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Towing Improvement Mods

mekkerl
Explorer
Explorer
We are about to start our second season with our TV and 5'r in April. Our first season, last year, was great, but the towing experience seemed less than satisfactory. Some bucking, minor bouncing, etc. Unfortunately, I have nothing to compare it to as this is our first truck/5'r experience.

I've been reading some posts on those who had a better experience towing after they changed out the shocks on their TV. So that brings me to my question...what 'small' modifications can I do to help the towing experience for me and my family of six?

Shocks?
Sway Bar?
Pin Box?

I just assumed that buying a late model (2013) 1-ton Diesel meant I would be getting the best towing experience without the need of modifications.
Luke & Carolyn
2012 Cedar Creek Silverback 35QB4
2013 Sierra 3500HD Duramax CC SRW SB 4x4
Andersen Ultimate Aluminum 2 Gooseneck Mount
12 REPLIES 12

allen8106
Explorer
Explorer
I have found that 99% of my ride issues while towing the 5vr are related to road conditions, not the truck or camper. Not much I can do about the road conditions. It's possible all the suggested improvements won't help much because of the road.
2010 Eagle Super Lite 315RLDS
2018 GMC Sierra 3500HD 6.6L Duramax

2010 Nights 45
2011 Nights 70
2012 Nights 144
2013 Nights 46
2014 Nights 49
2015 Nights 57
2016 Nights 73
2017 Nights 40
2018 Nights 56
2019 Nights 76
2020 Nights 68

Halmfamily
Explorer
Explorer
Halmfamily wrote:
I added Torklift Stableloads to our truck last spring and it made a huge difference in bouncing especially overy bridge abutments. With the Stableloads the overload leafs are being utilized all the time. Tomorrow my son is installing get Bilstein 5100 shocks on the rear. This should be a huge improvement over the OEM shocks on the truck.


Installed the Bilstein 5100's on the rear today, big difference in ride quality. Old shocks totally spent. Can fully compress them by hand and no rebound left. Didn't realize they were that bad. Ordered new 4600's for the front today.
2008 GMC Sierra 3500 SLT DRW D/A 4x4 (Big All)
2006 Ford F350 PSD SRW King Ranch 4x4 (Henry) (Sold)
B&W Companion, 90 Aux Fuel Tank, Scan Gauge II, Curt f/m hitch, Swagman XC
2015 Forest River Sierra 360 PDEK
DW Diane, DS Michael, FB Draco and Sabian

BenK
Explorer
Explorer
mekkerl wrote:
We are about to start our second season with our TV and 5'r in April. Our first season, last year, was great, but the towing experience seemed less than satisfactory. Some bucking, minor bouncing, etc. Unfortunately, I have nothing to compare it to as this is our first truck/5'r experience.


Does it buck, bounce, etc in all conditions?...all roads?...at all
speeds?

Or just some times and if so...have you ID'd under what circumstances?

Like a certain time of day...only on a certain section of road...only
on certain types of road...only at certain speeds...only when loaded
or empty or half loaded/fully loaded ?

On the loaded part, applies to both the TV and trailer










I've been reading some posts on those who had a better experience towing after they changed out the shocks on their TV. So that brings me to my question...what 'small' modifications can I do to help the towing experience for me and my family of six?

Shocks?
Sway Bar?
Pin Box?


Before adding new components or swapping out stuff...answer the
questions above

That will help ID the culprit(s) and/or reduce the choices of what
to add or swap out. Otherwise it can be very expensive and still
not solve the root cause...to have just a band aide...

"Sway Bar"...if you mean a anti-lean bar for the TV's rear...not a
fan of it...unless either you are going to boulevard race it when
empty, or for towing...also change the front anti-lean bar to match
the OEM dialed in torsional rigidity of the TV to keep the dialed
in under-steer.

"Under-Steer" and "Over-Steer" tendencies are dialed in (designed
in) by the OEM engineering team for all the conditions they are
told to design for. From empty, to half loaded, to fully loaded, to
towing a light trailer, to towing a heavy trailer, etc

"Under-Steer" and "Over-steer" is generally towards the top of
the performance conditions. Speed, acceleration/deceleration, straight
line, curves, etc

Bucking/bouncing generally has the shocks involved, but not solely





I just assumed that buying a late model (2013) 1-ton Diesel meant I would be getting the best towing experience without the need of modifications.


Not an absolute, it depends on lots of stuff

Your dually can tow that curb weight Space Shuttle much faster and
longer than that half ton...but it will not be able to go out on the free way...etc



If you have ID'd the section of road, repeat a drive over them
several times, but vary the speed from your normal to see if it
goes away partially or completely

It could be as simple as changing the tire PSI of the TV and trailer
-Ben Picture of my rig
1996 GMC SLT Suburban 3/4 ton K3500/7.4L/4:1/+150Kmiles orig owner...
1980 Chevy Silverado C10/long bed/"BUILT" 5.7L/3:73/1 ton helper springs/+329Kmiles, bought it from dad...
1998 Mazda B2500 (1/2 ton) pickup, 2nd owner...
Praise Dyno Brake equiped and all have "nose bleed" braking!
Previous trucks/offroaders: 40's Jeep restored in mid 60's / 69 DuneBuggy (approx +1K lb: VW pan/200hpCorvair: eng, cam, dual carb'w velocity stacks'n 18" runners, 4spd transaxle) made myself from ground up / 1970 Toyota FJ40 / 1973 K5 Blazer (2dr Tahoe, 1 ton axles front/rear, +255K miles when sold it)...
Sold the boat (looking for another): Trophy with twin 150's...
51 cylinders in household, what's yours?...

Durb
Explorer
Explorer
Shocks on the trailer if not already there. Might as well start at the source.

Grit_dog
Nomad III
Nomad III
What's your pin weight? Do you have any suspension aides now?
I'd say shocks and stiffen up the rear suspension.
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5โ€ turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold

Halmfamily
Explorer
Explorer
I added Torklift Stableloads to our truck last spring and it made a huge difference in bouncing especially overy bridge abutments. With the Stableloads the overload leafs are being utilized all the time. Tomorrow my son is installing get Bilstein 5100 shocks on the rear. This should be a huge improvement over the OEM shocks on the truck.
2008 GMC Sierra 3500 SLT DRW D/A 4x4 (Big All)
2006 Ford F350 PSD SRW King Ranch 4x4 (Henry) (Sold)
B&W Companion, 90 Aux Fuel Tank, Scan Gauge II, Curt f/m hitch, Swagman XC
2015 Forest River Sierra 360 PDEK
DW Diane, DS Michael, FB Draco and Sabian

N-Trouble
Explorer
Explorer
Definitely shocks on the truck first. I have the same truck but 2012 and going from stock **** GM shocks to Bilsteins is night/day. I changed them at 20K mi and two of the GM shocks were already shot. They're pure junk...
2015 Attitude 28SAG w/slide
2012 GMC 2500HD SLT Duramax
B&W Turnover w/Andersen Ultimate 5er hitch

mekkerl
Explorer
Explorer
All very useful information...it is a standard/short bed truck, and won't be changing that any time soon ๐Ÿ™‚
Mileage is around 83k, and the pin is very close to the axle, not too far off it with the Andersen.
The truck sits very level, and the 5'r is about 1" high in the front due to the height of the truck bed.
I'm thinking bouncing or porpoising comes from old shocks and maybe not enough pin weight.
Not sure if doing anything to the camper would help...like shocks, etc...

Seems I can only add a link to a photo as opposed to attaching one...so can't show a photo of the set-up.
Luke & Carolyn
2012 Cedar Creek Silverback 35QB4
2013 Sierra 3500HD Duramax CC SRW SB 4x4
Andersen Ultimate Aluminum 2 Gooseneck Mount

IdaD
Explorer
Explorer
Factory shocks generally aren't the best so that's one option, and after that I'd look at bags or timbrens. You don't need either, but on my truck I found the latter really helped settle down the loaded ride. In particular it handles bumps at speed much better now. It wasn't necessary but to me the improvement was worth the small investment.
2015 Cummins Ram 4wd CC/SB

mkirsch
Nomad II
Nomad II
Well right off the bat, towing is never going to be like a Sunday ride to church in the family minivan. You've got a tow vehicle with a stiff suspension meant to carry weight, not ride like a cloud, and you've got a massive trailer behind you with even less attention paid to ride quality in the suspension design.

Bucking and bouncing can indicate that you've got too much weight on the truck and/or the weight is too far back. I assume you have a shortbed truck. Do you have anything like a Sidewinder hitch that places the actual pin of the trailer near the rear of the truck bed? Are you running a slider hitch in the rear position? The factory location of the pin should, ideally, be within a few inches of the truck axle.

Weight wise, unless you are all over 250lbs, or carry massive amounts of heavy items in the truck bed, you should be okay. The factory pin weight is just shy of 2000lbs on that trailer. 3000lbs, even 3500lbs, between pin, passengers, and stuff, is no problem for that truck.

How does it sit? Level? Squatting? If squatting you might want to add Timbrens or airbags to level it out.

Shocks never hurt, but I don't think they'll necessarily help in this case. That truck is 4 years old and depending on the mileage the factory shocks just might have bit it already.

If the truck is not swaying a sway bar won't make any difference.

Putting 10-ply tires on half ton trucks since aught-four.

rhagfo
Explorer III
Explorer III
2013, I would look at shocks first, you really should not need to bag a 3500. Two threads going on right now Bilstein's or KYB.
Russ & Paula the Beagle Belle.
2016 Ram Laramie 3500 Aisin DRW 4X4 Long bed.
2005 Copper Canyon 293 FWSLS, 32' GVWR 12,360#

"Visit and Enjoy Oregon State Parks"

2001400ex
Explorer
Explorer
Air bags are probably your best bet. Relatively cheap and will help with those issues. Also you could check the load, ensure it's level when hooked up to prevent sway
2017 Forest River Stealth SA2816
2020 GMC Denali 3500 Duramax
Anderson ultimate fifth wheel hitch