Tongue Weight and Truck Sag

[Nate]

Well I had a problem with the back of my truck sagging, so I threw in a set of add a leafs and that fixed me up.



Problem though is I hook up the trailer and the truck is riding hard on the overloads.



I was thinking I had too much tongue weight, but I weighed it today... .



Truck, trailer and Jeep - 14,770lbs

Trailer/Jeep hooked to truck - 6420lbs

Trailer/Jeep unhooked from truck - 7390lbs

Truck - 7380lbs



So tongue weight is 970lbs, 10-15% of the weight is "ideal" so 739 to 1108. Seems ok to me.



Now with the Jeep loaded as such, the back of the truck is about 2" lower than without the trailer. If the truck had the stock rake, it'd be level I guess.



I was thinking of putting some air bags in. Either that or new springs? Looking for suggestions. The air bags seem to be the better option (and cheaper) in my opinion.



Oh, with a full tank of fuel in the truck and Jeep and me in the truck, ends up being about 15,250lbs.

 

[GHill]

There must be something wrong with your springs or the scale. I cant imagine 1000 lbs of weight putting you down on the overloads. I would have guessed about 2000-2500 lbs before you were on the overloads??

 

[SVWindwalker]

I tow a 12500 lb. 5th wheel with my 2000 Ram (lots of towing). I used to drop about 3" when hitched (kingpin weight about 2800 lbs) I considered adding additional leafs to my 2500, but decided that the ride was stiff enough unloaded, so I bought Firestone airbags 2 years ago. I leave them at 15 lbs when I am not hitched, but bump them to 60 lbs when towing. You need to experiment with the amount of pressure when loaded as too much pressure underloads the springs and causes a rock and roll sensation. That said, I am very pleased with the air bags. Terry

 

[CLAYTON]

I also went with the Ride Rites from Firestone. I played around with the psi in the bags and found that 45psi is just right for my application. They sure make the ride a lot nicer.

 

[AMink]

Would a weight distribution hitch, a la travel trailer, work for you? Then you wouldn't have to mess with air pressure. Might be less expensive too. Just a thought.

 

[RustyJC]

At that tongue and trailer weight, you'd really benefit from a weight distributing hitch - you can level things right out!



Rusty

 

[Nate]

Weight Distro hitch was something I thought about, but when I put junk in the back of the truck, that hitch isn't going to help me. Let's say I haul 40 sheets of plywood, I'd like to have the truck sitting level.



Would it make sense to replace the obviously worn out springs and start from there?

 

[jelag]

I tow with an 04, 3500 dually 4x4 and the trailer weighs 22K lbs... . (goose neck hitch) the truck has 180K miles and has never been through a full tank of fuel without the trailer... . there is a bed mounted tank as well that holds 120 gals.....



We installed the air lift 5000 lb air bag kit we purchased from Summit Racing... the best price we could find at 219 I think..... don't really remember... we tied into the air compressor and air tank that we have on the truck to support the pacbrake and air horns... . with a full tank of fuel and a loaded trailer we can pick up the back of the pickup almost 4 inches and thats within an inch or 2 of the stock height... . we installed an air regulator and just turn it up as we add the load... . works wonders and allows us to drop the pressure to 5 psi when the trailer is empty... .



Truck sits almost level. . not bed high... we than adjusted the lights to work right with the weight... and all's been fine for 100,000 miles or so... .



Hope this helps...

 

[Nate]

Here is a pic. The pic doesn't show the sag all that great. Measured on the side at the tailgate latch assembly, it's 34". Unloaded it sits right around 36. 5" So ~1000lbs is sinking the back 2. 5"

 

[Nate]

https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=58084

 

[Nate]

Now would it make sense to remove the overloads and run the bags, or get the other kit that I could run both??

 

[Nate]

People that are running bags, did you keep the overloads?? Is there a reason to keep them??



I was thinking of just yanking the overloads since the air bags will act like them... perhaps with the overloads I'd have more weight capacity???



Nate

 

[Nate]

Anyone running bags? It's just a simple question.

 

[jelag]

I gave you my 2 cents above... . on my 3 trucks we took off the snubbers and left the overloads... don't have a clue if they are being used..... we just dial up the air pressure to level out the truck.....



We considered a shim to bring the overloads on sooner... before we decided to install the air bags... ... with the air bags. . we turn down the pressure when we're empty... to 5 psi..... and we get a normal ride... . rough no less but normal. . with a really heavy load... . we turn the pressure up to 90-100 lbs and level out the truck...



Hope this helps. .



Jim

 

[Jumbo Jet]

My truck did not come with overloads. I added airbags to keep the truck level. Much better than the two previous trucks that had overloads.



I had to install a spacer to the end of the overloads just to get them to work on the previous truck.



Airbags are adjustable - on the fly with the on-board compressor - and really work.



My friend installed airbags on his 3500 that has overloads. Keeps his truck level when he is hitched to his 36' Montana 5th wheel. He kept his overloads on.

 

[nps]

If you use air bags to level your truck the overloads will never come on anyway. So leave them on, or take them off if you want to save 50#, but either way the ride will be the same.

 

[Nate]

Yeah that was my thinking behind it. I figure the kit that goes right over the springs (non-overload truck) is less complicated. Also with the kit that leaves the overloads, the pass. side bag gets put closer to the exhaust. I have mine routed a bit different than stock so I have more room for the spare tire, so I think it might be too close to an air bag.



Thanks for the help guys.



I'm kicking myself in the butt right now. Around Christmas time, a member had a new set of bags for sale that I was going to buy for about 1/2 the price of new , but it was for the non overload trucks. I didn't do my reasearch and passed the deal on thinking I couldn't use them

 

[SBeretz]

I have already purchased a set of Firestone Air Bags for my MegaCab. My buddy has a 05 F250 PSD. He put a leveling kit on the front as soon as he bought and when he put his travel trailer behind the truck after the leveling kit, it sat nose high, and squatted pretty good in the rear. So we added a set of Firestone bags to the rear and added 80PSI and wham, truck and trailer sit level and the ride is pretty good. Can't beat it for 230. 00 bucks. I plan on leveling the MC right away, so I already ordered the bags. They install really easy, and you can run the lines to the hitch and fill up each bag individually. I know some have the compressor and do it in the cab, but if you are only doning this once in awhile it works out fine. Scotty

 

[Nate]

Yeah I have a $10 12v compressor I keep in the truck and that will work just fine for filling the bags. For my needs, it's not worth setting up the truck with a complete air up/down system.

 

[GWBourne]

love my airbags with my 2. 3k tounge wieght... no problems at all.