVWR, the truck looked level.
So when I see nose high/rear low TVs pulling RVs, I know either the WDH is not adjusted well or they are very overloaded. People often report their scaled weights on this forum. Most people are pleased with the subjective how it tows. Some are surprised to find out where they stand with respect to their ratings. This is my reasoning for saying the rear suspension aids mask an overloaded situation.
Now browse the Towing and TV areas. Every couple weeks there is a somewhat lengthy thread asking how to adjust a WDH on a vehicle with air bags. Different OEMs recommend different methods. The geometry of the Reese dual cam WDH causes the cam lobes to move with respect to the detents on the WD bars based on how much force on the bars and the ball height. These are reasons why I say rear suspension aids complicate WDH adjustment.
