Towing Advice

[HydrogenCyanide]

I have a 2017 3.5L Ecoboost. Per the door sticker, its payload is 1670 pounds. I have always used a Equalizer hitch

Prior to this past summer I had a 2014 28RBS Cougar that had Dry Weight of 6700 pounds and a hitch weight of 955 pounds. This combination towed perfectly. Close to 6000 miles without an issue.

This summer we purchased a 2020 Sporttrek Touring312VBH. Dry Weight of 7800 pounds and hitch weight of 1,020 pounds. Using same tow vehicle and same hitch.

The experience towing between the two is night and day difference. The dealer re-setup the hitch but that may be where my issue is. Nothing to do with power, I just feel much less stable and feel the trailer tossing me all of the road.

Could it be the hitch? Would I be better of going to an Anderson? Could the hitch just need further adjustments? Is this relatively minor increase in trailer size enough to warrant me needing a larger tow vehicle?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
Marc

[HydrogenCyanide]

Thanks for all of the advice. I think my best course of action is to go proper scales and try some adjustments there. If no improvement then it looks like I'm going to need to invest in a bigger truck.

[kellem]

What size trunnion bars?
Undersized can create instability.

Another issue is going to be payload with that size trailer.
Tounge weight will consume a big chunk of it and you have to consider all passengers and cargo in the truck as well.

You want my honest opinion for a better towing experience and for piece of mind.....go with a GVWR trailer that your truck can comfortably tow and consider 12 - 15% of this weight as tounge weight and see where you stand regarding payload.

That Sporttrek is a nice trailer but a lofty 35 ft long and will most likely weigh 8500 or so which will give it a roughly a 1200# tounge.

If your in love with the trailer then it's time for F250/2500 series truck and don't look back.

[JIMNLIN]

Marc wrote:
I have a 2017 3.5L Ecoboost. Per the door sticker, its payload is 1670 pounds. I have always used a Equalizer hitch

This doesn't tell us anything about your F150 trucks GVWR or its FAWR/RAWR. Especially the truck RAWR as its carrying all the hitch load.
You had much the same questions last fall in another thread and some recommendations.

Trucks payload sticker now days is a gvwr based payload and in many cases if its all used on the trucks rear axle that gvwr based payload can and has overloaded its RAWR numbers.

Looking at your 2017 F150 truck specs on Fleetford.com shows most 3.5 EB engine with a 1670 lb pay;load can be a 3800 RAWR. This is a very soft tear suspension F150.
Other RAWR is the 4050...4550...4800 rawr numbers for a stronger/stiffer rear suspension.

Check your trucks drivers side door post GVWR and RAWR. If its the 3800 I would think in terms of some type of aftermarket rear suspension help/LT C or LT D load tires. Some folks have their rear spring pack re-arched or add another leaf to stiffen the suspension.

Also some tires such as a all terrain/mud terrain with larger lugs and voids can have tread squirm especially carrying a load and a trailer push the truck around in sidewinds or a passing semi truck. Highway tread tires works better....after their broke in if new.

[APT]

I expect you want 1200 or 1400 pound bars for the new TT. Spend a couple hours adjusting the WDH @ a CAT scale.

I do expect the weights to show rear axle and GVW over ratings even with 100% front axle weight restored. Still, it should tow pretty stable unless your bed has another 500+ pounds of camping gear.

[Mickeyfan0805]

As mentioned - many possible things to look at. Some can be addressed easily, others can't. One other to look at is the rating of the hitch. EQ hitches are based on tongue weight. Your tongue weight likely increased by a good 150lbs. EQ hitch bars shift every 200 pounds. Thus, if you have 1k bars on your hitch, but are now hauling around a 1,200 pound tongue, your WD will not perform as well as it could.

[MitchF150]

I've got an F150 with #1920 payload and a un-realistic "tow rating" of #11,300.... Ha, ha...

I'm towing a #7000 GVWR TT that's only 26' long and it's all I want to tow with it...

Don't get me wrong, it tows my Rockwood GREAT.. I just don't want to tow much more getting to the max limits of the truck.. (I pack HEAVY, so I know I'm at the TT's GVWR easy...)

I'm using a basic EAZ-Lift #1000 WD bar and chain hitch setup. No friction 'sway bar'.. Just have it setup right and been using this same hitch for over 17 years..

Anyway, good luck with it. Mitch

[blt2ski]

As stated, power is not the issue.
It will come down to any and ALL of the issues mentioned.
Ie too little hitch wieght, incorrect wieght balance side to side, V'd axels, ie, not aligned, front of trailer nose high vs level to slightly down. Not enough air in tires, will swag rear axel vs front or trailer tires. May need to tighten up bars a chain length or equal. Also possible too tight, putting too much wieght back to front axle. I did that on a 1 ton single wheel rig I had.

I would play with what you have personally.

Marty

[camp-n-family]

First, you need to stop using brochure dry weights. They are not accurate and can vary greatly. Your 7800lbs will easily be 9k+ even lightly loaded. An 1100lbs difference in dry weights is hardly minor, it’s 10% of your tow capacity. That will push or exceed the limits of most 1/2 ton trucks. That kind of weight should have a minimum 1200lbs of tongue weight to be stable. That probably exceeds the truck’s receiver rating and certainly won’t be helped using an Andersen hitch.

I think you’ve met another case of too much trailer, not enough truck. Add ons trying to improve it will only be bandaids.

[BenK]

Welcome to the forum !

It is a ‘whole’ system and everything is important. Plus interacts with each other with dependencies that affect each other.

Length does matter, as the lever arms are longer than before. Levers for any bow wake to do it’s nasty job.

Sail area plays with length and lever arms.

Where the trailer axle is in reference to the coupler/ball makes a bigger difference than most think. this is part of the trailers architecture. Center line of the trailer axles should be behind the center of the total length of the trailer box. Some has it farther forward to reduce tongue, so lighter duty TV’s can...on paper.

Tongue (actual loaded weight) should be about >12%-15% of the total trailer weight.

The orientation of the trailer is more important, but not the only metric. Trailer should be level AFTER setting up all of the dials and knobs. Prefer pointing slightly down, but NEVER pointing up. It follows better level or pointing slightly down (after setting up).

Andersen is not a fav of mine and many report here that higher weight trailers have problems WD’ing enough weight back to the TV’s front axle. I like BlueOx, but nothing against any other, except for Andersen (that is just my preference)

WD Hitch systems are all good, IMHO. Make sure you have actual loaded, trailer weight when looking at the spring bars. The bars should be rated more than the trailer’s actual, loaded weight. How much depends on that actual weight vs what is available to you.

WD Hitch head can be tilted ‘backwards’ on some systems. That is to point the bars downwards, so that the tensioning system has more travel. Therefore able to tension the bars more.

Careful of being sent into circles dialing in one area without making sure it did’t effect another area. Just know that all the dials/knobs have an interaction with other dials and knobs.

Goal is to finish with the TV’s front axle returned to whatever your OEM’s manual says. Some say back to original Fender height before adding the tongue. Others say back within some +/- weight of original axle carrying weight BEFORE dropping the tongue on the ball.

Then that the trailer is level or pointing slightly down.

Finally, the TV’s tires must be able to handle both the weight and the push that comes from towing. That comes down to how strong the TV tires sidewalls are. Both by construction and by how much PSI vs max sidewall listed.

[KD4UPL]

It could be that the new trailer does not have enough tongue weight. Less likely but still possible is too much tongue weight. Have you actually weighed it? Dry and brochure weights are meaningless, you need to go to a truck scale.
If your dry weight is 7,800 you are likely pushing 9,000 fully loaded. If your tongue weight percentage stays the same that will be nearly 1,200 pounds on the tongue leaving you with only about 500 pounds for passengers and whatever else you put in the truck.
You may need more air in your tires on both the truck and possible the trailer; have you checked the air pressure?
Do you now have more weight in the cab or bed of the truck then you did before? More people, loaded tool box, generator, firewood, etc?

[Lwiddis]

X3. Truck tire pressure....should be max.

[learntorv]

valhalla360 wrote:
Since you have the rig already, next time out (fully loaded ready for camping), swing by a CAT scale and get the real weights. Take the time to get 3 weights:
- Hitched with the WDH connected.
- Hitched with the WDH disconnected.
- Unhitched just the truck.

The compare that to the weight ratings to see where you really stand.

For HydrogenCyanide, here's a write-up about getting these 3 weights and what to compare them against from a ratings perspective:

https://learntorv.com/weigh-rv/

[wowens79]

Not sure about the equalizer hitch, but my Blue Ox has different spring bars for different tongue weights. Could you need to change those out??

[naturist]

enblethen wrote:
Another thing to check is tire pressures. Close to gross vehicle comnination would need tires maxed out on air.

X2