Regular F150 rear springs?

[Sage]

I towed a loaded car trailer 300 miles last week (had an F150 Scab on it). I balanced it to keep the tounge weight as low as I could. Any good curve in the road at any speed above 55 and the tail was wagging the dog. Needless to say, I stayed at or below 55. Yeah I know it was an overload but I had little choice. The only real problem I had was when a semi changed lanes, no signal just moved over....to my lane....I was right beside him at the time. That damned near caused a total cluster bunny in all 4 lanes.

Ok, to the original thought. The truck on the trailer is about the same as the Rap towing it. The 150 on the trailer has a 10,000 lb towing limit. The only difference I see is the rear springs. Right or wrong??

How about changing to a set of regular F150 springs?? Couldn't find any mention of this on a search. I do some towing, not usually anything like this however.

 

[Conejoracer]

I'm sure it's possible, and it would increase the load carrying/towing capacity of the Raptor (although not legally).
I had a 2005 F250 with standard springs that were not happy with my toy hauler. I went to my Ford dealer and wrote down the vin of a F350 on the lot with the towing/camper package that had the overload springs. I took that vin to the parts counter and ordered them. After the install, the truck was effectively a one ton and towed fantastically.
I'm sure you could do the same thing for the Raptor by upgrading to the regular or HD F150 springs.

 

[Dv8tor]

I'm new to the Raptor experience nor have I towed anything with my Raptor yet, but I tow rigs and or trailers everyday. The reason the trailer was wagging on you was because you had more weight behind the trailers axles rather than in front of the axles therefore putting more weight on the tongue of the tow vehicle. But there is a pro and con of doing this. The pro is that it'll give you more control of the trailer instead of the trailer wanting to wiggle on you. The con is that it may overload your truck therefore running the risk of flattening out the springs, over loading the axle, excessive tire heat build up due to the extra Rollin resistance, or probably the scariest of all, light front or no steering at all. Just be careful and make sure you know the weight of anything you put on your truck, on your trailer, and the weight of the load. Read your owners manual as far as seeing what they'll allow you to tow from the factory. Properly inflated tires is pretty damn crucial too. Just check and recheck anything before you tow anything and always always always remember the 4 point tie down law. Be safe.

 

[Squatting Dog]

You must have had the Raptors built in trailer sway control turned off.. With the system on.. If the vehicle detects sway it will apply cut power and modulate the trucks brakes to bring the vehicle back under control.

2009 Ford F-150 Trailer Sway - YouTube



-Greg

 

[Yukon Joe]

You must have had the Raptors built in trailer sway control turned off.. With the system on.. If the vehicle detects sway it will apply cut power and modulate the trucks brakes to bring the vehicle back under control.

2009 Ford F-150 Trailer Sway - YouTube



-Greg

And it works well.

Joe

 

[Dv8tor]

Pretty interesting how they loaded all that weight into the rear of the trailer behind the trailers axles. Had the tow vehicle had the proper amount of tongue weight, there would be no trailer sway. I've never played with the system yet to see how we'll it works but I'm sure ford spent enough money on it to make it work very well for every guy that wants to tow with his truck.

 

[Grunzen]

I have towed a 34 foot 8000 lb.+ trailer several times with the Raptor. Not ideal and I'm right at the Screw's towing limit and I'll attest to the built in trailer control. That along with the Equal-I-zer system made the trip very uneventful. Before I could say "oh $thi" it had already fixed the issue. I towed an enclosed single axle motorcycle trailer along the same stretch of I 70 between Colorado and KCMO with my Xterra and it was the white knuckle express for 10 hours.

 

[Sage]

The weight was not behind the axles (scab rear window was in the center of the 2 axles). The sway control was on. The few times I got the wiggle, it was in tighter turns and only if I exceeded 55 MPH. I was simply overloaded on the trucks capacity.

Not likely to be in that situation again but I'm still thinking I'd like more rear spring. It never hit the bump stops and I did hit a few holes in the construction areas.

I'm using the truck more as a work truck than off road. I will be towing a 2500 lb trailer 2000 miles this next summer (and most summers). I'm going to put brakes on that covered trailer too.

 

[Allied Offroad]

The thing you have to keep in mind, is that these rear fox shocks were specifically tuned for these springs. You change the spring ,the shock will not react like its supposed to, and the truck ride won't be the same. Your better option would be to add airbags.

 

[Sage]

The thing you have to keep in mind, is that these rear fox shocks were specifically tuned for these springs. You change the spring ,the shock will not react like its supposed to, and the truck ride won't be the same. Your better option would be to add airbags.

I will look into that. It sounds like a better all around solution, best of both. I can have them when I need them and not when I don't.
Sage