Hauling 8500-8700lbs with f-150 3.5 ecoboost. Should I invest in air bags?

[brinkman01]

Good evening everyone. I wanted to get some opinions on air bags suspension. In January we finally upgraded our camper situation and we upgraded from a pop up to a full size camper. The new camper is a Heartland M33 Mallard GWR 8400lbs. Now I have a 2014 f-150 3.5 ecoboost and when we had the pop up camper the truck never knew it was back and we traveled quite a bit every year. We do have intentions on getting a new and heavier truck since we bought a lot bigger camper than we plan on at that time but have to make due with what we have for now.

So now for the question. I do have the weight distribution hitch but does a air bag system make a big difference? Is it a wise investment and does it make a difference in the handling of a camper. I didn’t have to worry about with the pop up and we travel from Missouri to Key West and planning on doing the same thing at the end of March.

So looking for some good advice on what to do and if I should do the bags.

Thanks for the help.

[nosticks]

You only have about 700lbs. tongue weight and are using a equalizer hitch. Save your money, you'll need it for fuel.

[Fiesta48]

Drive it before deciding. Just bought a 8K lbs 5th Wheel with 1250 pin weight not needed so far.

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi ! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined the gang!

Can't help with the question but wanted to say hello!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

[keymastr]

At 8700 gross your tongue weight will be over 1000 pounds at 12% which is about the lightest percentage that tows well. Air bags help level the load but your hitch is doing that already. The best thing you can do is learn how to adjust your hitch to get it working correctly. Adjusting slightly more or less weight will make a difference but you may have to adjust it several times to find what works best for your combination. The hitch has manuals to describe how to set it up and there are tons of videos on youtube.

The bottom line is that your truck weighs less than the trailer by a significant amount and no add-ons or helpers will fix that. You can adjust it so it does not sway through proper tongue weight and adjusting the hitch but you will not be driving it when the wind blows and passing vehicles will make you pay attention.

What WD hitch do you have? Hopefully not a cheap one with separate sway bars you have to adjust. The modern premium hitches with built in sway control are so much better that it is a shame dealers still sell the cheap ones. I would get an Equa-lizer 4 point hitch with 1200 pound bars to tame that load if it were me, followed by an F-250 as soon as possible. Cost of that hitch will be about $600 on line.

[Cowpie1]

You might want to consider investing in another pickup instead of trying to make yours more of what it is not.

This is why the old maxim.. "buy the trailer you want and then buy the truck to pull it" rings true.

[Freqz]

How's your rear axle loading? Or you FALR when using WD? Too much on the rear or not enough on the front is way more critical to correct than some squat. A high end WD hitch with sway control would be a much better investment. Even a propride or Hensley if you can stand the weight.

A pop up tows *much* different from a full size, heavy TT. Surface area is not your friend.

[Badlands Bob]

That's a nice trailer but you are going to be hating life trying to tow that with a 1/2 ton.....any 1/2 ton. 7840 lbs dry weight and over 36 feet long. You're a lot braver than I am. Good luck with it.

[LETMGROW]

You are way undersized with a 1/2 T. pickup to haul that trailer. You are putting your family, yourself and anyone you share the roads with in the danger zone.
You would be well served if you start shopping for a truck which will fit the job.
Lynn

[raineman]

You mention you are planning on a larger truck, I would suggest you go get that truck now. I agree with others about your current truck. Will your 150 pull it? Absolutely. But, you will be getting pushed around by your trailer. They call it white knuckle towing because of the poor handling with too much trailer and too little truck. There will be advice on here that a 150 can tow just about anything. Not the case. Follow the math and never ever listen to a salesman about what you can tow. He /she cares about commission only, not your setup. Also, why wear out a truck by towing more than it is designed to tow? A lot of stress for a 150 to tow that. Best of luck to you and congratulations on the new trailer!

[Cliffy]

I have a 150 with a 5.4 towing 22 feet at 4700 pounds. It does OK except I have to be OUT of overdrive all the time. Hills? I just gear down and stay in the right lane. I might go another 2000 pounds but not even think about over 8000 pounds for long distances even though the truck came tow package ready with 9500 pound limit. Make sure the trailer brakes work good and are adjusted to come on strong enough. You need to feel the trailer brakes when they come on. You don't want to be trying to stop the trailer with the truck brakes.

I towed an 8000 lb boat with an earlier 150 for short distances. It wasn't fun for me. Especially when the trailer brakes failed. Couldn't stop it. Took forever, almost wound up in the front door of a house. Slid all 4 wheels on the truck with locked up brakes.
YMMV

[lynnmor]

Air bags are just additional springs, use them to restore the ride height of the truck.

[G Schulz]

I think it’s to much tail for the dog. On the highway the tail could end up waging the dog.

[John Pattee]

The Ecoboost will pull like a diesel; the real issue as others have pointed out is payload so load it up for a typical camping trip and take it to a truck scale.

I upgraded our trailer to a similar sized model as yours - took it with my F150 3.5 EB to the scales. Was 100# over the truck GVWR and 500# over the rear axle limit (RAWR). Traded the F150 for a F250 6.2l gasser.

Even if yours scales under the limits you will likely find it is a handful on the highway with passing trucks or crosswinds.