Toy Hauler, Airbags, and onboard air

[Dane]

The wife and I are seriously looking at picking up a toy hauler in the next year. The Raptor would be the tow vehicle (Screw). I'm aware of the tow limitations of the Raptor and am hoping to work around them. I'm eyeballing a toy hauler that weighs in around 5,000 pounds dry weight, leaving me 3,000 pounds in fluids, gear, and toys (two quads) - which sounds fairly reasonable to me. Regardless, I think I would still be far better off using a weight distribution hitch and airbags in the rear. So, the above setup is my ultimate goal.

Any issues with the above idea?

First hurdle, and I think this is an easy one. Is the extra articulation of the Raptor a concern with airbags? I'm assuming it would be easy enough to find long travel ones that will work. I don't want them to limit me in anyway since though the Raptor is the tow vehicle, it's a play toy once I get to where I'm going and drop off the trailer.

Next - since my latest portable air compressor just took a dive last weekend, I'm contemplating setting up an onboard air solution since I would want it anyway with the airbags. I would like the airbags to be controlled in cab. I don't need the airbags right now, but I need to make sure that whatever I put together will work with them in the future. I'm thinking about something like this, but I haven't made up my mind. I am assuming that running the airbags would actually be fairly simple compared to other functions such as airing up tires, using air tools, air horns, etc. Thoughts on solutions? Also, I would love some good ideas as to where to stash something like this. In the front bumper is not an option since I have a winch there already. I do have a RetraxPro tonneau cover that has some room right underneath it. I tend to store some essentials there though, and therefore it wouldn't be my first choice since the onboard air system doesn't really need to be that accessible.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[Timgco]

Di Dane,. The Viair setups are nice. We just need to come up with a mounting solution. I too am looking to do this setup....with that exact OBA system.

I'm hoping others can post up pics of their On Board Air systems.

 

[Macman]

Any idea what the affect of adding airbags for towing would be on offroad performance? If it had minimal effect I would think that it would be a great mod to bring up the tow capacity and payload.

 

[bstoner59]

What's the tongue weight? You shouldn't need airbags with that light of a trailer. If you have an RPG bumpstop kit you can switch out the bumpstops to the 4" ones for towing.

 

[Dane]

Any idea what the affect of adding airbags for towing would be on offroad performance? If it had minimal effect I would think that it would be a great mod to bring up the tow capacity and payload.

Well, when the airbags aren't inflated it shouldn't affect anything. Normal non-towing operation would be with deflated airbags.

---------- Post added at 11:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 AM ----------

What's the tongue weight? You shouldn't need airbags with that light of a trailer. If you have an RPG bumpstop kit you can switch out the bumpstops to the 4" ones for towing.

They say the tongue weight is about 13% of the trailer, so if I have the trailer sitting ~8,000 pounds loaded, tongue weight is sitting around 1,000 pounds. I forget the tongue weight for the Raptor, but I'm pretty confident a weight distribution hitch would be mandatory in this situation.

I don't have the bumpstop kit and don't plan on that expensive of an upgrade in the near future.

 

[Timgco]

I also forgot to mention:

Depending on tongue weight also, you may just upgrade your springs and not have to worry about rear bags.
Deaver and National are available, however I have ZERO experience with either one...yet.

 

[Dane]

I also forgot to mention:

Depending on tongue weight also, you may just upgrade your springs and not have to worry about rear bags.
Deaver and International are available, however I have ZERO experience with either one...yet.

Any idea how much those springs cost?

 

[Jackemuphigh21]

Bout $1300 for a new set of leafs in the back. $2500 for the leafs and the bump stop kit and if you want to be able to tow some pretty heavy stuff another $700 for the 4" bumps. Check out the video from RPG on the 4" bumps. They hauled a couple of tons worth of leaf springs in the back of the truck with that setup and said it rode smooth. And it sat level the whole time it was hauling that much too.

 

[Dane]

Bout $1300 for a new set of leafs in the back. $2500 for the leafs and the bump stop kit and if you want to be able to tow some pretty heavy stuff another $700 for the 4" bumps. Check out the video from RPG on the 4" bumps. They hauled a couple of tons worth of leaf springs in the back of the truck with that setup and said it rode smooth. And it sat level the whole time it was hauling that much too.

That helps, but for purposes of this thread I think I'd like to keep exploring the initial airbag idea. Thanks though.

 

[Timgco]

Any idea how much those springs cost?

Deaver's and National's are $1300/$1400