Towing Upgrades

[Sashimi_Moto]

Ride Rite bags installed. It would have taken only a couple hours but I ran into 2 issues. The OEM bolt that holds in the Jounce Bumper was rusted and the head snapped off so I had to drill the whole thing out which was awful. Also the base plate wasn't quite wide enough so I had to cut off just a bit of rubber so they would fit and that was fine. So far at 35 psi, the truck rides mostly the same with the exception of larger bumps like speed bumps, but I dropped them down to 10psi for daily. Once I hook up the trailer I will have a look at things but I think 40ish psi will probably be the ticket in making things ideal for towing. I should be doing some towing in the next week or so.

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[t4thfavor]

Ride Rite bags installed. It would have taken only a couple hours but I ran into 2 issues. The OEM bolt that holds in the Jounce Bumper was rusted and the head snapped off so I had to drill the whole thing out which was awful. Also the base plate wasn't quite wide enough so I had to cut off just a bit of rubber so they would fit and that was fine. So far at 35 psi, the truck rides mostly the same with the exception of larger bumps like speed bumps, but I dropped them down to 10psi for daily. Once I hook up the trailer I will have a look at things but I think 40ish psi will probably be the ticket in making things ideal for towing. I should be doing some towing in the next week or so.

Mine are rusted too(I rounded one off already), I’m going to be pissed if they snap off. I’ve been spraying them with pb blaster for a few weeks now.

 

[Sashimi_Moto]

Finally towed with the bags. Needing to air them down when not towing is pretty vital on this light truck. My tongue weight is 800ish lbs, trailer is 7500ish lbs. I put them at 50psi. The tongue height was quite different between 40-50-60psi and 60psi is too much rear ride height - meaning the rear was higher than factory even with the tongue weight.

As I accelerated onto the freeway I reached 65mph, I noticed that the bags helped quite a bit. The best way to explain the difference is that now I can feel the weight of the tongue acting upon the rear, but it no longer is actually swaying the rear. Prior to this, I would say I would not really want to tow from Seattle to Portland fully loaded but with the bags, now I would be OK with it. Worth every penny.

Unloaded - the bags really need to be deflated because of how light rear is. Taking them down to 15-20psi allows for a mostly OEM ride quality but leaving them at 40-50psi was radically stiff and actually felt unstable on rougher roads. I think I will add a T-valve so that I can air up/deflate both bags with 1 Schrader valve instead of 1-per-bag. If I do this enough, I may even add an onboard compressor setup.

 

[springaroo]

That looks like the same setup as what I pull with my 2020 Ranger. Grand Designs Imagine 17 MKE. Just got it a couple months ago and only had one trip before it got too cold. It had a lot more sway than I would like and I was looking at installing the Hellwig Sway Bar - it sounds like it improved your "pulling" experience??? Thanks

Hi,
I am new to the forum and got a truck only a month back. Just ordered the same trailer, Grand Designs Imagine XLS 17 MKE. Just curious if you recall how much drop you required for the hitch, and what the ball size is. I would like to get my WDH before the trailer arrives. Looking at getting an Andersen WDH with sway control.

 

[J Krutsch]

OK, here's the story of my journey. My prior rig was a 2004 Ranger pulling a 17' Jayco without a WDH. Pulled comfortably aside from lack of power.
New Rig 2019 Ranger FX4 XLT with GD Imagine xls 18RBE with a E2 sway control WDH. It was quite squirly. Tire pressure on the door jam says 30lbs. Blew the Dyanpro tires to 50 lbs and it helped. (Interestingly, in the winter I went to Toyo snow tires which gave the same stability at 30 lbs).
Still wasn't a comfortable drive at times. Added the Hellwig sway bar and it helped a lot, but still had white knuckle moments. Added 4 Bilstein shocks and again it helped a lot, but still wasn't as stable as my prior rig, especially in a cross wind. I chalk that up to the heigth of the trailer.
Finally bit the bullet and used the last stimulus check and bought a Hensley Cub hitch. Wow, what a difference!! Rock solid, even in a severe cross wind. Expensive - yes. More of a challenge to hook up at times - yes. Absolutely rock solid. I would never go back. My only regret is having done the sway bar and shocks. I should have just skipped forward to the Hensley at the start.

 

[Gil-galad]

OK, here's the story of my journey. My prior rig was a 2004 Ranger pulling a 17' Jayco without a WDH. Pulled comfortably aside from lack of power.
New Rig 2019 Ranger FX4 XLT with GD Imagine xls 18RBE with a E2 sway control WDH. It was quite squirly. Tire pressure on the door jam says 30lbs. Blew the Dyanpro tires to 50 lbs and it helped. (Interestingly, in the winter I went to Toyo snow tires which gave the same stability at 30 lbs).
Still wasn't a comfortable drive at times. Added the Hellwig sway bar and it helped a lot, but still had white knuckle moments. Added 4 Bilstein shocks and again it helped a lot, but still wasn't as stable as my prior rig, especially in a cross wind. I chalk that up to the heigth of the trailer.
Finally bit the bullet and used the last stimulus check and bought a Hensley Cub hitch. Wow, what a difference!! Rock solid, even in a severe cross wind. Expensive - yes. More of a challenge to hook up at times - yes. Absolutely rock solid. I would never go back. My only regret is having done the sway bar and shocks. I should have just skipped forward to the Hensley at the start.

You note bringing the tire pressure up helped. Then adding the Hellwig RSB helped more. Then replacing the OEM shocks helped even more. How much of an improvement did these three mitigators provide? Could you have lived with the performance without the hitch swap?

In my initial experience towing my 20' R-Pod RP-179 (3800 lb dry) with a Curt 600/6000 WDH and friction anti-sway device, the issues I have are with not trailer sway but the bouncing and squirreliness of the truck ('21 Lariat). When being passed by a semi, I can initially feel the front of the truck being pushed toward the other lane as the air pressure from the front of the semi pushes against the side of the trailer. That tells me the friction bar is doing its job correctly and keeping the truck and trailer connected as a semi-rigid unit. In studying up on the Hensley Hitch, the truck-trailer rigidity to eliminate trailer sway seems to be its primary goal. My focus is trying to get the truck to be more stable and planted.

The Hensley hitches are sweet. They really stand out from the crowd. I wonder if it makes them a theft target...

 

[Mustang2Ranger]

Intercooler, towing tune, and either airbags or stronger leaf springs

And like others said, some sort of sway control

 

[J Krutsch]

As you say, I don't know if was ever actual sway. At least not in a major way. Just was all squishy and squirly and feeling like it was about to do something bad.
With the tire pressure, shocks and sway bar it was much improved. I could drive with one hand most of the time. Exceptions being passing semis or cross winds greater then about 10mph or some uneven roads. Also got unstable feeling above 60 mph (don't usually go above that anyway, but now if I am not paying attention I sometimes find myself doing 70 and still rock solid). One of the pains with the tire pressure was adding and deleting air. 50 lbs was the best for towing, but road like a gravel truck when empty. Those tires hold an amazing amount of air, takes a few minutes each to let the air out.
The Hensley make it feel a lot more like drivng a motor home. Feels like one connected unit instead of two pieces, if that makes any sense.
As far as theift, I put a masterlock on the old ball latch. The actual ball is welded to the Hensley so one would have to cut the lock to get it loose. Suppose it could be done but not easily.

 

[TechnicallyReal]

As you say, I don't know if was ever actual sway. At least not in a major way. Just was all squishy and squirly and feeling like it was about to do something bad.
With the tire pressure, shocks and sway bar it was much improved. I could drive with one hand most of the time. Exceptions being passing semis or cross winds greater then about 10mph or some uneven roads. Also got unstable feeling above 60 mph (don't usually go above that anyway, but now if I am not paying attention I sometimes find myself doing 70 and still rock solid). One of the pains with the tire pressure was adding and deleting air. 50 lbs was the best for towing, but road like a gravel truck when empty. Those tires hold an amazing amount of air, takes a few minutes each to let the air out.
The Hensley make it feel a lot more like drivng a motor home. Feels like one connected unit instead of two pieces, if that makes any sense.
As far as theift, I put a masterlock on the old ball latch. The actual ball is welded to the Hensley so one would have to cut the lock to get it loose. Suppose it could be done but not easily.

Interesting that you had to resort to the fancy hitch! I wonder if there were other steps you may have been able to take before resorting to the expensive hitch, though?

Have you ever weighed your trailer and tongue to see how well your cargo was balanced? Did the trailer ride level (looks maybe nose-high in your profile pic)? Do you travel with water in the tanks?

I'm pulling a larger trailer (over 29' tongue to bumper) and the only time I've felt what you describe was when I didn't have the hitch setup yet and I had a full tank of fresh water (400 lbs) which messed up the balance and overloaded the tongue.

I emptied the water, adjusted the hitch, and made sure my tongue weight wasn't crazy (which it still was even without water, due to me storing too much up front, fearing sway). After that, it was smooth comfortable sailing. I have Eibach rear shocks which help bounciness, and put in a little extra air (35 psi) when towing. I'm using an Andersen No-Sway hitch. Those all help, but were nothing compared to emptying the water and balancing my load. I bought a cheap tongue scale which was an eye opener for me.

 

[J Krutsch]

The other step I was going to take was to replace the tires as the Toyo snow tires (should be soft, right?) did so much better than the dynapro, but decided to skip that and go with the hitch.
Trailer is 21' ball to bumper. 5300 lbs fully loaded. Hitch weight 620 lbs fully loaded. The fresh water tank is directly over the axles and I do run with it full going out (300lbs) as I mainly boondock. Really didn't feel much different going out Vs coming back (fresh water near empty, gray and black are behind the wheels. I painstakingly adjusted the E2 hitch fully loaded (full fresh water).
I could have lived with it without the hitch. Just a little more tiring. Were I 25 instead of 65 I probably would have lived with it. The hitch was expensive, but I had stimilus money to burn and the price Vs a comfortable drive is worth it.

 

[Big Blue]

Interesting that you had to resort to the fancy hitch! I wonder if there were other steps you may have been able to take before resorting to the expensive hitch, though?

Have you ever weighed your trailer and tongue to see how well your cargo was balanced? Did the trailer ride level (looks maybe nose-high in your profile pic)? Do you travel with water in the tanks?

I'm pulling a larger trailer (over 29' tongue to bumper) and the only time I've felt what you describe was when I didn't have the hitch setup yet and I had a full tank of fresh water (400 lbs) which messed up the balance and overloaded the tongue.

I emptied the water, adjusted the hitch, and made sure my tongue weight wasn't crazy (which it still was even without water, due to me storing too much up front, fearing sway). After that, it was smooth comfortable sailing. I have Eibach rear shocks which help bounciness, and put in a little extra air (35 psi) when towing. I'm using an Andersen No-Sway hitch. Those all help, but were nothing compared to emptying the water and balancing my load. I bought a cheap tongue scale which was an eye opener for me.

Ryan, I agree with you 110% proper hitch setup and trailer balance are critical. Your comments on towing with water in the tanks is right on, especially partially full tank. Water sloshing can make even a marginay good setup feel really squirrely.

No doubt the Hensely is a really good hitch, but is it bandaiding and easily corrected issue with the setup.

I pull a Rpod 191 with my Ranger. About 21 ft hitch to bumper, 4200 loaded and about 480 tongue weight. Have a Husky Centerline WDH hitch with sway control. Only suspension upgrade is Bilstein 5100 rear shocks. Did a 4700 mile round trip this spring. 70 mph on interstates, you get run over if you run much less. Yes you feel the semis and cross winds, can't avoid it. You just prepare for it. Never had any white knuckle moments, except when the semi blew a tire in front of me. Truck handled the mountains and desert heat with no problems.

 

[Gil-galad]

Yes, it made a big difference. If you get one I suggest you watch a you-tube video on installation. The instructions that come with it are rather worthless.

"Rather worthless" is a huge understatement. I recently did the install and would not have been able to get it done without the video. I ran into a few quirks while doing so. Thinking about posting the experience over in Stage 3's install video thread as a supplement to it.

 

[Gil-galad]

OK, thanks, I'll definitely watch the installation video. My mods for towing - so far: 1) brake controller, 2) ordered Eibach shocks, 3) ordered Ford Performance tuner, 4) ordered Hellwig anit-sway bar. Will report back once installed and after a camping trip.

The Stage 3 video on the Hellwig installation is helpful but has a few shortcomings. Check out my review over in the video's thread:

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/2019-2020-ranger-hellwig-rear-sway-bar-install-video.7460/

Be especially careful you don't get the bar upside-down.

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