• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Need to lift my rear end.

ThereWillBeSpuds

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2019
Messages
648
I know this really has nothing to do with saddle hunting, but I know some of y'all are capable folks and I can trust that you don't have skin in the game re: selling me one product or another.

I tow a 12 foot cargo trailer every Saturday with my "new" 1996 f-150 4x4. I don't know exactly what the tongue weight is (don't really have a way to measure it either.) but its definitely making the rear of my truck sag pretty bad.

I looked at weight distributing hitches, but some of them say to only back in a straight line or to disconnect the weight distributing springs for backing, and I back my trailer 3 times every single time I hook it up, and not in no straight line neither. So I kinda think they aren't what I need.

SO, I guess that makes my options:
1. helper springs
2. some kind of airbag system
3. donor leaf springs from some heavier truck, like from a scrap yard?

I don't really want to raise the unloaded ride height, and the ride quality is already pretty harsh so I am hesitant to put even stiffer rear suspension on it. I am not having any trouble towing the trailer in town, which is what I do every week, but I dunno if I would have steering or braking issues at higher speeds and I may want to take the show on the road some time soon.

Do any of y'all have experience with progressive helper springs? Do they harshen the ride quality much?

Are air bags going to be too much fiddle-factor? I hook my trailer up in the dark every Saturday morning and dont really want to be messing with an air compressor or a bike pump to alter my suspension at 6:30 am.

I know that the scrapyard leaf springs will likely be the cheapest option, but could also be more work, especially if the mounting brackets arent identical to my own. Its a business expense so I am not scared of spending a few hundred dollars to make sure I am towing safely and without undue wear on my truck.

What do yall think I should do? And new-new truck isn't an option, nor is rearranging the weight in the trailer, as its pretty much stuffed, front and rear.
 
The air bags are going to be easiest if u don't want to change stock ride height. I had them on my last truck. I ran 1 dedicated line for each bag and put a 2 schrader valves sticking out by the licence plate. Should just be bolt on with a little fab/modify depending on how u choose to run the lines and mount the valves. U would have to fill and empty but a small buddy tank would be enough to fill them. I can measure spring eye to spring eye on my 87 single cab long bed f20 spring pack if u want or I also have 96 f350 crew cab long bed pack I can measure..
 
The air bags are going to be easiest if u don't want to change stock ride height. I had them on my last truck. I ran 1 dedicated line for each bag and put a 2 schrader valves sticking out by the licence plate. Should just be bolt on with a little fab/modify depending on how u choose to run the lines and mount the valves. U would have to fill and empty but a small buddy tank would be enough to fill them. I can measure spring eye to spring eye on my 87 single cab long bed f20 spring pack if u want or I also have 96 f350 crew cab long bed pack I can measure..
If you have the time to measure both that would rock, the 350 springs would probably be overkill. But it would be good to know what my options are when I am calling scrap yards. My f-150 is shortbed, single cab, I dunno if they had different spring eye to eye measurements for different bed/cab combos but measuring is probably the easiest way to find out.

As for the air bags, I just know I would forget to top up the buddy tank one week and wake up and have to sag to the nearest gas station and end up behind schedule. But on the other hand I have been wanting a battery powered compressor for my toolbox.

Sent from my SM-A516V using Tapatalk
 
Another option is a portable CO2 tank like a powertank...that is just a name brand u can look up...u can build a system and find a used tank and save money.
 
I'll get u the measurements....I just have probably 1k in the bed and I'll have to jack it up to get the unsprung measurement.
 
Aahhhh.....just remembered.... F150 spring = 2.5 inch wide spring and F250 spring = 3" wide.
****. So it's a grinding off rivets and buying or fabricating brackets type job? Probably not gonna be worth it to me.

Sent from my SM-A516V using Tapatalk
 
Which weigh distribution hitches did you look at? Price wise may be more.. But I have run the Equalizer hitch on my camper for the last 6 years. No issues. Don't have to un-hook it to back up. 7k trailer on my Ford excursion. They have different sizes. Might be worth a look. Can be a little noisy, but works well.
 
Which weigh distribution hitches did you look at? Price wise may be more.. But I have run the Equalizer hitch on my camper for the last 6 years. No issues. Don't have to un-hook it to back up. 7k trailer on my Ford excursion. They have different sizes. Might be worth a look. Can be a little noisy, but works well.
I basically have to borderline jacknife my trailer to get it into my driveway and into my spot at the market, does the equalizer significantly change the angle you can turn?

Sent from my SM-A516V using Tapatalk
 
I have cranked mine over pretty good. I think it will do it as long as you don't set the brackets on the trailer to far back that your bars would slide off. You could always email them to double check. I know I can push the bars back over 90 to the truck. So I don't think it is an issue. But if you were going to do it, I would email them to verify. They responded in a timely manner when I had a question for them this spring..
 
I had a 92 regular cab short box. Like your 96. There's a few different rear spring configurations for them. Most are a 4 leaf pack, mine was a 5. Not sure if it would be a bolt /unbolt fix but check some Salvage yards.
 
Weight distribution hitch is what you need. I've towed cargo and travel trailers with suburbans, tahoes and 1500 Silverados from mid 80 model to about 2007. Makes all the difference.
 
Back
Top