New Air Bags & Sway Control = ROUGH ride

[VegasScotty]

I just added some air bags to my aging F150 and was wondering what the differences will be to my ride as I change air pressure?

This year I also went from "D" to "E" rated tires on the truck and added Reese dual cam sway control. The net affect now is a rough ride. I feel every bump, every sway, every pothole...

I've tried 40lbs and 45lbs in the air bags and it's the same... what will 30lbs ride like? 60?

What other suggestions to help smooth out the ride?

[VegasScotty]

mich800 wrote:
Some roads are just nasty with the bounce and no way around that. With that said, how old are your shocks?

Good question, I should have said! I put on 4 new KYB MonoMax shocks when I replaced the tires.
So they're less than a year old and have (now) about 6K miles on them.

[mich800]

Some roads are just nasty with the bounce and no way around that. With that said, how old are your shocks?

[VegasScotty]

Update: Thanks for all the inputs. The thoughts were consistent, I was probably running too much pressure in, well, everything! 🙂

Last month we drug (dragged?) the new TT up to ND (from southern NV) to visit our daughter and the ride was worse than I anticipated. The truck bounced up and down constantly. Super highway to secondary highway it was almost always the same. The bouncing was so bad we had to stop a number of times to settle the stomach!

I experimented with the ride by varying the truck tire pressure from 30 up to 55, and the bags from 20 up to 50, but never found a combination that was much smoother than another.

I'd say the best combo was running the tires about 40 and the bags about 30. But it was still bad. We're doing the drive again next week and i'll experiment some more...

------------------------------------
old guy, I'm sure you're right...I could use a bigger truck. And just as soon as I can afford one, I'll get one. But it won't be soon. Bigger almost always fixes stuff, but it isn't always a practical answer.


But, despite the rough ride much of the way, the weather was phenomenal and the scenery was even better! 🙂

[Hank85713]

when empty run the airbags down to 10PSI minimum. For tires take them down to minimum pressures also. You have door sicker for the OEM tires run that. Airup when planning to tow or carry eavy loads. On my F350 I run the tires when empty at 50F and 55R. I keep the airbags at 15 but I have a 7000lb truck!

Mainly you just need to experiment with the air pressures.

[Wishin]

I suspect part of it is the tires, especially if over filled with pressure. You won't need 80 psi in them, maybe 50?

You probably only want 5-20 psi in the air bags. Air bags can definitely complicate the set-up of the w/d hitch. Each time you adjust the bags, you have to re-do the hitch set-up to some extent as it changes the geometry of the bars to the trailer.

[BarneyS]

The sway control has no effect on how the truck rides at all. It makes no difference whether it is a round bar hitch or a trinnion style - either will work exactly the same.

I suspect your ride problem lies with your tires and, perhaps, with the way the hitch is adjusted but most likely it's the tires. Air bags should not be needed when using a properly adjusted WD hitch unless you carry a lot of cargo in the truck bed. Were it me, I would air down the bags to the minimum necessary to keep them from self destructing and lower the tires also and see what happens to the ride.

Just keep in mind that the Dual Cam sway control has nothing to do with it. All it does is try to keep the trailer behind the truck instead of beside it! :E
Barney

[noteven]

Rge E tires will decrease rock damages etc. but they are stiffer tires...

Weigh your truck empty and run minimum recommended pressure for your truck's weight found on the Tire and Rim Association Load & Inflation Table -

example Information and Load and Inflation tables

When we ran rge E tires on the rear of our 3500, we ran 40 psi empty truck, max sidewall psi fully loaded truck. The tire had pretty much the same shape and footprint when pressure was matched to the load.

Weigh your truck and trailer loaded ready to go and set tire pressure at minimum according to the tables then make small increasing adjustments if you want.

When we had springs/air bags - air bags at 5 psi empty truck, and maybe 30 psi at max axle load 6199lbs to level the truck so it steered properly.

[RJCorazza]

I have E rated tires and air bags on both my F150 and F250. The E rated tires will make for a harsh ride, but as previous posters mention, a lower pressure matched to load goes a long way in smoothing things out. Unfortunately Ford does not believe truck owners are capable of reading a load chart, and my particular F250 low tire pressure activates at 50psi. YMMV
As far as the air bags, I air up to match about 1/2 of the additional weight. No other reason than to spread the load over the OEM suspension and air bags. The F250 bags support about 15lbs per psi, so when towing I air up to about 30-35psi, 10 psi unloaded.
I also have front air bags that get 50psi when the 800lb plow is on, which makes a HUGE difference.

[goducks10]

Try running the bags around 20 psi. Also you only need 45 psi in your e rated tires on an F150. If you running 65-80 psi then that will make it stiff. Also how are you hitching up with the bags? You need to load the truck with gear and air the bags up to just bring it to the original height in the rear. Then hook up the Reese and set the front height on the truck. Sounds like you just have too much overkill.

[old_guy]

I'll tell you the same thing a friend of mine told me when I added airbags etc to my truck. "You should have bought a 3/4 ton in the first place". He was right, night and day difference in towing any TT.

[Fast0ne]

Well hope it my help you.

I added air bags because I thought I needed them. Turned out I just needed to have my WDH setup properly. But just adding the bit of air still helped smooth things out a bit over big bumps.

[VegasScotty]

Why did you feel the need to add airbags and E rated tires to your F150?
Because I punctured the 3d "D" rated tire on a sharp rock and needed new tires... got a good price on these and I'm hoping they are a little stronger. 🙂

You have dual cam sway control but what kind of hitch do you have? Round bar or Trunnions?
Reese WD w/ trunnion bars, circa 2004. Added Reese dual cam sway control when I got a bigger TT in 2013.

Most people that add airbags and e rated LT tires on their f150/half ton do so because they have an issue with the handling of the rear end.
No 5'er, no handling issues. Towed my previous 6K lbs unit like a dream. The new TT is 7,200 lbs, so more tongue wt plus 100K miles = air bags... at least that was my thinking. I don't have problems but I don't want to get them either.


BTW. E rated tires are way overkill for your F150.
So I'm noticing! I think the tires are the biggest culprit in my rough ride.

Also, do you have a set of scaled weights from a CAT scale? That will answer a lot of questions for you.
Absolutely! One of the first things I did since 7K+ is up there for a half ton. I'm within all the limits... payload, trailer wt, GCVW, GVWR... But since it's close I felt bags and sway control would be a good investment.

I just need momma to be happy with the ride, and right now it's quite rough and w/ the sway control it's jerky too.

[jerem0621]

VegasScotty wrote:
I just added some air bags to my aging F150 and was wondering what the differences will be to my ride as I change air pressure?

This year I also went from "D" to "E" rated tires on the truck and added Reese dual cam sway control. The net affect now is a rough ride. I feel every bump, every sway, every pothole...

I've tried 40lbs and 45lbs in the air bags and it's the same... what will 30lbs ride like? 60?

What other suggestions to help smooth out the ride?

I hate to say this, but we need WAY more information.

Why did you feel the need to add airbags and E rated tires to your F150?

You have dual cam sway control but what kind of hitch do you have? Round bar or Trunnions? The round bar doesn't work very well with dual cam.

Most people that add airbags and e rated LT tires on their f150/half ton do so because they have an issue with the handling of the rear end.... Lots of Half ton owners who pull fivers do this.

However, if your trailer is properly matched to the truck and the WD hitch is set up properly, and the tires are aired up to the max psi, and the tire weight ratings are not being exceeded than you should have a nice towing rig.

If you have a bad handling truck when towing a travel trailer start with the hitch adjustment and go from there. Air bags should be a last resort for towing a travel trailer.

BTW. E rated tires are way overkill for your F150. Those are the same rated tires I had on my dually. That truck had a RAWR in the 6000-7000 lb range IIRC

Also, do you have a set of scaled weights from a CAT scale? That will answer a lot of questions for you.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[VegasScotty]

Thanks Fast0ne. I was debating going up or down in the pressure so I think I'll try down first.

It'll take me a year to find the best pressure if I go 5 lbs at a time so maybe when we go out this weekend I'll try 30.

[Fast0ne]

I only run about 25 pounds in my air bags when towing and all is well with the ride. When unhooked I keep about 10 pounds of air in the bags and my truck still rides nice.

Hope this may help.