Why I'm looking for air bags...

Wow thats pretty crazy. i had a RTT and bed rack on my tacoma with bed stiffeners which was probably around 400# with the road shower but 900# is a lot to be sitting on bed rails. The x overland guys are hauling a alucab on their 22 tundra which sits on the rails and weights around 500# dry so probably around 700 with their accessories on the rails. I am hauling a 1500# FWC in mine. Only time will tell to see how it holds up.

Pretty irrelevant compared to what OP was hauling but interesting nonetheless.

Better buy a bomb proof 3500 next time! oh wait...

 

Upset? Nah, no emotion here.
The moral is to never assume anything, whether it's a picture or a posting.

 

Just finished the towing trip and it worked out really well. Things seemed to be a little more stable but that's a bit subjective, who wants to spend $500 on some airbags and not have them work out. I did spend a bit of time getting the hitch set right and getting the air pressure right, ended up at 20 lbs. I have an Andersen WD hitch and I ended up having to lower the hitch ball an inch because the bags ended up keeping things pretty level, compared to the 2 inch sag I get most of the time. The trailer is 4300 dry and weighed in at 5000 today with some gear in it. I towed it 200 miles and there were no issues.

 

I just added the airlift 5000 to my 22Hybrid. The bass boat and trailer doesn’t weigh more than 4500 lbs but I seem to get a bunch of squat. Does anyone know if they changed the rear springs to acquaint to the added weight of the batteries? Adding bags doesn’t always mean you’re overweight because I’m far from it. I’ve had to play with the hitch a bunch to get the trailer level as level as I could before adding bags.

 

It seems that whether you have the skinny OEM leafs on a 2nd gen or the soft OEM coils on a 3rd gen, you’re going to need to address the rear end if you occasionally haul heavy loads, as I do.

Every once in a while, I stick 800-1500 lb of something in my bed. That puts me over GVWR, but neither of my axles is overloaded because I’m careful about how I load things. The heaviest parts of my load go to the front of the bed against the cab. An example: lumber and plywood lie flat with the tailgate down, and the 8 bags of 80 lb quikrete goes on top at the very front of the bed. That Ram 3500 in post #31 was not only overloaded, but too much of it was cantilevered behind his rear axle.

In a perfect world, I’d have a half ton for hunting, off-grid camping, etc, and then a 2500 or 3500 for hauling bigger loads. I always want the right too for the job. But needing to haul heavy loads—loads that don’t overload either of my axles—a half dozen times per year does not move the needle enough for me to buy an HD truck. I’d rather just be ultra careful and use my insanely dependable Tundra within its axle ratings. It’s too good at other tasks I require of it that HD trucks aren’t good at for me to make the jump at this point.

If I had to tow 8k on a regular basis, there’s no question I’d be in an HD truck, probably a Duramax.

 

Is that you Pat? Brust. Just bought a 23 crewmax 6.5 limited yesterday. It came with factory airbags and I’m hoping they work for leveling while towing my old Airstream. I hope all is well dude.

 

Why not just rent a bigger trailer or make two trips with what you have , especially if it’s only 10 miles

 

I would love to see your old Airstream attached to your Tundra.

I am pulling a single axle and my Limited Crewmax 6.5 does a great job of pulling it, I use a WDH and that takes most of the rear squat out. I have a TRD offroad package and it has a unique suspension. I think it is a bit stiffer than the base suspension. My plan to keep the truck level is to with the Timbren bumpstops which I am working on at the moment.

 

Buy a trailer with the wheels 2' forward and that problem goes away. Trailer is tongue heavy. I have a 5000lbs surf boat + trailer and it sits level on my 2022

 

Unfortunately, boats - especially speed boats - have the weight biased toward the rear since that's where the motor is; the rest is basically a fiberglass shell. Moving the wheels forward can make for a tail-heavy, nose-light trailer, which is a big no-no and can cause lots of issues. My aluminum 7x16 enclosed trailer only weighs 1600lbs and has less than 200 lbs of tongue weight empty - which by the numbers on paper is perfect. But I throw random junk in the v nose just to smooth out the ride because the tongue is too light when empty. Eventually, I'll throw a battery on the nose and relocate the jack and it will ride much better.

Airbags are great; they allow you to level a load and apply the needed spring force to counter extra or excessive suspension movement. OE's have to sell a cushy ride to sell vehicles which, IMO, means they have to give up some optimal load handling characteristics for acceptable load handling characteristics. Bags are variable and don't need to make up for a lack of capability, but improve existing ability. I run them partially inflated for my typically load out even before hitching up. But I don't like the soggy diaper look... and I hate the way a loaded, squatting suspension wallows and blobs around the road despite being within payload.

 

give me a couple days! Trying to get 1000 miles before I tow with it. Also trying to grab some new wheels. Currently in grandpa mode.

 

Hell yeah Brust, great to hear from ya. You've had that Airstream for a while eh? I'm sure your new truck will do just fine draggin it around. I drove mine across country last summer to get our toy hauler and it did great. If you ever get up to Bend lemme know.

 

I had the other 400 lbs of pellets in my utility trailer to keep it from going over the GVWR so I didn't have to do two trips.

 

Is anyone able to help me out??

Do you think that I'll need to get this 2" spacer pack if I'm going with the LoadLifter 5000 airlift bags? I have the TRD factory lift on my 22' Limited Tundra. I almost wonder if it's overkill for the minimal lift in the back of the truck.

Thoughts... and thank you!

Air Lift 2" Universal Spacer for Air Spring Kits
https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=53749

https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/inde...=59000&zenid=9abf6ccdb7298983e1b8175067c38462

 

Maybe your truck is different, but most 1/2 tons dont have enough rear axle capacity to take the entire payload of the truck. My f150 has 1560 lbs of payload but the rear axle only has about 1350 available.

And with the way the pellets were loaded behind the axle, i bet the rear is supporting more than 1400 lbs by itself

 

I know there is a YouTube video installing them on a TRD Pro with no spacers. I wouldn't think you need them.

 

The tundra is the opposite; it usually has 300-500 lbs of additional rear axle capacity compared to the payload capacity.

 

That's a great point, the guy could only push the pallet in so far before hed hit my tailgate so there was definitely a rear ward bias on the weight.