A truck question

[Handy Don 12,216]

2 hours ago, Racinbob said:

There will always be the time(s) when you'll need to make a drastic maneuver

Plenty of videos and aftermath photos on the internet of badly hitched trailers during and after an "uh oh".

My favorite is the guy who parked his pickup and dual-axle flatbed on a downhill slope and then started to load his big JD loader backhoe. As the rear wheels got on, the back of the trailer went down and the front went up lifting the parking-braked rear wheels of the pickup enough so that they lost traction. Trailer brakes weren't activated so off down the hill went the whole shebang. 

 

[Racinbob 11,062]

If I see a rig that's obviously poorly set up I always make it a point to put some distance between us. 

[Snoopy11 5,714]

On 5/21/2022 at 6:27 AM, adsm08 said:

Air shocks are a joke.

Oh really...

 

First picture: Stock height (basically loaded). Second picture, 55 PSI. Third picture 100 PSI. Capabilities are 165 PSI... Which... I will probably never need or use...

 

 

Obviously, there are "better" methods such as air bags... or add a leaf kits... but air shocks aren't a... 'joke'

 

Don

Edited May 23, 2022 by Snoopy11

[adsm08 2,048]

1 hour ago, Snoopy11 said:

Oh really...

 

First picture: Stock height (basically loaded). Second picture, 55 PSI. Third picture 100 PSI. Capabilities are 165 PSI... Which... I will probably never need or use...

 

 

Obviously, there are "better" methods such as air bags... or add a leaf kits... but air shocks aren't a... 'joke'

 

Don

 

My Ranger, with the air shocks at 155 PSI, which is where my compressor's shut-off is set, will still drop enough to rub the rear tires with the bed fully loaded.

 

I haven't hit my rear tires since I put the coil-overs on.

[Snoopy11 5,714]

4 hours ago, adsm08 said:

will still drop enough to rub the rear tires with the bed fully loaded.

Interesting... I wasn't aware that this was possible with the stock bump stops installed. Matter of fact, I think on my Ranger... without any bump stops... the axle would hit the frame before the tires rubbed. I would have to notch the frame to make the tires rub...

 

Don

[adsm08 2,048]

2 hours ago, Snoopy11 said:

Interesting... I wasn't aware that this was possible with the stock bump stops installed. Matter of fact, I think on my Ranger... without any bump stops... the axle would hit the frame before the tires rubbed. I would have to notch the frame to make the tires rub...

 

Don

 

My Ranger is what I like to refer to as "stock plus".

 

I have a first gen (1987) body, so I have the smallest wheel wells of any Ranger body, I have a 97 Explorer rear axle, which is about an inch wider than the pre-93 Ranger axles, and instead of the factory 215/75/15 tires I am running 31X10.50X15s. Extended rear bump stops, which have the possibility of degrading ride quality by hitting too soon, or going to an 89-92 bed with larger wheel wells would both alleviate the issue, but since it only happens fully loaded, which for me is a few hundred pounds over the sticker weight, I don't put a lot of effort into fixing it. I slapped a set of coil-over helper shocks on the back the last time I needed shocks, and it hasn't been an issue since, but it did happen all the time with the air shocks.

 

Actually, the air shocks I had on it were listed for an F-150, but were the same size and eye bolt specs, just a wider operating range, and at 155 PSI they couldn't even lift the rear. That was a scrap run, and I think I off-loaded about 650 lbs at the scale. Payload cap is supposed to be about 500 lbs.

[Snoopy11 5,714]

14 hours ago, adsm08 said:

Actually, the air shocks I had on it were listed for an F-150, but were the same size and eye bolt specs, just a wider operating range, and at 155 PSI they couldn't even lift the rear.

Geeezeus bro... that is unfortunate.... exactly what brand did you buy? Sounds like you got bamboozled...

 

Mine... work... great...

 

Don

[adsm08 2,048]

25 minutes ago, Snoopy11 said:

Geeezeus bro... that is unfortunate.... exactly what brand did you buy? Sounds like you got bamboozled...

 

Mine... work... great...

 

Don

 

Those were Monroes. Fortunately I didn't buy them. They were defect throw-aways because they came in with the box heavily damaged and the air fitting kit MIA. Store manager said he was obligated to throw them out, but didn't have any control over (or interest in) what happened to them after he set them in the trash can.

[Snoopy11 5,714]

4 minutes ago, adsm08 said:

 

Those were Monroes. Fortunately I didn't buy them. They were defect throw-aways because they came in with the box heavily damaged and the air fitting kit MIA. Store manager said he was obligated to throw them out, but didn't have any control over (or interest in) what happened to them after he set them in the trash can.

Well, that is unfortunate. I can say... I put mine on, and really REALLY like them. I personally didn't think I was going to keep them... but... they have WELL exceeded my expectations!

 

Don

[cschannuth 3,816]

The truck seems a little bit too small for that application but no matter what vehicle you put in front of a bumper hitch trailer you need to have a weight distributing hitch and it needs to be adjusted until the truck sits level. You may need to jack up the tongue of the trailer while you grab enough links on the hitch to make that happen. That puts as much trailer weight on the front truck axle as it does on the rear and gives any vehicle the best shot at handling well. Air shocks or airbags on the back are fine for weight in the bed. But they do very little to increase the amount of weight on the front axle  so the front end will want to float around a bit. 

[lynnmor 7,305]

4 hours ago, cschannuth said:

The truck seems a little bit too small for that application but no matter what vehicle you put in front of a bumper hitch trailer you need to have a weight distributing hitch and it needs to be adjusted until the truck sits level. You may need to jack up the tongue of the trailer while you grab enough links on the hitch to make that happen. That puts as much trailer weight on the front truck axle as it does on the rear and gives any vehicle the best shot at handling well. Air shocks or airbags on the back are fine for weight in the bed. But they do very little to increase the amount of weight on the front axle  so the front end will want to float around a bit. 

 

Actually you want to restore the front to between 50% and 100% of what it changed, hitch and truck manufacturers differ on that figure.  When the weight on the front is correct, the rear may still have too much sag and only adding additional support in the form of springs, air bags or air shocks will get it level.  Lifting the rear with a WDH may remove too much weight from the rear tires and result in spinning, poor braking or control problems.

 

My truck manual says this:

 

Weight-distributing hitch
When hooking-up a trailer using a weight-distributing hitch, always use
the following procedure:
1. Park the vehicle (without the trailer) on a level surface.
2. Measure the height of the top of the front wheel opening on the
fender, this is H1.
3. Attach the trailer to the vehicle without the weight distributing bars
connected.
4. Measure the height of the top of the front wheel opening on the
fender a second time, this is H2.
5. Install and adjust the tension in the weight distributing bars so that
the height of the front fender is approximately halfway between H1 and
H2.
6. Check that the trailer is level. If not level, adjust the ball height
accordingly and repeat Steps 3–6.