Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Air bag helpers, equilizer hitch or both?

The video describes how well the load levelers work. The bags brought the truck close to level, but not the load. As a matter of fact, it shows how little the air bags do to help distribute weight.

I don't see how the video is BS..?

Seems your over reacting to pulling a 3300# trailer with a modern F-150..You shouldn't need anything except good tires if your 25ft or under..A weight distribution hitch isn't needed for a light trailer and air bags wouldn't be needed with a tongue weight under 500# based on my 2008 F-150..My tongue weight on a 33ft trailer was about 800# and air bags were needed,not so pulling a couple 24 and 25ft campers,just a hitch ball off the factory hitch...Never any issues at all..

Your tongue weight is only 800#, verified? OR is that the manufacturer rated weight before you put anything in it?

What does a weight hitch with sway-control hurt when having to make a 4000 mile trip?

3300# is DRY weight. It will easily be 5K when loaded and provisioned. I want the safest and nicest ride possible, not one that just gets by.

Tongue weight should be 9-15% of your total trailer weight loaded ready to roll..I like 10% and how it handles..Mine tongue weight was weighed at the dealer because they could not believe how it sat down my new F-150..They couldn't adjust it enough for a level ride so I took it to the RV park I was staying at and went down the next morning and got air bags put on..End of problem although I did have to re-adjust the hitch to match the bags..

A weight distribution hitch does not hurt anything infact,I recommend it to novice rv'rs regardless of trailer weight..I just did not use it or need it pulling the two 24 and 25ft travel trailers with my F-150 and they both were in the 5K category..I personally set the need for a WD hitch at 26ft,but that's just me and I have been pulling camp trailers for 53 years..I love to fulltime in an RV and my garage is full of parts from A-Z...

Your 3300# trailer has a max weight allowed somewhere on the trailer...Just guessing I would say around 5000# total weight or 1700# of stuff is max depending what brand your trailer is..If you want the safest ride to AK then you should think sway bar to go with your WD hitch..There fairly cheap and super easy to install and keep the speed down as speed and trailers don't mix well when things happen....

Your on the right track and maybe my previous post was off for your needs and experience..Good luck on your trip....

^^^^This^^^^

When they came out the trailer was an airstream.

35 ft i believe.

They took off the rear tires off after adjusting the hitch and drove it around a parking lot.

They did some simulation of bumps as well.

These hitches will also help with swaying.

I have a 2015 f150 it has the towing package and i have used it to transport my 1971 Massy tractor with a 61/2 ft.disk on the lift.

It takes out the porpoising when on ruff roads.

Probably often overlooked, a WH will increase the load on the trailer tires. Not a problem with properly rated trailer with good tires with reserve capacity. Or those running LT tires. Not a good situation for crap trailer with marginal axles and ST tires that are right at the load limit.

For Firestone bags, check out daystar cradles, empty bags are like no bags, ride not effected and no damage to the bags running 0 psi. If I needed to tow at the limit of my half ton, or use up most of my payload due to the tongue weight to get enough weight forward, I’d have bought a 3/4 or 1 ton.

Hitch with trailers and bags with heavy cab-over campers.

Off subject, but pick up a Mile Post publication.

Awaiting 'til March 23 for the 2020 release of the MilePost.

Don’t pull an equipped 10,000# ,40 foot toyhauler with your stock 3.5L eco boost f150 on a windy day.


That’s what a friend told me.

Noted...thanks for the sage advice.

3300 # is nothing for that truck

Pahntr760 what gear ration your F_150? I think you will have a great time. I made that trip in 1972 on a 1971 Honda CB 350 twin and it was rougher road then but 1st class adventure for a young guy.

It should be 3.55 gears with their tow package...I am not yet home to verify. If it has, by chance, the "Max Tow Package" then they wear 3.73 gears. Either should be just fine with the former being better on gas w/o a load.

Take a look at you shock mounts. They're designed to take the bounce out of the ride, not to carry weight. Air shocks add a lot of stress to the mounts that they might not be able to handle. At least 1 maker of air shocks says this. Your mounts are part of the suspension.


At the very least, be sure the shock doesn't just slide over a bolt with a nut on it as it can break off with all that extra weight on it. It needs solid support on both sides of the shock.