Towing a 19' Airstream

MT19RANGER

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Great reading your review as I want to tow RV trailer also. Hint * If you think the adaptive cruise is running too close you can adjust following distance via gradiant bars in the settings to what is comfortable to you.
The settings are still too close IMO.
As a former light vehicle driver safety trainer, the following distance on dry roads and very good tires/brakes I'm more comfortable at 2 seconds think/react time and 1 second for every 10' of vehicle length. So a follow distance of 4 seconds in my Ranger at highway speeds is better than the current max setting.
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MT19RANGER

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mark Johnson

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What was your OEM tire size? w/ the /70 are you noticing the speedometer being off a little?

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Not to change this discussion; but yes my speedometer and mpg is off a bit off using taller tires. The reason for me to switch out the tires was to have higher air pressure and load rating “E“ for towing my Airstream.
 

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I think the majority of my issues are from the FX4 shocks. Going t swap them out as it bounces badly...
Which brand shocks are you considering once you swap out the FX shocks? I ran some Old Man Emu Nitro shocks with an older Nissan in the past, and those were great for towing, as well as offroading.
 


MT19RANGER

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Not to change this discussion; but yes my speedometer and mpg is off a bit off using taller tires. The reason for me to switch out the tires was to have higher air pressure and load rating “E“ for towing my Airstream.
I understand that. We used to swap out a bunch of fleet vehicles to the BFG like these that are max pressure 80PSI and E rated.

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SRanger

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Which brand shocks are you considering once you swap out the FX shocks? I ran some Old Man Emu Nitro shocks with an older Nissan in the past, and those were great for towing, as well as offroading.
Thanks for the suggestion. I adjusted the WD hitch a bit and it is less bouncy. The dealer installed the brackets way too close to the hitch which made the bars way too stiff. I am going too give the new setup a try before changing out the shocks.
 

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Which brand shocks are you considering once you swap out the FX shocks? I ran some Old Man Emu Nitro shocks with an older Nissan in the past, and those were great for towing, as well as offroading.
My dad has a Lariat 4x4, I have an XLT FX4. We did some random run over this and that thing (2x4, rock, etc) with both trucks and counted bounces. Both trucks bounced identically. his has 19" wheels and bridgestones, mine has 18" wheels and Hankooks.

I think the FX4 shocks are basically stickers over factory shocks until you get to serious bouncing. I've not driven his truck on the washboard dirt roads yet, but mine does seem to handle them quite well.

I'll be doing an Icon coilover kit and adding a swaybar to the rear once someone has one with quick disconnects.
 
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My dad has a Lariat 4x4, I have an XLT FX4. We did some random run over this and that thing (2x4, rock, etc) with both trucks and counted bounces. Both trucks bounced identically. his has 19" wheels and bridgestones, mine has 18" wheels and Hankooks.

I think the FX4 shocks are basically stickers over factory shocks until you get to serious bouncing. I've not driven his truck on the washboard dirt roads yet, but mine does seem to handle them quite well.

I'll be doing an Icon coilover kit and adding a swaybar to the rear once someone has one with quick disconnects.
You are probably correct. I drive mine on a gravel washboard road to our lake house and it does ok above 20 mph. Below that it is a bit like driving a paint shaker...
 

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So I have a 23’ Forest River Evo and it’s 5800’ dry. I for one did not like towing without WD hitch, to be fair I probably am towing too large of a surface area than it should be. But I also think the super wimpy sidewall stock tires had something to do with it. Now I have Cooper discoverer st Maxx 10 plys. So between the WD hitch and the anti sway setup it towed ok. Really hoping these tires help, I think they will

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Jerry Caldwell

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I have been towing a Tab400 and use a sway control bar but no WDH. Some adjustable damping shocks would really help the bounce on the FX4. Anyone know of any for a reasonable price?
 

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I towed a 3,500-lb. car trailer a little over 200 miles (a few grades here and there, but mostly flat) today, and the truck did great in the engine and electronics department - awesome torque ascending hills, and great engine braking on downhills while in Trailer mode (this mode made for great response in transmission kickdowns for quick accelerating and/or passing, but on flat ground, I noticed that the transmission shifts to a higher gear when trailer mode is turned off, which would save fuel). I also loved the adaptive cruise control, which allowed me to take my foot off the gas pedal for long stretches at a time (autopilot!).

In the "ride" department, the rear felt softer than my old Nissan's Old Man Emu Medium-Duty setup, and bounced around some (though much less than with zero load); the front end bounced about the same amount, both of which were more disconcerting than I cared for. I've yet to test these shocks out offroad, otherwise I'd be very tempted to swap them out right away for the Ford Performance Leveling package.
 
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I thought I would add an update. I adjusted the L brackets on my WD hitch to the recommended spacing and lowered them 1" to reduce the weight transfer. The adjustment really did a good job of controlling the bounce. The dealer had installed them 6" closer to the hitch than they should have been. In fact the manufacture DID NOT even recommend mounting them that close. This definitely made the spring bars way too stiff. I also added a little tongue weight by putting some chairs/screen tent, etc under the dinner table in the front while towing. This helped control the bounce as well. Evidentially the 19' Airstream likes more tongue weight than the standard 10%. Even though the trailer is less then 5,000lbs it needs at least 550 lbs of weight on the hitch. It rides much better with 12-15% on the hitch.

I have now towed it though much of the the North GA/NC/TN mountains. The transmission software programming is EXCELLENT!!!! I have never had a truck that grade shifted as well as this truck. The REDARC brake controller works great as well.

Due to Highway 441 being closed due to a bad accidents, I even decided to take the combo on a short cut down the Tail of the Dragon road. RVs over 30' are not allowed on this road. It is basically 40 miles of curves. However, thanks to a road side photo business (road is frequented by high performance vehicles) I got some of the best fall trailer/truck pictures I could have ever wanted.

Airstream Front view 1 Tail of the Dragon 1600x900.jpg


Airstream Fron View 2 Tail of the Dragon 1600x900.jpg


Airstream Rear View Tail of the Dragon 1600x900.jpg
 
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I have been towing a Tab400 and use a sway control bar but no WDH. Some adjustable damping shocks would really help the bounce on the FX4. Anyone know of any for a reasonable price?
Love the T@b400. We had a T@B Max S (Now called the 320) for four years before we got the airstream.
 

mark Johnson

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I thought I would add an update. I adjusted the L brackets on my WD hitch to the recommended spacing and lowered them 1" to reduce the weight transfer. The adjustment really did a good job of controlling the bounce. The dealer had installed them 6" closer to the hitch than they should have been. In fact the manufacture DID NOT even recommend mounting them that close. This definitely made the spring bars way too stiff. I also added a little tongue weight by putting some chairs/screen tent, etc under the dinner table in the front while towing. This helped control the bounce as well. Evidentially the 19' Airstream likes more tongue weight than the standard 10%. Even though the trailer is less then 5,000lbs it needs at least 550 lbs of weight on the hitch. It rides much better with 12-15% on the hitch.

I have now towed it though much of the the North GA/NC/TN mountains. The transmission software programming is EXCELLENT!!!! I have never had a truck that grade shifted as well as this truck. The REDARC brake controller works great as well.

Due to Highway 441 being closed due to a bad accidents, I even decided to take the combo on a short cut down the Tail of the Dragon road. RVs over 30' are not allowed on this road. It is basically 40 miles of curves. However, thanks to a road side photo business (road is frequented by high performance vehicles) I got some of the best fall trailer/truck pictures I could have ever wanted.

Airstream Front view 1 Tail of the Dragon 1600x900.jpg


Airstream Fron View 2 Tail of the Dragon 1600x900.jpg


Airstream Rear View Tail of the Dragon 1600x900.jpg
Looking good! Love the colors!!

C508E482-EA1E-48CD-BA8A-586210A58D8E.jpeg
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