Airbags.

[langleyger]

Are airbags needed on a F350, with an Adventurer slide in camper.

[burningman]

The weight listed on the tag for your camper is not how much it weighs.
You can add roughly 1000 pounds to the “dry weight” to estimate the real-world weight, loaded up to go.
Better yet actually scale it… but that listed weight is pure fantasy.

[TCBob]

I love the Airbags on mine. I lucked out as my F350 Super Duty Dually came with them with in-cab controler and onboard compressor. Prior owner had it set up for a big 5th wheel. I have a short 8.5, heavy TC. No sag problem with no air, but aired up takes a lot of the "waddle/sway" out of the rig going down the road. Just plain makes for a great ride.

[Longshore]

You're going to need something, be it bags or the newer Sumo or Timbren bump stop systems. Some get bigger springs.

With my short bed I ended up with Timbren SES because I didn't want to wait on bags. So far I like it but have not gone far yet.

[n0arp]

JimK-NY wrote:
Airbags might well with leveling the truck. My experience with them was horrible. With more than about 20# pressure the sway was really bad. With less, they did little to level the rig.

I got SuperSprings and threw the airbags away.

SuperSprings are far, far better than air bags for truck camper purposes. I have both, but run the air bags at 5psi all the time because they're not needed.

Having them is nice when we're parked and need to raise the rear to level.

[JimK-NY]

Mine were Firestones that the RV dealer installed for me. I cannot see there was any choice in where to install them. They were between the frame and the axle. After a cross country drive with the airbags on very low pressure, I also had the camper manufacturer look at them. He had me take up the pressure and also increased the pressure on the passenger side to compensate for the typical crown in a highway. The ride was again horrible and after a few miles I stopped at the side of the road and dropped the pressure.

Later I added SuperSprings. That solved all of the issues. I turned down the Rancho shocks settings and between the two changes I achieved a very good ride. I am convinced that the best approach is to strengthen the spring either by having a spring job add a leaf or by adding SuperSprings or the equivalent. My current truck is a 1 ton instead of the former 3/4 ton. It drove OK without mods but the sag was excessive so I fixed that with Timbrens.

[mr_andyj]

JimNY did you mount the bags on the leaf springs, under the truck frame or inside the frame on top of the axles?
On top inside will always cause huge sway issues with TC's, not really an issue towing.
You had issues other than just the bags...

My TC was 1,800 lbs dry, and still sagged on a 3/4 ton truck. Bags were wonderful.

I used Firestone on two trucks, but really would like to try the less expensive red ones that are generic to see how well they do for limited part-time use. there really is nothing magical about having a special kit except it is easier and requires no fab on my end...

[JimK-NY]

Airbags might well with leveling the truck. My experience with them was horrible. With more than about 20# pressure the sway was really bad. With less, they did little to level the rig.

I got SuperSprings and threw the airbags away.

[langleyger]

My truck is a 2011 Ford F350 King Ranch SW.
My camper is a Adventurer 89RB. The weight listed on the sticker, is 2832 lbs. I might put airbags on, just for peace of mind.

[Grit_dog]

Easy peasy. Buy some. 5k bags are plenty stout enough for what you’re doing. 7500 lb would be great too.
And if there’s no sway bar, add one of them too.

[mr_andyj]

Your truck will sag. Will it sag enough t bother you? You must tell us.

Bags will be very nice and you can set the ride height where you want it.

My guess based on no info is that you would want to put bags on.

Important!!! For TCs the bags are best placed under the frame, WHERE THE SPRINGS ARE, never inside the springs. Placing them inside could make the truck more unstable as you are supporting the weight above the springs from a more narrow stance. Like standing with your feet together or with feet spread apart, which is more stable?

For leaf spring trucks it is easy as you just put bags on top of the leafs, for coil springs it gets a little more complicated and these are the ones that tend to get put inside the frame. For trailer help this is not important, but for TCs it matters!

[Sagebrush]

Load the rig up and see how much rear sag you have. I like having the basic Firestone bags you fill manually, but my tuck is old.

[hedge]

I have an Adventure 89RB, ready to camp it's pushing 3800lbs. I think that is about the max for a SRW truck.

I see lots with heavier campers, maybe they carry less stuff than I do or they've just never been to a scale so they are blissfully ignorant of how overloaded they are.

I do have air bags, I run 30lbs in them. I also have upper stableloads so this is the point where the bags are taking some of the weight but not unloading the overloads.

[lonegunman]

Depends on the camper. A giant long bed two or three slide camper probably needs a dually. A 901SB should work fine. Adventurer is very good about giving the actual weight from the scales on the builders tag, not some **** estimate like most companies. Adventurer also gives the correct center of mass. As long as you keep the red arrows at the axel or forward of it, your weight is where it is supposed to be. So it is not really cut and dry in some respects.

Yes, airbags are cheap, easy to install and worth every penny. I'd have them even if I did not have a truck camper. Skip all the dribble from the 19.5" wheel crowd and just put them on. Do not air them up so high your helper spring does not make contact with the bump stop and they will be great for stopping the sag.

Your truck will safely carry most Adventurer models in spite of what the weight NAZIs here will tell you. Better E-rated tires, aired up properly to 80lbs and a nice set-up with decent shocks (KYB Monomax/anything but Rancho shocks, most Rancho stuff is garbage), maybe a set of Stableloads to bring the helper springs in early and you are good to go. If your truck did not come with a rear sway bar, standard on Camper Package trucks, you might want to consider buying one.

Spending $500 bucks on air bags is cheap and makes the truck ride better, do it and be happy. Just remember to run air lines to each bag separately.

https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=54261

https://www.torklift.com/rv/stableload#appguide

[KD4UPL]

Probably or maybe.
Year of truck? Dually or SRW? Model of Adventurer? Number of people also in truck?
Towing a trailer too?
Unless this is a dually and a very small camper you will probably want airbags.