So after a few years of camping with a pop up, we recently traded in for a travel trailer. To say it hasn't gone smoothly would be a major understatement! We went to our local dealer and found the perfect camper for us, a Salem 300BH. The dealer asked about what we would be towing it with, which was our 2014 F150 Eco boost. Dealer said "no way, that camper is way to heavy for an F150."
I told him that was total BS, my cousin works for Ford and has told me that the Eco Boost can tow far more than an F250 diesel because of the advanced technology of the turbo charger. Also the transmission has more gears than a diesel. Although the Salem is much heavier than the published towing weights for the F150 (it weighs something like 10-12,000 lbs), my cousin has explained that all the published numbers come from corporate attorneys who are deathly afraid of being sued by the "ambulance chasers," instead of engineers who really understand the truck.
Anyway, since dealer #1 clearly didn't want to sell me a camper, I headed off to dealer #2, answer was the same - you need a bigger truck. Apparently these people just aren't familiar with the Eco Boost, so I had to come up with an alternate plan. My neighbor has an F450 SuperDuty diesel and agreed to drive to the dealership with me so I could take delivery and bring the camper back to my house.
This is where it turns bad. I hitch my truck up to the camper and things just don't look right. The back end of the truck is sagging really bad and the front has raised up like 4". I took it around the block and the handling is just terrible, even at 25mph. The setup looks ridiculous. Funny because the F450 didn't sag at all and had a great ride. I know my truck is just a powerful, but it's like there is something wrong with the suspension. My friend with the F450 said the same thing as the dealer, need a bigger truck, or at the very least some kind of a special weight something or other hitch. I don't know what that is and I really don't want to buy anything else. Anyway, he thinks I'm crazy trying to pull that trailer with my truck and said I'll end up killing myself if I try. At the very least he said I'd destroy my truck and void the warranty.
Personally, I think the problem is that the weight just isn't balanced right and that's why the truck is sagging so bad. The weight should be centered over the trailer's axles, then there would be very little or no weight riding on the truck and it wouldn't sag and should handle like normal. We moved everything we could to the back but that made no difference. How can I balance the trailer? I'm really starting to think I've made a horrible mistake. We leave on a big trip in less than a week and my wife is scared to go with it like it is. Seriously need help!!!
