Desperate for airbags or something to eliminate rear sag

You’re correct that they don’t replace a properly set WDH, and they do not add carrying capacity to your vehicle. They do reduce suspension sag and the poor handling that comes with it.

 

It may add a little weight to the front. A little. Not nearly enough.
The danger is that the level truck hides the problem. The trailer tows great because you have lots of tongue weight. However steering an braking are not what they need to be and the rear axle is way overloaded.
Bags can augment and help. But they should only help and be used properly.

 

I think I have the same trailer as you, is that the 26BHW Jayco? My sticker says it weighs 4500 lbs empty but like you I seriously doubt that. My truck weighed 6550 lbs with my wife and I, two dirt bikes and our gear as well as a full tank of gas in it about 850 lbs total. I have about the same amount of sag when I hook up the trailer and set the WD hitch. I plan on putting the trailer on with the bikes in the back but I know I'll be close to max cargo weight. My Ram 1500 was rated about the same as this truck and it did fine with some airbags on it, we'll see how this one does when I load it up but I'm in the market for air bags as well.

 

It actually could hurt the situation if the WDH is not readjusted to properly account for the air bags. Think about it. If you want to go release the spring bars(or chains or whatever your WDH uses), what do you do? You drop the tongue jack on the trailer and lift up the tongue and the back of the truck. This relaxes the spring bars so that you can easily pull them off by hand.

Stuffing a set of air bags in your springs and inflating them so that the back of the truck raises 3" and looks good, is accomplishing the exact some thing as using the tongue jack. The air bags are increasing the angle between the truck and trailer and causing the spring bars to relax. Relaxed spring bars are not doing their jobs.

So if the OP were to just run out and grab a set of bags, he might actually be getting less weight transfer to the front axle than he was in the first place. Yeah, his truck will look great, but I bet it actually rides and handles worse than it did without the bags.

I know from experience that my truck/trailer handles worse with my bags inflated. I often have to tow down rough dirt roads and so I will disengage my WDH and inflate my air bags up to support the trailer tongue. A few times I accidentally left my airbags inflated when I got back to pavement. When I hooked up the WDH and started heading down the road I immediately could tell something was not right. It no longer felt like the truck and trailer were one unit like it normal does, but instead the two were bouncing around and generally riding like crap. I pulled off the road, let the air out of the bags, and everything was good again.

 

My trailer is one step bigger. I have the 267BHS. Mine has a slide on the other side and as a result weighs in about 900# heavier.
I bet you will be fine with the bikes in the back. Maybe dial in a little more hitch spring to compensate.

 

So even though my trailer is set up good right now, I plan to level the front of my truck in the future. The truck sits level when loaded now (see pic's in previous post). If I level the front (up 2") then the truck will look nose high 2" when the trailer is hooked up. Is there a good way around this? A better WDH? I have a basic ezlift WDH (which currently does a great job). I know airbags will make the truck LOOK good, but I want something that actually fixes the problem... Advise?

 

Keep the rake if you plan to haul or tow heavy.

 

Do you want the look while towing or while empty? You really can’t have both and tow safely.
Let’s get real, 2” of squat while hauling 800 pounds of tongue weight is really not bad.

 

I would say it's expected and the reason trucks have rake. Guys who level their trucks are just telling the world they drive grocery getters.

 

I have my truck leveled with wescott 3/1 and only have 1.5” of sag when I was pulling my 34’ TT at around 9k loaded. I couldn’t tell you my exact tongue weight. I’m using a harbor freight WDH with 2 sway control kits. If you level your truck, just make sure to setup your WDH again. Your spring bars should run parallel when under load which is the most common error I personally see when people are setting their WDH up.

 

This coil rite 4164 kit is 2022 compatible. Ebay says no.

 

No to hijack the thread here, but at what point does a WDH become necessary? Is it a certain GVWR of the trailer, solely based on hitch weight, combo of both?

We are in the market for our first travel trailer and are eyeballing a 22 Jayco STX 174BH with a GVWR of 4150lb (according to the dealers site)... I know nothing about trailers, but do know that is considered very light for our trucks as far as towing abilities go... TIA!

 

Personally, if you had a 3/4 ton I’d say you may not need a wdh for a trailer that light. But I’d get one anyways. Someone told me under 5k pounds you don’t need one. But why not use one anyways?

For a half ton I’d use a wdh for a trailer that light, no questions asked.

 

There's no set rule on when you should use a WDH, but what I've always gone by is if it's a smaller utility trailer (weighs less than my vehicle when its loaded) I'll just use a regular ball mount. When towing a TT I personally always use a WDH. One of the big benefits using a WDH is the addition of a sway controller which is necessary IMO. If you don't want to spend a fortune on a WDH just get the one from harbor freight and get a sway controller from them too. Its worked great for my 34' TT that's usually at 9k when I'm towing (I have 2 sway controllers installed.) Sure there are better WDH out there, but it gets the job done just fine for me.

 

I will second that statement. I would probably use one for anything over about 400lb on the tongue.
I would look into an Equalizer hitch. They are much easier to hook up and have active sway control vs. passive.

 

Thanks for the info... The dealer I've been speaking with quoted $995 installed for a WDH with sway control, but I haven't a clue if that is a good deal or not... I will look into pricing myself as well...

I will look into these too... Thanks!

 

Usually, its determined by the manufacturer of the truck. Like my F150 is limited to maximum tongue weight of 500 lbs without a WDH but I believe the Silverado 1500's are 650 lbs.

Best bet is to look at the receiver on the truck and see what it says. It probably tells you the maximum ratings with and without WDH.

 

I believe Toyota says in the manual it's required if your trailer weighs over 5000 lbs. You're going to be pretty close to that if not over once that trailer is loaded up with gear so I'd go for one. If you get the kind with trunnion bars (instead of chains), you also get sway control.

 

That price is about on par with what they are here.

 

But its also probably a 500 lb tongue weight, which is really what is important. A 4000 lb TT could have a 500 lb tongue

 

Sooo OP - what did you end up doing and how does it tow now?

 

I’ve installed the coil bag. Rides fine. Tows perfect. Sag virtually gone.

 

You should run it across the scales and post your axle weights. It will help others understand what works well for you.

 

I tow 3 500lbs ATVs. And a 6X12 trailer. No weight distribution hitch. No scales in our area to be able to provide that specific information. 3 days a week I carry 1400lbs of payload in the bed. I inflate the bags to 30psi and sag disappears

 

May have been mentioned on this thread already, but rear sag is indicative of the amount of weight being added to the rear axle. Adding airbags doesn’t change this. It eliminates squat, but not the amount of weight being added the rear axle. You’re also unloading the front axle a bit when doing this. A WDH transfers some of the weight back to the trailer and some of the weight forward to the front axle reducing the weight on the rear axle alone. Handling will improve, sway will be reduced. Squat will be reduced as the front will stay at original position or actually “ squat” some with the load as well.

 

Exactly. Primarily I use to offset payload. I do not tow heavy equipment. Transferring weight to front axles in my situation are not necessary. However, WDH is a critical tool

 

Nor did my 2007. Here they are in comparison with the same trailer.

 

Did you readjust the WDH for the new truck?

 

It could be the photos, but it sure doesn't look like there is much tension on the bars on almost all these pictures of sagging trucks. They all look pretty straight.