Truck floating in front of travel trailer

[danv1317]

I may be able to answer my own question, but just want confirmation.

I have a 29ft Springdale travel trailer that i was pulling with a 2wd dodge ram 2500 5.9L.

Since we stopped full timing, we got rid of the diesel and got a 2014 Ford F150 3.5L ecoboost. It's 4wd so it sits higher. To add some xtra umph to the suspension on it, i put on the Roadmaster Active Suspension.

I didn't change the height of the ball on the weight distribution hitch so it's still set for the dodge which was 2wd (lower to the ground) and didn't accomidate for the extra inch lift you get putting the active suspension on.

Driving down the highway today getting hte trailer fixed, the Ford feels like it's floating on clouds. Even at 30mph, it feels like i'm driving on snow, floating back and forth. I do have weight distribution hitch and sway bar.

I measured the front and rear of the trailer and the top of the ball is 2 inches higher than the rear of the trailer, so it does squat slightly.

Am i putting too much weight in the rear end?

Also, the truck isn't squatting really at all with the trailer on. Is this correct?

Thanks for the reassurance that i need to lower the ball if that is the case, if not, i appreciate any input. I know my TV is probably a bit overweighted, since i'm sure a lot of you will reiterate that to me.

[Mike_Up]

danv1317 wrote:

I've had 2 Crew Cab 4WD F150s like yours, a 2010 with a 5.4L and a 2012 with a 5.0L, and now a new generation 2016 Crew Cab 4WD with another 5.0L. I pull a stick and tin 2012 Jayco Jay Flight 26BH which is 29' bumper to hitch.

I see 2 problems with your setup. First is that weight distribution hitch is setup incorrectly and you're nose high which will cause porposing and will cause the trailer to be unstable.

2nd, unless you're towing that trailer with just you in it, you've probably overloaded your truck. Both my F150s of that generation had lower payload. That's one long trailer with a very heavy slide and heavy stick and tin build.

And while I can't see it, with that huge trailer, you definitely need some LT tires and not the standard P series tires that come with a F150. The P series tires are soft and will cause your rig to wallow back and forth and feel unstable.


Old hitch on new truck. Bounced and was unstable the entire way to the camper dealer. Reese straight line dual cam system proved not to work correctly on new 2016 due to it's omission of 1000 lbs bars.


New Blue Ox Sway Pro hitch for new 2016 F150. Adjusted correctly if not somewhat low. Rides very good and stable now. I did adjust 1 link tighter to get the rear up a bit more which proved to offer a better tow experience.

Good luck in making that rig work.

[Hannibal]

Our F250 was solid as a rock with it's well worn Firestone TransForce HT's towing our 32.5' TT. I had new Firestones installed before our Christmas trip. I was expecting some tread squirm and got some. As said above, after about 1k miles, it settled down. Until then, the constant minor steering corrections were a bit tiring.
I second resetting the hitch. Trailer needs to be level or slightly nose down. And never lighten the tongue to accommodate a light tow vehicle.

[CampingN_C_]

Hard to tell in the pic, do you have any sway control or just a standard WD hitch.
If not, and it doesn't look like it, you may want to consider adding the Reese Dual Cam to your existing hitch.

[GaryWT]

Once you lower the ball and get more weight on the front tires of the truck with the hitch it will be better but might never be perfect.

[Camper_G]

I cannot add anything to this conversation other than what others have said, the nose the travel trailer should be slightly lower than the rear or at least level, get that squared away and then go from there

[1stgenfarmboy]

I know this has been talked about a few times, when I replace the tires on my dually and hook up the goosneck farm trailer it feels like I am going to die, it is the worst feeling ever the way it walks all over the road, it really feels like the rear end U bolts are loose, but after a few thousand miles it settles in and all is good.


the tires were Geolanders for the record.

[RPreeb]

As others have said, towing nose up is a no-no. Should be level or slightly nose down on the TT. Need to change the hitch ball setup to lower it. We had to buy a new adjustable height ball mount when we went from a Honda Ridgeline to the F-150. The Honda was AWD, but not nearly as tall in the rear end as the Ford.

[old_guy]

looks to me like you just bought a new truck and hooked up without trying to match the hitch and tt to the truck. you need to tear down the hitch and set it up properly to this truck. once you do that go for a drive and reevaluate the system again

[drsteve]

Get it so the nose is about an inch lower than the rear, and go from there. You'll probably find that with a little adjustment, the tow is just fine.

[coolmom42]

ford truck guy wrote:
My bro in law had the same issue... turns out that it was caused by the new tires that were on the truck.. they rubber was soft, and the tread was high,, that gave the treads room to flex a bit and gave him the feeling of floating.. after about 1,000 miles, that all went away...

Not to say its your problem......

I agree, I've had this problem with new tires too. But check the other stuff first.

[ford_truck_guy]

My bro in law had the same issue... turns out that it was caused by the new tires that were on the truck.. they rubber was soft, and the tread was high,, that gave the treads room to flex a bit and gave him the feeling of floating.. after about 1,000 miles, that all went away...

Not to say its your problem......

[rbpru]

I believe you have heard the two most obvious comments. New truck new setup and an F-150 is not going to tow like a 2500.

You have a lighter truck, with tires, suspension and other options designed for a softer ride.

That said, we love our E-boost F-150 but then we might like an F-250 even more.

Keep us posted.

[SouthpawHD]

Likely some issues with the WDH and sounds like you are going to address that.

But let's look at something a little more basic than that. You've been driving around in an older and heavier 3/4 ton truck. Now you're in a newer and lighter 1/2 ton with a better suspension. Perhaps you're just not used to that feeling of now it rides. In some respects it's almost like a bus compared to a Caddy. Just a thought.

[trail-explorer]

danv1317 wrote:

Also, the truck isn't squatting really at all with the trailer on. Is this correct?

You answered your own question before even asking the question, all in the quote above.