What are you towing with your 2014?

bdbake01 · July 29, 2014

Absolutely. IMHO any 1/2 ton truck pulling 5k+ would benefit from a WD hitch, and the vast majority of pickups ever produced actually require them at this weight. Yes, there are exceptions.

It won't totally eliminate bounce as the Z60 is just simply soft. It'll bounce without a trailer. But properly set up, it should handle very close to unloaded in the front.

I wouldn't even dream of attempting 8k without one. I simply wouldn't feel safe. Try one, you'll wish you had sooner. I'd recommend an Equalizer. Cheaper will work, sure, but I also believe u get what u pay for. I've had several, Equalizer by FAR my favorite.

Smoothbassman · July 30, 2014

5000 pound ATV hauler leveled up and ready to roll. Pulled with no problems. Haul 2 Polaris 850 bikes in here.

TXS Heat · July 30, 2014

I like that folks are adding lbs being towed - I tugged a 4500lb center console boat back from the coast last weekend - no problems. We are thinking about a 8500lb travel trailer. Not sure how it will do -

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Jon A · July 30, 2014

I run 20lbs in my firestone airbags as well.

Put more air in the bags. 20 is what I typically run when "empty." When towing 7000 lbs with excessive tongue weight and no WD hitch, mine felt a bit bouncy with 30 psi in the bags, up them to 50 and it is solid as a rock. Even over nasty, nasty, pavement it's hard to tell you even have a trailer back there.

until I can put magnetic ride in it somehow. Pretty sure this would help dramatically. Not sure what else to do.

MRC was not designed to help towing and no serious towing vehicles I know of come with MRC. That said, it might help, it all depends on how it was programmed. I don't know how the 2015's will be set up.

To help you now, you need spring rate--more air in the air bags--and stiffer shocks help (I have Bilsteins) making it pull any given load much better. That said, of course, changing the load with a WD hitch would help as well, but it's no substitute for spring rate. All three would be the best, but adding air to the bags is something you can do in 10 seconds and try for yourself right now.

Cliff14Denali · July 30, 2014

Put more air in the bags. 20 is what I typically run when "empty." When towing 7000 lbs with excessive tongue weight and no WD hitch, mine felt a bit bouncy with 30 psi in the bags, up them to 50 and it is solid as a rock. Even over nasty, nasty, pavement it's hard to tell you even have a trailer back there.

MRC was not designed to help towing and no serious towing vehicles I know of come with MRC. That said, it might help, it all depends on how it was programmed. I don't know how the 2015's will be set up.

To help you now, you need spring rate--more air in the air bags--and stiffer shocks help (I have Bilsteins) making it pull any given load much better. That said, of course, changing the load with a WD hitch would help as well, but it's no substitute for spring rate. All three would be the best, but adding air to the bags is something you can do in 10 seconds and try for yourself right now.

Looking into the WDC and simply adding air to the tires/airbags for now. I only tow roughly 5-6X a year. If those don't help then I will try the bilsteins.

Thank you for all your advice.

calgator73 · July 31, 2014

Here's mine...combined weight is 16,200 lbs. Finally got the equalizer dialed in. Trailer is open range 310 bhs.

TXS Heat · July 31, 2014

Here's mine...combined weight is 16,200 lbs. Finally got the equalizer dialed in. Trailer is open range 310 bhs.

calgator - what motor do you have? Trailer we are looking at is almost identical lacrosse 318bhs - about a foot shorter.

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calgator73 · July 31, 2014

calgator - what motor do you have? Trailer we are looking at is almost identical lacrosse 318bhs - about a foot shorter.

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5.3 w/3.73. If you like the 318... You'll love the open range 308bhs. Way more counter space and the huge 12' dinette while still being light. (Serious limitations on light tts.... Generally speaking). I had to upgrade my hitch to a class V to handle the tongue weight (12.6% dry) My dry weight was just shy of 10k. After this trip I'll make my final decision on new shocks.

TXS Heat · July 31, 2014

Let us know how the trip goes - we are going to check out the 308 this weekend! Thanks for the feedback

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calgator73 · July 31, 2014

Let us know how the trip goes - we are going to check out the 308 this weekend! Thanks for the feedback

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I think you'll be very happy! Couple of minor (still important IMO) differences between the 308 and 310.

1. The 308 doesn't have corian countertops (looks like it but they are a more traditional laminate...if they are damaged they are replaced...corian you can refinish)

2. Ceiling joists in the 308 are spread further apart but are made of steel which induces a walking weight limit of 250lbs vs the heavier 310 which uses wood joists and has a heavier 300lb limit (I'm 6'9" 250 so it's important to me).

3. The walls on both units are identical but the floors are different. The 308 has floors that are built like the walls (very stiff and light) and the 310 has a more traditional built floor. Here's why it's an important difference. If you blow a tire on the 308 and the damage is substantial enough to cause damage to the floor (full penetration) the only fix is to go Indiana. They reinsert the rig into the production process (pull roof, walls) and replace the entire floor. After talking to reps at Keystone...same problem with all light trailers. The 310 can be worked locally.

4. Obvious one...no bedroom slide in the 308.

5. Do not believe the weights in the catalogues. The 310 is advertised at 9310 dry and 1177 tongue. Actual delivered weight was 9795 and 1250 tongue.

6. Tongue weight on these rigs is always in the 12.5-14% range. Makes for a very stable tow but puts a lot of stress on your truck. (class V hitch!!)

7. Get the dual A/Cs...(upgrade your main unit too! 310 is prewired for a third in the bunkhouse)

8. Bigger fridge. 6cu ft is useless

Sorry about the massive data dump but we are about to take-off. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. It's all about the journey!

TXS Heat · July 31, 2014

Thanks man! Great info! Enjoy your trip! Safe travels

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bdbake01 · July 31, 2014

Put more air in the bags. 20 is what I typically run when "empty." When towing 7000 lbs with excessive tongue weight and no WD hitch, mine felt a bit bouncy with 30 psi in the bags, up them to 50 and it is solid as a rock. Even over nasty, nasty, pavement it's hard to tell you even have a trailer back there.

MRC was not designed to help towing and no serious towing vehicles I know of come with MRC. That said, it might help, it all depends on how it was programmed. I don't know how the 2015's will be set up.

To help you now, you need spring rate--more air in the air bags--and stiffer shocks help (I have Bilsteins) making it pull any given load much better. That said, of course, changing the load with a WD hitch would help as well, but it's no substitute for spring rate. All three would be the best, but adding air to the bags is something you can do in 10 seconds and try for yourself right now.

Not trying to start a flame war here, but whereas I agree w/ your MRC comments 100%, I simply must respectfully disagree with your feelings on air bags. There is a HUGE misunderstanding in the general towing public regarding how bags (and other products such as Timbrens) function, what they do and do not do, and how they should be applied. At least some of this misunderstanding is fueled by the manufacturers of said products which is rather unethical if you ask me. The ONLY thing that bags do is stiffen up the rear suspension, returning it to mid-travel, and generally speaking improving the look of the tow vehicle itself. What they CANNOT physically do is alter the response of the front suspension to force and movement applied behind the rear axle. If the front end bounced before the bags, it will bounce after the bags and yes, possibly even more so. This is a matter of physics, not observation or opinion. Some drivers mistakenly think that the front end is more stable after the bags when in reality you just limited the rear travel and it kinda SEEMS like the front end bounces less when in all reality it probably didn't change at all. I also believe that sometimes a bit of denial comes into play when someone has invested money and maybe realized that they didn't quite get the results they wanted.

Case in point, good friend of mine refused to listen to me on his camping setup and went with bags instead of a WD hitch. Ok, I'm not going to ruin a friendship over this, knock yourself out. Of course I take a ride with him to the campground during which he's going on and on about how much better the ride is, how the bags worked perfectly, yadda yadda. Then we stop for gas, during which I let the air out of the bags. He doesn't notice, and continues to poke fun at me for the next 2 hours still bragging on his decision which saved him money, even going so far as to point out how "that bump would have thrown me all over the place" etc. etc. I didn't let him in on the story till we got to the campground. A few weeks later he sheepishly asked to borrow my hitch, which I certainly didn't mind. Before his next trip he had a new hitch and the bags were sold on Craigslist since he finally admitted that they didn't do squat for trailering other than fixing the mostly cosmetic issue of a sagging rear end. Which, if your WD hitch is set up properly, you won't sag so again, no need for the bags.

Bags DO help with ride and handling quality (to a certain degree) with loads inside the bed. They do NOT change your capacity, they simply add some flexibility and adjust-ability to the rear spring rate.

It's all about axle loading. The amount of weight each wheel/tire/axle places on the ground. Pull onto a scale sometime and play with your bags (LOL...I said "play with your bags"). The scales won't move at all, since bags can't re-distribute weight as a WD hitch can.

You ARE very correct that a WD hitch is not a substitute for spring rate. But in nearly all cases more spring rate isn't what's needed and will most likely cause more problems. Our trucks have plenty of spring rate. One must simply apply the proper weight at the proper locations to allow the springs that we have to handle the load. A lot of these trucks can tow 9,600lbs. That doesn't mean you can throw it all in the bed. And even if you did and you put 200lbs of air in the bags so that it looked great, it would be a race to see which would give out first, the rear axle, brakes, steering, tires, etc. I'm going with tires. A 3/4 ton pickup isn't just a 1/2 ton pickup with stiffer springs in the back.

For those who must pay attention to the finest of details, yes you can technically redistribute a very small amount of weight using bags only due to a change in the hitch angle. But it's very, very little, and it's static/non-responsive to load and vehicle movement. Meaning that correction is finite, doesn't change or correct on the fly like a WD hitch does. In the types of weight we are discussing here, it's negligible. Bags may also help a bit with sway...but I'm skeptical of that as well. Conservation of energy. If you are putting in enough energy to sway, and the bags "seem" to help that...then where did the energy go? Somewhere else possibly less desirable, that's where.

calgator73 · July 31, 2014

Not trying to start a flame war here, but whereas I agree w/ your MRC comments 100%, I simply must respectfully disagree with your feelings on air bags. There is a HUGE misunderstanding in the general towing public regarding how bags (and other products such as Timbrens) function, what they do and do not do, and how they should be applied. At least some of this misunderstanding is fueled by the manufacturers of said products which is rather unethical if you ask me. The ONLY thing that bags do is stiffen up the rear suspension, returning it to mid-travel, and generally speaking improving the look of the tow vehicle itself. What they CANNOT physically do is alter the response of the front suspension to force and movement applied behind the rear axle. If the front end bounced before the bags, it will bounce after the bags and yes, possibly even more so. This is a matter of physics, not observation or opinion. Some drivers mistakenly think that the front end is more stable after the bags when in reality you just limited the rear travel and it kinda SEEMS like the front end bounces less when in all reality it probably didn't change at all. I also believe that sometimes a bit of denial comes into play when someone has invested money and maybe realized that they didn't quite get the results they wanted.

Case in point, good friend of mine refused to listen to me on his camping setup and went with bags instead of a WD hitch. Ok, I'm not going to ruin a friendship over this, knock yourself out. Of course I take a ride with him to the campground during which he's going on and on about how much better the ride is, how the bags worked perfectly, yadda yadda. Then we stop for gas, during which I let the air out of the bags. He doesn't notice, and continues to poke fun at me for the next 2 hours still bragging on his decision which saved him money, even going so far as to point out how "that bump would have thrown me all over the place" etc. etc. I didn't let him in on the story till we got to the campground. A few weeks later he sheepishly asked to borrow my hitch, which I certainly didn't mind. Before his next trip he had a new hitch and the bags were sold on Craigslist since he finally admitted that they didn't do squat for trailering other than fixing the mostly cosmetic issue of a sagging rear end. Which, if your WD hitch is set up properly, you won't sag so again, no need for the bags.

Bags DO help with ride and handling quality (to a certain degree) with loads inside the bed. They do NOT change your capacity, they simply add some flexibility and adjust-ability to the rear spring rate.

It's all about axle loading. The amount of weight each wheel/tire/axle places on the ground. Pull onto a scale sometime and play with your bags (LOL...I said "play with your bags"). The scales won't move at all, since bags can't re-distribute weight as a WD hitch can.

You ARE very correct that a WD hitch is not a substitute for spring rate. But in nearly all cases more spring rate isn't what's needed and will most likely cause more problems. Our trucks have plenty of spring rate. One must simply apply the proper weight at the proper locations to allow the springs that we have to handle the load. A lot of these trucks can tow 9,600lbs. That doesn't mean you can throw it all in the bed. And even if you did and you put 200lbs of air in the bags so that it looked great, it would be a race to see which would give out first, the rear axle, brakes, steering, tires, etc. I'm going with tires. A 3/4 ton pickup isn't just a 1/2 ton pickup with stiffer springs in the back.

For those who must pay attention to the finest of details, yes you can technically redistribute a very small amount of weight using bags only due to a change in the hitch angle. But it's very, very little, and it's static/non-responsive to load and vehicle movement. Meaning that correction is finite, doesn't change or correct on the fly like a WD hitch does. In the types of weight we are discussing here, it's negligible. Bags may also help a bit with sway...but I'm skeptical of that as well. Conservation of energy. If you are putting in enough energy to sway, and the bags "seem" to help that...then where did the energy go? Somewhere else possibly less desirable, that's where.

It took a lot of effort but after our first hundred forty mile trip with the RV and a newly adjusted hitch... Right on the money. Maybe some 5100s at some point but zero need for bags, timbrens or anything extra.

Mickey_D · August 2, 2014

The heaviest thing that I have towed so far is a buddy's 3500 pound broken Kia on my 3000 pound equipment trailer. The motor blew up in the Kia POS and after finding out that a new motor cost more than the thing was worth he found a dealer that would at least give him a little something for it in trade. It towed easy but the computer showed that I was only getting 10 (in town running E85). Way more power than my 2005 Sierra, and so much quieter.