Towing stability. Most bang for the buck?

[Davexxxx]

Considering both price and payload costs, if you thought you needed to tighten up towing stability on a stock Gen 14, would you,

A) Buy heavier rated tires.
B) Install rear sway bar.
C) Independently operated air bags.
D) SumoSprings (or similar)
E) Other (what and why?)
F) More than one. (Explain in order please.)

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[Aron]

Considering both price and payload costs, if you thought you needed to tighten up towing stability on a stock Gen 14, would you,

A) Buy heavier rated tires.
B) Install rear sway bar.
C) Independently operated air bags.
D) SumoSprings (or similar)
E) Other (what and why?)
F) More than one. (Explain in order please.)

Hmm. I suspect that a combination of A and B might be your best bet, but I think that that might require more information first. What are your current tires? What specific issue(s) are you trying to fix to "tighten up" your towing experience?

For example, a sway bar probably won't help if your major issue is "porpoising" or sloppy steering control.

 

[Buyer2021]

E) Other (what and why?)

IMO the #1 factor relating to towing stability is weight distribution within the trailer itself - ensure that at least 10% of the total trailer weight is bearing on the ball of the hitch (more is better up to the limits of your hitch / truck capacity) and you'll have 99% of towing stability issues 'licked'.

This holds true even when using a weight distributing hitch to correct the sag that tongue weight imposes on the truck.

 

[Davexxxx]

Hmm. I suspect that a combination of A and B might be your best bet, but I think that that might require more information first. What are your current tires? What specific issue(s) are you trying to fix to "tighten up" your towing experience?

For example, a sway bar probably won't help if your major issue is "porpoising" or sloppy steering control.

Tires are stock 14gen. Whatever that might be.
Also assumes use of a properly set up WDH and tongue weight..

I hear people talk about "Planting the truck" and sometimes, "soft side walls" insinuating mushy cornering and wind loads from the trailer?

But the cost benefit analysis, has to include money and payload.

 

[Davexxxx]

I was hoping this would get more engagement.

Anyway, Bang for the buck ... At the moment, I'm at a toss up between sway bar and sumosprings.

If desired and as the time comes, up grading shocks makes good sense as do the tires but I'm not one to take off brand new stuff, without real need.

 

[minirx7]

I have towed my 7000lbs GVW Trailer around 15,000kms or so in 2 years in my F150 with stock Hankook tires on my Max Tow Lariat F150 (Payload 1709lbs).


Even my trip to Disney world last year was around 5600kms tround trip in August. No mods to the truck, Equalizer hitch on my Jayco, bikes in the trunk and family of 5. I never had any stability issues at all, driving around 70mph (factory tires on Jayco is Goodyears).

Even had enough power and stability to drive through the smokey mountains in Tennessee. Perhaps its the maxtow, but i was always concerned that my truck coudlnt handle the trailer (almost 31 feet), but i have not had to white knuckle drive. In fact most of my journey i have cruise control and lane keep assist ON.

 

[Davexxxx]

I have towed my 7000lbs GVW Trailer around 15,000kms or so in 2 years in my F150 with stock Hankook tires on my Max Tow Lariat F150 (Payload 1709lbs).


Even my trip to Disney world last year was around 5600kms tround trip in August. No mods to the truck, Equalizer hitch on my Jayco, bikes in the trunk and family of 5. I never had any stability issues at all, driving around 70mph (factory tires on Jayco is Goodyears).

Even had enough power and stability to drive through the smokey mountains in Tennessee. Perhaps its the maxtow, but i was always concerned that my truck coudlnt handle the trailer (almost 31 feet), but i have not had to white knuckle drive. In fact most of my journey i have cruise control and lane keep assist ON.

Sounds good. While our trailer will have ~500lbs. more GVWR than yours, I don't anticipate needing near that and its about a foot shorter in length. The several shake down cruises we have planned, will give us a good feel for how it will handle hills but the big plan, is to go out west and there isn't really a way to simulate that kind of wind, short of happenstance here at home.

People seem to speak highly of the sway bars and the sumosprings, should help with any porpoising.

 

[Buyer2021]

Anyway, Bang for the buck ... At the moment, I'm at a toss up between sway bar and sumosprings.

Interesting because those two items are each designed to address totally different issues and have very different effects. IMO it smacks of throwing $ at a problem without really having a good notion of what's needed.

IME a major key to successfully addressing a problem is to get a truly good understanding of the problem to be addressed. "Tighten up towing stability" is an incredibly general / non-specific objective (goal). Perhaps if you're really interested in optimizing "bang for the buck" you would benefit from a more objective (as opposed to subjective) focus on identifying the specific issue(s) you want to address.

Your statement "... trailer will have ...." suggests you haven't even towed the rig and therefore can't possibly know what issues you may need to address, if any (??). If so, I'd suggest you delay making truck mods of the sort you listed until you've gained some actual experience with the rig and have an informed basis for making smart (and cost-effective) decisions.

Just for your consideration, good luck!

 

[Davexxxx]

Interesting because those two items are each designed to address totally different issues and have very different effects. IMO it smacks of throwing $ at a problem without really having a good notion of what's needed.

IME a major key to successfully addressing a problem is to get a truly good understanding of the problem to be addressed. "Tighten up towing stability" is an incredibly general / non-specific objective (goal). Perhaps if you're really interested in optimizing "bang for the buck" you would benefit from a more objective (as opposed to subjective) focus on identifying the specific issue(s) you want to address.

Your statement "... trailer will have ...." suggests you haven't even towed the rig and therefore can't possibly know what issues you may need to address, if any (??). If so, I'd suggest you delay making truck mods of the sort you listed until you've gained some actual experience with the rig and have an informed basis for making smart (and cost-effective) decisions.

Just for your consideration, good luck!

OK

People use the term "planting the truck" when discussing sway bars and towing rigs smaller than mine. Several mention OEM tires being a bit soft. Some replace them with stiffer from the start, some when it is time to change. Many, upgrade shocks.

While it is certainly true that nothing beats first hand experience, these things are not new, or uncommon. I like having a plan B and knowing what it'll likely entail.

 

[Buyer2021]

Granted it's an almost universal consensus that OE shocks are underdamped and an upgrade to those will likely provide immediate benefit for virtually every towing situation. That strikes me as a good place to start in anticipation of towing a ~7k GTWR trailer even if not loaded to that limit.

You mention a possible concern about "porpoising", better shock damping can help mitigate that, but beyond that the degree of that behavior that is highly dependent on overall rig-specifics, not a behavior I'd anticipate / plan for lacking a known need.

 

[Aron]

I don’t have firsthand experience with any of the modifications that you mentioned, so I was really leaving it to others to answer specifics about those. I agree with @Buyer2021 that it’s probably better to get some towing experience under your belt and identify specific issues that you want to address before throwing money at problems you may not have.

For what it’s worth, I tow a 6500lb trailer with a stock truck, and have not noticed any of the issues you mentioned. It’s really trailer and truck specific.

 

[amschind]

One other idea: know how to abort sway using trailer brakes. You don't have long, maybe 2-3 cycles before the sway self-reinforces to "ditch".

 

[minirx7]

Sounds good. While our trailer will have ~500lbs. more GVWR than yours, I don't anticipate needing near that and its about a foot shorter in length. The several shake down cruises we have planned, will give us a good feel for how it will handle hills but the big plan, is to go out west and there isn't really a way to simulate that kind of wind, short of happenstance here at home.

People seem to speak highly of the sway bars and the sumosprings, should help with any porpoising.

Note i had never driven a truck nor towed anything in my life until I got this. The big lesson I learned is to make sure sway control is off on my first trip as it seemed to counteraxt the equalizer sway control.

 

[EricR]

Considering both price and payload costs, if you thought you needed to tighten up towing stability on a stock Gen 14, would you,

A) Buy heavier rated tires.
B) Install rear sway bar.
C) Independently operated air bags.
D) SumoSprings (or similar)
E) Other (what and why?)
F) More than one. (Explain in order please.)

1) Blue Ox Sway Pro weight distributing hitch (or similar).

2) Sherline trailer tongue weight scale (or similar).

3) A visit to a CAT Scale (or similar) with your trailer fully loaded and ready to go on a trip.

 

[Aron]

Note i had never driven a truck nor towed anything in my life until I got this. The big lesson I learned is to make sure sway control is off on my first trip as it seemed to counteraxt the equalizer sway control.

Hmm...I don't know. As I understand it, the sway control system basically activates the trailer brakes when it detects trailer sway. That's not something that I would want to turn off if I could help it, since sway is such a dangerous situation. The Equalizer sway control is friction-based, correct? I'm having a difficult time visualizing how they might be working against each other, since they work in different ways.

I've never had the sway control system activate in my F150, but I did in my Expedition (caveat: I don't know if they work 100% the same). In the Expedition system, it gave me an alert when it activated. Are you getting alerted constantly to lead you to believe that the two systems are counteracting each other?

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