What are you using for suspension aid in the rear?

So I connected my 24' race ready car trailer with a 64 Chevy II loaded in it. Medium to light tools in the tool box. Upper and lower L shaped cabinets with a generator box and 4500 watt generator inside that. I'm not sure of the tongue weight, but it is mildly heavy. I squatted almost 4 inches bare drop. I lifted it back up and installed my weight distribution bars and still dropped 3 inches. It doesn't look horribly, but I feel it needs help when I ever would tow this trailer loaded.

I have seen the air lift company bags, and watched a few videos of installing the. I can do that myself, I'm thinking. I don't want to spend the money on their compressors. I can use something much cheaper in my mind.

What are other people running with their trucks for towing?

BTW... 2022 Tundra Limited, double cab, non hybrid and 4WD


Thanks in advance,
Mike

 

Airbags are about your only good option, IMO. New heavy duty coils would also be an option but might make for a poor empty ride. I don’t recall offhand who was making a an HD coil for the tundra - KC Spring maybe? Bags are pretty simple to install with manual fill valves; just make sure to plumb the left and right separately or it will wallow in the corners.

One of the downsides to coils is the inherent squat compared to leaf springs. They ride nicer (usually) but are often a single rate coil or dual rate coil with the initial rate being softer than the standard second rate. Leaf springs by comparison are progressive by nature when you have multiple leaves. Also, the overload spring adds a lot of spring force once it engages. If my math is right, the overload on 2nd gens is something like 3x or 4x the rate of all the other leaves together.

So in my opinion, bags are almost a requirement for towing anything with a coil sprung vehicle. I’ve used Firestone bags on my ‘13 for years and have been very pleased with them.

 

Thanks Blanton. I’m not in the market to replace the springs. I agree it would drastically change the unloaded ride.

I would like to know if the Air Lift brand bags are common and their reputation on our trucks.


Mike

 

I would start with getting the actual tongue weight. Make sure that it's within spec for the trucks capability. Then I would make sure the WDH is the appropriate one for that much tongue weight. Then I would make sure that the WDH was setup properly. Generally you can limit squat to the factory rake (about 2" or so) with a properly setup WDH. On my 2000 and my 2019, 1200# put me an inch form the bumpstops (about 3.5-4" of squat) The WDH would reduce that to about 2" of squat.

 

The airlift bags are good bags. This seems to be the one most folks go with. If you want to spring for a Sherline scale — that is a nice thing to have for conveniently measuring tongue weight.

 

+1 on the AirLift bags.
No need for an onboard air compressor just for the bags in my opinion.
I just routed the Schraeder valves to the rear bumper right under the trailer electrical ports.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/wha...gen-tundra-today.104778/page-234#post-3683494

And yes, even if you are mildly hands-on capable, install is a DIY job.

Disclaimer if it hasn't been mentioned previously: Airbags are not a replacement for a WDH, but a great supplement.

 

Thanks all for your inputs.

I will be getting an air bag kit to install myself. I am definitely mechanically inclined and can do this now that I see what is involved.

I run WDH's on both my 24' race ready car trailer (prolly 9.5 to 10.5K lbs, depending on which car is in it) and my 27' spread dual axle travel trailer (under 7K lbs).

The tongue scale would be cool to have to check, but the costs are more than I want to pay for just a check. Neither trailer has ever given me a problem on my 2004 Excursion.


Mike

 

Excursions are built on 3/4 ton chassis I believe

 

Correct, and I recognize my Tundra is a half ton build up. The Excursion can also tug close to if not 20K lbs if I had desired to if setup properly. But the Tundra is rated for over 11K. I'm actually looking to get rid of the car trailer soon and will focus my common tow unit as the travel trailer. I basically have one haul of a 1965 Chevy II, Nova SS about 105 miles away to do a motor and transmission refresh to before selling the trailer. I will rent a uhaul dolly transport for now on when/if i want to move a vehicle. I don't have the space to keep the car trailer and camper both at my home. I gotta pick one to keep and a camping we plan to go. LoL


Mike

 

Using RAS

Toyota Tundra 1999 - 2021 | HD Kit – RoadActive Suspension

 

Ras no workey on coil springs..

 

Yep- my apoligies

 

pretty damn cool though, I didn’t know they had those.

 

works great for leaf springs, I have had air bags before and much prefer this setup now

 

I put RAS on my excursion. They have softer leaf springs than an F250. They rock to keep a standard excursion ride quality when not towing.

Mike

 

I have a WDH, and installed Sumo springs just for a little extra help when needed.

 

Torque air bags with cradles. Very reasonably priced

 

Those working out for you as expected?

 

Yes sir. I was considering going with the Sumo Springs. I had them before and they did effected the unloaded ride. I run around 10psi in the bags and really haven’t noticed much of a difference in the ride. The Torque bags were also cheaper than the Sumo Springs. I haven’t towed the 5th wheel yet, it’s not going to be picked up from the RV dealer until spring.