Pickup truck squatting when loaded - headlight aim

If the truck sags at the rear then it needs more leaf springs or new leaf springs to carry the load. My truck as a double leaf set of Supersprings and it is level when the bed is empty and level when I have a 3700 lb. load on the rear of the truck.

If this is true, you don't have any springs in your truck. The whole idea of a spring is to give and bend when there is load put on it.

brulaz wrote:

wintersun wrote:
If the truck sags at the rear then it needs more leaf springs or new leaf springs to carry the load. My truck as a double leaf set of Supersprings and it is level when the bed is empty and level when I have a 3700 lb. load on the rear of the truck.

It is not just that the headlights are pointing too high and blinding oncoming drivers, but that the weight distribution will be off and not enough weight will be on the front wheels and that affects road handling and braking.

I don't believe Supersprings or other rear suspension aids will do much to redistribute the load.

If the load is a fiver with all the pin weight right on top of the rear axle, there should not be much change in front wheel weight. If it's a bumper-pull you can lift a lot off the front wheels and should be using a WDH to put 50-100% of it back. Just stiffening the rear suspension will not help much.

I am willing to bet he has leveled his truck to ride level unloaded. and if it sits the same with 3,700# load it must be a joy to ride in.

4,500# pin sitting on my truck less than 200# hits the front axle. My truck sits "level" with mentioned load without any aids.

His headlights will hit the sky if he did raise fee front to sit "level" unloaded when he applies a load without some form of rear suspension help.

Is this squat?

wintersun wrote:
If the truck sags at the rear then it needs more leaf springs or new leaf springs to carry the load. My truck as a double leaf set of Supersprings and it is level when the bed is empty and level when I have a 3700 lb. load on the rear of the truck.

It is not just that the headlights are pointing too high and blinding oncoming drivers, but that the weight distribution will be off and not enough weight will be on the front wheels and that affects road handling and braking.

I don't believe Supersprings or other rear suspension aids will do much to redistribute the load.

If the load is a fiver with all the pin weight right on top of the rear axle, there should not be much change in front wheel weight. If it's a bumper-pull you can lift a lot off the front wheels and should be using a WDH to put 50-100% of it back. Just stiffening the rear suspension will not help much.

If the truck sags at the rear then it needs more leaf springs or new leaf springs to carry the load. My truck as a double leaf set of Supersprings and it is level when the bed is empty and level when I have a 3700 lb. load on the rear of the truck.

It is not just that the headlights are pointing too high and blinding oncoming drivers, but that the weight distribution will be off and not enough weight will be on the front wheels and that affects road handling and braking.

rhagfo wrote:

wirenutz wrote:

Teamfour wrote:
The other option is to properly set up the hitch to eliminate the squat.

X2

No adjestment on a fiver! Just a strong truck.

Proper truck for RV being towed will make the truck sit "level" as yours does in your pic. Some think this is "squat" and add bags to get the rig to ride as it does empty then they complain of a rough ride.

In your ride height the headlights are fine. My 98 towing 32.5' Avion Platinun sat just as yours does at 20.5K.

Teamfour wrote:
The other option is to properly set up the hitch to eliminate the squat.

A trailer's tongue weight will lift a certain amount of weight off the front axle and put it on the rear axle. A properly set up WDH will return 50-100% of that weight lifted off the front back onto the front axle. But that still leaves most of the tongue weight on the rear axle. (a small portion goes to the trailer axle)

That remaining weight on the rear axle will cause some sag, unless you use air bags or some other suspension aid.

If you completely remove ALL rear end sag with your WDH to "eliminate the squat", you are likely putting too much weight back onto the front axle and potentially causing problems because of too much "oversteer".

You would think in the headlong race for more gizmos and gadgets (sorry "product content") pickup truck OEM's would be all over this... it being useful and all.

Our old irrelevant 06 Dodge not ram 3500 has auto leveling headlights that stay in alignment from no load to 5000lbs in the bed.

wirenutz wrote:

Teamfour wrote:
The other option is to properly set up the hitch to eliminate the squat.

X2

X3

wirenutz wrote:

Teamfour wrote:
The other option is to properly set up the hitch to eliminate the squat.

X2

No adjestment on a fiver! Just a strong truck.

Teamfour wrote:
The other option is to properly set up the hitch to eliminate the squat.

X2