Lift lowering Options -Towing

[landocarlesien]

Hey I recently bought a 2017 Ram 2500 6.7L 4WD Big Horn. it came with a factory lift on it. We tow a 34ft 10K travel trailer and are experiencing pretty severe porpoising, which is. ruining the rear axles on my TT. I have Firestone air bags installed. What are my options to lower the truck a few inches? Is it an expensive endeavor? if so, are there any other ways to reduce porpoising? Thanks!

 

[co-pilot]

Just a drop hitch should fix that

 

[olyelr]

When you say travel trailer, i assume you have a bumper pull. Do you have a weight distribution type hitch? If not, definitely start there. If the truck is stock, and you have a wd hitch properly setup, air bags should not be needed at all…unless you are loading your trailer/bed with a lot of extra/heavy stuff.

 

[co-pilot]

When you say travel trailer, i assume you have a bumper pull. Do you have a weight distribution type hitch? If not, definitely start there. If the truck is stock, and you have a wd hitch properly setup, air bags should not be needed at all…unless you are loading your trailer/bed with a lot of extra/heavy stuff.

https://www.northerntool.com/images/product/2000x2000/996/99696_2000x2000.jpg This is what you need......

 

[olyelr]

https://www.northerntool.com/images/product/2000x2000/996/99696_2000x2000.jpg This is what you need......

Well first off, i dont need anything lol. But, again, if the original poster does indeed have a bumper pull travel trailer and does not have a weight distribution hitch, that is 100% his problem. That hitch should not be used for a travel trailer.

 

[olyelr]

This is the hitch i use with our travel trailer. It not only redistributes weight back onto the front axle, it also has built in sway control. It is slightly noisy at times, but it works very well.

Sway Control & Weight Distribution | Equal-i-zer® Hitch

Superior sway control technology makes it the best performing sway control hitch on the market, working to keep your family safe, every time you tow.

www.equalizerhitch.com

 

[co-pilot]

Well first off, i dont need anything lol. But, again, if the original poster does indeed have a bumper pull travel trailer and does not have a weight distribution hitch, that is 100% his problem. That hitch should not be used for a travel trailer.

Oh ok.....sorry was ment for original post.......and you are right I don't have experience with travel trailer ...... but the hitch I mention corrected the same problem op was having on a car hauler

 

[olyelr]

Oh ok.....sorry was ment for original post.......and you are right I don't have experience with travel trailer ...... but the hitch I mention corrected the same problem op was having on a car hauler

Ah yes, gotchya. Yea by all means, drop hitches are needed with these taller vehicles to keep trailers level. A tandem axle trailer will not function well with all the weight on the rear axle.

That being said, if he is getting porpoising with the travel trailer, that tells me he probably does not have a weight distribution hitch. Or if he does, it may not be set up properly.

 

[billyw]

Agree that the weight distribution hitch is likely not set up correctly. I have the Equal-I-zer hitch on my slightly lifted half ton and ZERO porpoising.

 

[landocarlesien]

I have an equalizer WDH with a drop hitch and airbags. I checked the WDH setup and it looks like its set up correctly; I removed everything from the bed of the truck, measured the height on the front of the truck (from the ground to the bottom of the wheel well), put the weight of the TT on the hitch and the height is the same on the front (43.5”). Air bags are set to the correct truck height as well, about 50 psi. There is about a 6inch lift on the truck. Im running 20“ off road tires. Its still porpoising, when we go over so bumps in the road i can feel the truck and trailer rocking back and forth and can see it through the tow mirrors. Anything else I should check out on the WDH to make sure it set up properly?

 

[olyelr]

I have an equalizer WDH with a drop hitch and airbags. I checked the WDH setup and it looks like its set up correctly; I removed everything from the bed of the truck, measured the height on the front of the truck (from the ground to the bottom of the wheel well), put the weight of the TT on the hitch and the height is the same on the front (43.5”). Air bags are set to the correct truck height as well, about 50 psi. There is about a 6inch lift on the truck. Im running 20“ off road tires. Its still porpoising, when we go over so bumps in the road i can feel the truck and trailer rocking back and forth and can see it through the tow mirrors. Anything else I should check out on the WDH to make sure it set up properly?

To add a little confusion to things, when you checked the setup for the wdh did you do it with or without air in the bags? Adding air in the bags (lifting the rear of the truck up) will undo what the wdh initially did.

 

[landocarlesien]

To add a little confusion to things, when you checked the setup for the wdh did you do it with or without air in the bags? Adding air in the bags (lifting the rear of the truck up) will undo what the wdh initially did.

Hey. I had the minimum psi (5) in the airbags. I’ll recheck everything tomorrow just to be sure and let you know how it goes. To complicate things even more, the bed is full of gear like generator, weights, etc. should I remove everything first, measure then add all of the weight?

 

[olyelr]

Hey. I had the minimum psi (5) in the airbags. I’ll recheck everything tomorrow just to be sure and let you know how it goes. To complicate things even more, the bed is full of gear like generator, weights, etc. should I remove everything first, measure then add all of the weight?

I know its not hardly possible, but the wdh should be setup with all the “usual” stuff you would have loaded up when on a trip (as in, whatever you haul in the camper AND in the bed). And then you want to pack roughly the same way so the weight distribution is roughly the same each time for the most part.

Basically, if you have it all correctly set up when unloaded, when you then add all the weight throughout different areas it can throw off the setup of the wdh somewhat.

 

[jambbii]

Maybe add some more preload to the hitch (Top shims). I tow 99% in the mountains with my equalizer with my 18 PW and it's rock solid. I also have about 40 to 50 psi in the bags. I have to lift the truck/trailer up a decent amount to get the WD bars mounted.

 

[landocarlesien]

Maybe add some more preload to the hitch (Top shims). I tow 99% in the mountains with my equalizer with my 18 PW and it's rock solid. I also have about 40 to 50 psi in the bags. I have to lift the truck/trailer up a decent amount to get the WD bars mounted.

Preload? Are you referring to the washers in the top spacer part of the wdh?

 

[jambbii]

Preload? Are you referring to the washers in the top spacer part of the wdh?

Yes! The top washers which angle the hitch down. I'm thinking you need more preload on the hitch and this would increase the load on your truck/friction of wd bars and maybe help some of your problem.

I forgot to answer one of your questions, I setup my truck without my airbags. I use them to stiffen up the rear since the power wagons are kind of soft.

Another random note, I very weight from time to time depending what I am doing. I have a big rack on the back that I put my trail bike, generator, water etc. I'll be honest, I can't tell much of a difference loaded vs unloaded.

 

[landocarlesien]

Ah yes, gotchya. Yea by all means, drop hitches are needed with these taller vehicles to keep trailers level. A tandem axle trailer will not function well with all the weight on the rear axle.

That being said, if he is getting porpoising with the travel trailer, that tells me he probably does not have a weight distribution hitch. Or if he does, it may not be set up properly.

Here’s a quick follow up - Everything with the equalizer WDH checks out, but the problem continues. Thinking back on this, when my dad helped me install the firestone airbags, He jacked up the rear passenger side and i heard a pop from the stock shocks, which also makes sense bc the rear passenger side is half an inch lower than the rear driver side.

Could this be causing the issue? I was thinking of replacing the rear shocks with something better for towing.

Also, I spoke with a fellow full time RVer and he experienced the same issue in his 2019 RAM 2500 (He doesnt have as much of a lift on his vehicle). He replaced his WDH with a 20Klb Blue Ox WDH that solved his issues.

Does anyone know how to measure the shock size I would need to replace them? Any insight would be helpful, thanks!