Sure.
I tow a dual axle 7x14 steel trailer with two, sometimes three superbikes, spare wheels, tools, living conveniences such as bedding, microwave, keurig etc., gear. All in, I'd estimate between 5000-5500 lbs.
I added a leaf in the rear to bring my rear ride height up after the RPG collars put me slightly nose high. I am also considering adding the timbren to prevent future sagging of the rear leaf stack. I live in Boston, so no matter how fantastic your solution, its not great enough for me to drive to california. Hence my earlier point about them needing to package it or it doesn't matter to anyone outside your immediate area.
Very nice setup man!! We have a few Ducati Streetfighters that we’ve towed in the bed while towing the airstream but haven’t been doing much in the way of riding these days.
Anyway, your setup I’m sure works great and you’re right, that’s a haul to get out here. I’ll tell you two things from experience though:
- adding the leaf spring of course adds some resistance (hence why it says less) and will therefor change the ride quality some when offroad. I’m sure it’s still fine, but it’s just going to be different than stock. Not knocking it. Just pointing out the obvious. Also, I’m guessing your trailer’s tongue-weight is considerably less than mine just based on the fact that your wheels are so much closer to the hitch (tongue weight on mine before weight distribution bars is 780 lbs). That definitely helps with the truck needing less “help” keeping it level.
- If you can avoid an airbag solution...avoid it. I had it for over three years on our Gen 1 raptor and have had it on this one since we got it when they first came out. It limits upward wheel travel considerably and gives a good bit of bucking/rebounding.
---------- Post added at 09:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:49 PM ----------
Secondly do you use a weight hitch gp?
I'm assuming that if the trophy truck guys didn't use s 2.5 it must not be needed unless they calculated 6000k weight hauling and not close to max tow. Hmmm
---------- Post added at 02:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:51 AM ----------
I also think the setup can come in cheaper than 2k. That was prol with them fabricating the setup.
Welding 300, shocks 700, hardware and metal 150. Done and cheaper than alot of options.
Yes I use a weight distribution hitch. Tongue weight if the trailer before that is 780 lbs.
Remember that the 6,000 lbs isn’t the problem. It’s the weight at the hitch. These shocks essentially pick up the slack of THAT weight The stock shocks do what they would do without the added weight really.
Yes, there was a good bit of fabricating here. Izzy at Dezert Lab spent about 2 days on it. I was there and saw it from beginning to end. It’s done right.
Like I said before....having had a shit solution before, this was worth EVERY. SINGLE. PENNY
---------- Post added at 09:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 PM ----------
Great discussion of towing options and considerations. I think the nice part of this solution is that it's 100% removable and back to stock ride. The real question is whether some of the other options being discussed perhaps make the ride and handling of the Raptor even better (or worse) when you're not towing? And also...are there advantages to this solution for towing that outweigh the others. Thanks everyone for the open sharing of info. I don't tow often so this fully removable option is intriguing.
Trust me man....We tow all the time. We are out with out Airstream about 2 weeks out of the month. So as far as towing with a raptor I think I have about as much experience as one could have. That's with the Gen 1 and Gen 2 by the way. Prior to this I had airbags (again, on both trucks) and it absolutely affects the ride quality and limits upward wheel travel so having the ability to get the truck back to completely stock, to me, was worth getting this done.
---------- Post added at 09:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 PM ----------
True, this solution seems the least intrusive and most reversible. I particularly like the quick disconnect pins because it needs no tools. But OP, how do you jack up the rear to install the helper shock back on there after you have removed it once? Over time I imagine any truck will sag some, so it makes me wonder if its truly a no-tools setup particularly when reinstalling.
The add-a-leaf option is not really reversible. Though it does not change the stock ride quality any. If you read the Timbren SES thread in the suspension sub-forum, supposedly it does alter ride quality slightly when you hit big bumps. But it only takes 20 minutes or so to remove, so the right idea would be to remove it when towing season ends.
As for deavers, again, its not really reversible. Guys claim it improves the ride quality, but I have no data to tell if thats true.
For the amount of weight I needed to compensate for, the leaf spring option wasn't a great one for reasons you mention.
As for the removal, I got to our next camp-site today and tried my hand at removing them for the first time (on-site). My plan was originally to remove them when I lifted the truck up with the trailer's tongue jack, but tried it instead with it un-hitched.
It's a pretty simple process....I just release the pressure in the shock via the fill valve (looks the same as any tire-fill valve) and just pulled the pins to release. I did the first one so that the shock would just hang straight down, then removed the upper pin and that was that. Took no time at all. super simple.
Should be a matter of bleeding off all the air and fully compress the shock. The shock should not bottom out before the suspension does.
The shock actually doesn't even need to be fully compressed. He mounted it with the shock pretty much fully extended, giving me full wheel travel.
