[twhouse]

Followed one thread but lost it, question for the experts.

Just brought home our first PSD, 2005 F250supercab Lariet trim, 64000 miles, has a K&N cold air intake, I don't know if the exhaust is stock or aftermarket,
4" pipe, muffeler is about 7" in dia. traded a 97 F250 5.4 gas light duty.
we had been pulling our 2006 Komfort 222fs 5er, needed more power(Tim Allen?).
Will get the hitch in this week.
Any towing advice would be appreciated - suspension advise also as the truck may be a bit tall for proper towing. Trailer suspension is UP, springs on top of axel and springs set in the highest lift holes in the suspension brackets.
trailer over bed of truck measures 53" to ground with the trailer level.
Pictures as soon as we take some and figure out how to post them
Thanks W7TZS

 

[twhouse]

update

got the hitch in, trailer connected the bed of the rig settles to about 1 1/2 inches higher than the old gasser, trailer is a bit nose high. We hope to get it out to Neskowin in a week or so for its first run. Is it possible to drop the back of the truck just a bit? I have seen nothing in the magazines that indicates this.

 

[GregsSD]

Your F-250 should have 2" blocks under your springs, you can remove the blocks and get some shorter U-bolts which will lower the rear of your truck 2".

Or you can put a 1/2" or 1" block in place depending exactly how much you want to lower it.

 

[twhouse]

OK

Thanks,
put the trailer on the truck for the first time yesterday, about 1 1/2 inches higher than it was on the old "97 F250 light duty. the 2 inches would put the trailer right at level when towing.
Sun is out, going to try to get a picture today.

 

[GregsSD]

Is the truck sitting level with the trailer hooked up?

You don't want to lower the truck if it is going to end up with the front of your truck much higher than the rear when towing.

 

[twhouse]

close

close to level if not so, it only squats about 1.5 in when the trailer goes on the hitch and the jacks come up. Trailer is just a bit nose high but we are going to give it a go and see how she works. Yeah, get the tail feathers down to far and it screws with the steering geometry and us short fat ol men have trouble seeing over the nose of the truck.
Gary

 

[cchase]

i have found if you tow alot, you want to have your truck sitting as level as possible when the trailer is hooked up. thats were airbags come in handy.

 

[twhouse]

level

Hard to tell from the little picture what the attitude of the truck and trailer is.
Truck suspension is all stock as far as I can tell and it does not squat much when the trailer jacks are picked up. As I mentioned before we were towing with a '97 F250 LD with the 2 valve 5.4 gas engine. Its' max tow weight was 8000, the trailer (Komfort 222 fs) is just over 6k empty with a max of 8k, 1k max pin weight. The 97 came over the scale at the dump at about 5200, today the PSD came out of the dump at 7940, 3/4 tank of fuel and 3 of us on board. I think this will be a much better truck weight to trailer weight ratio for towing stability and a bunch more pulling power. We plan to make our first run over to the coast (just north of Lincoln City) the 15th. Ya'd think two ol retired people could cut and run anytime but seems to be always something. If this tows like we hope the kids are going to have fun finding us at home.
Gary

 

[Gramps]

Nice setup. That new PSD will get you down the road in fine fashion. What kind of brake controller do you have on your truck?

 

[alabamafrog]

I tow a 27’ 5er camper rated at something like 7,600# converted to gooseneck, it pulled great with my truck when it was stock, could run 80mph and swap lanes and pas with no problems. Now I probably could jerk the hitch off it. I can hit an uphill Interstate ramp at 0mph and be doing 85mph at the top of it if I needed to. A good brake controller is a must and on my 99 an aftermarket tranny temp gauge and egt gauge and tranny cooler is another must. I had to build a 5” lift kit for my camper and it still sits real nose high, probably should have built the lift more like 8” high. I have blown out one back tire on the camper but think it may have been low before I left that morning. I have to try and find a place to park downhill if I want to use the camper without unhooking it. Kinda a pain but not worth lowering my truck.

 

[twhouse]

brake controler

Truck has Fords integrated brake control, going to try to give it all a workout later this week with a short run to the Oregon coast.
Trailer is already as high as it will go without lift kit stuff for it, this first run should tell how things are going to work, may have to pull the blocks between the spring and axle on the truck. going to be interesting, there are a couple of little bumps in the road that go from sea level to about 700 +/- feet in a couple of miles, the ol 5.4 would pull at about 40 - 45 (that is about a comfortable speed for their corners and the shotgun rider) and grunt a bit.

 

[mrnecsteve]

The 2in blocks are factory installed on the 07..probably same with 05.(4x4)
The factory controller is great (if installed correctly) As it was dealer installable,some dealers neglected to
install a pressure xducer on the master cylinnder on some 05's. Hope its functional for you...(works great with the abs system)

 

[adamsrk]

You can have an axle flip performed on your fiver and that will get you all level.

 

[alabamafrog]

Got to be careful with axle flipping, lots of axles are supposed to be bent to help support the weight of the trailer and flipping them by just turning upside down makes the bend the wrong way and the tires will lean out and not support the trailer properly.

 

[adamsrk]

Got to be careful with axle flipping, lots of axles are supposed to be bent to help support the weight of the trailer and flipping them by just turning upside down makes the bend the wrong way and the tires will lean out and not support the trailer properly.

No, that is NOT what axle flipping is sorry. The perch and springs are simply moved from the bottom of the axle to the top of the axle. If the springs were turned upside down as you suggested it would sit even lower. lol:thumb:

 

[adamsrk]

No, that is NOT what axle flipping is sorry. The perch and springs are simply moved from the bottom of the axle to the top of the axle. If the springs were turned upside down as you suggested it would sit even lower. lol:thumb:

Oh, I see what you were saying but no, that is not what an axle flip is. you do not really flip the axle, it would not work anyway due to the way the brakes are designed. The perches are rewelded on the top of the axle and the leaf springs are relocated to the top raising the height about 5-6 inches. this does raise your center of gravity but it is better than sitting nose down on your hitch.:rofl:

 

[alabamafrog]

Yea, that’s what I was saying, you can't just call it axle flipping and assume everyone knows you have to re-weld the supports on top of the axle to relocate them below the springs. Some folks just take the axle off the top of the springs and flip it over then bolt it back under the springs and think everything is okay.

 

[twhouse]

springs are already on top of the axle and the shackles are set up with the springs mounted for the max hight above ground. Pulled over to the coast last week and all seemed to go ok, by feel the trailer tires were all at about the same temp when we stopped, tow is about 3 - 4 inches nose high on the trailer. Ford integrated brakes seemed to work ok although in tow / haul mode there was not a lot of brake use.
Gary

 

[95and05]

nice setup Gary. my 95 250 pulls my 7000# 5er great but my wife wont pull it yet.
Does Linda tow?

KC9ATP

 

[twhouse]

Not yet but she drove the 30' motor home on occasion so she will.
Was at Elmendorf 6/1957 - 8/1960. One of the goals is for Clifford to tow his trailer
up there.
W7TZS & KD7VSF