Camper control problems - Diesel Forum

jstwhln · 11-01-2009, 07:06 PM

I've got a 99 F350 SRW 4WD that I use to haul my truck camper, an Arctic Fox A990 (~3100 lbs wet).

In an attempt to better control the load, I installed air bags with valves to isolate them from each other. It helped a little, but I'm not sure if there is more that can be done.

Are there any big differences between the stock sway bars (F/R) and ones available from aftermarket manufacturers like Hellwig?

Also, the bracket that mounts the front stock sway bar on the passenger side is considerably less stout than the driver side. Is there any way to upgrade/retrofit a better passenger side bracket?

Fordpowerstroke350 · 11-01-2009, 07:41 PM

The type of rear tires can have quite an effect on the amount of sway with a slide in camper or a trailer

dacriss · 11-01-2009, 09:15 PM

I have the same camper and basicly the same truck (except you have heavior spring packs). What tires are you running now? Look at my pics and I believe I have some of truck and camper. I went with a 4" lift, 35x12.5x18 toyo mud train tires 8 ply. These tires have a very heavy side wall to them. Also having 18 inch rim deceases the side wall and the less side wall you have the less sway you will have; however, the bumpier the ride will be unloaded. I also run air bags to counter the weight of the camper. The wider tread contact also helps. The stock sway bars seem to work fine for the way I have it set up. But the 4" lift (2" more in the rear) means you have to lift the camper higher to get it loaded.
DACriss

jstwhln · 11-01-2009, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dacriss

I have the same camper and basicly the same truck (except you have heavior spring packs). What tires are you running now? Look at my pics and I believe I have some of truck and camper. I went with a 4" lift, 35x12.5x18 toyo mud train tires 8 ply. These tires have a very heavy side wall to them. Also having 18 inch rim deceases the side wall and the less side wall you have the less sway you will have; however, the bumpier the ride will be unloaded. I also run air bags to counter the weight of the camper. The wider tread contact also helps. The stock sway bars seem to work fine for the way I have it set up. But the 4" lift (2" more in the rear) means you have to lift the camper higher to get it loaded.
DACriss

FWIW, I'm running Nitto Terra Grapplers LT285/70R17-E (about 33") and I'm also running Bilstein shocks. Our camper is an '07, I believe.

I've had the camper for a couple of years and I've tried a bunch of different configurations. I found that I have to run about 90 psi in the bags and about 75 psi in the tires to get something that's even close to manageable for where I live. As I live up in the hills east of Sacramento, taking this camper places is not just a matter of driving down a flat highway. I just feel that it sways more than it should just driving down the road.

As far as suspension lifts, I've only got a leveling kit in the front. One thing I did notice is that when I bought this truck (used) the front leafs were nearly flat. Is this normal? I would suspect it isn't as the prior owner beat the hell out of this truck and didn't take care of it. Also, when I have the camper on the truck and the air bags full, I am not even touching the rear overloads.

Big Mac · 11-03-2009, 10:14 PM

If you have overload springs get some Energy Suspension bump stops so the over loads engauge sooner,I believe Tork lift also makes them. This will take a lot of the sway out like you get when you turn into a gas station and have to go over a gutter.

jwolff · 11-03-2009, 10:49 PM

To start with go to RV.net and you'll get all kinds of info to make your rig handle better. I personally started with a '95 F350 SRW 460 gasser with my AF990 and decided it justed wasn't enough truck and upgraded to a '01 F350 DRW 7.3 CC. Either way, the following mods are the norm for our heavy campers and Fords. Upgrade rear anti sway bar to a 1.5" Roadmaster (big improvement over stock anti sway bar), Rancho 9000XL shocks all the way around (I did just rears to start and all 4 is definitely way better), and Stable Loads from Torklift to take up that gap your airbags make to the overloads. Some people with SRW's go to 19.5 wheels with F, G, or H rated tires but that'll run around $2700 for all four out the door of a Les Schwab. You could also add heavy duty rear springs or add a leaf to your overloads at a local spring shop. If I would have kept my SRW I would have purchased the 19.5's and the additional overload spring but by the time you add up the cost it was nearly the difference of a new to me 7.3 truck plus I got the wonderful 7.3 now.

My magic air pressure is around 55psi. Any more and I am not touching the overloads. Any less and the air bags aren't resisting enough.

I did the new sway bar, Ranchos, and Stable Loads and love the set up. Granted it is a DRW but even on a SRW it will help a lot.

John

dlblazer · 11-04-2009, 08:44 AM

My old truck was similar to yours - and we hauled a camper. Tires will make a big difference. A friend of mine runs 19.5 Rickson wheels and "F" load range tires. On my truck we ran "E" range and kept them aired up. It reduced the body roll significantly over the "D" range tires the truck had when I bought it.

My friend also runs the Helwig swaybar and adjustable Rancho shocks. His truck really controls the weight well.

I upgraded my truck to the '02 in my signature to handle more weight (and a bigger camper). I am now running "G" load range tires with air bags. The DRW makes a huge difference.

jstwhln · 11-04-2009, 03:46 PM

Wow, thanks for the information. I'll have to check out the sway bars and rethink my air bag/tire pressures.

I'll also do some looking around on RV.net as well. While OTR 19.5" wheel/tire combination would handle (and look) b***hin', I'm not real keen on dropping a lot of money at this time.

Crawling around last night, I noticed that during our last trip, the front passenger side sway bar mounting bracket has broke clean in half. Does anyone have any suggestions on a more permanent fix than welding a new piece? Are there brackets that are more substantial than the factory one? Maybe something a little more like the driver's side bracket?

Semper Fi,

Justin

jstwhln · 11-04-2009, 03:47 PM

Oh and I'm already running E-range tires.

dacriss · 12-12-2009, 05:43 PM

Sorry for the late reply, but look at your tire size. The Nitto Terra Grapplers LT285/70R17-E are still narrow and not as heavy of a side wall as my Toyo's. I know when I ran the stock Firestones tha camper swayed a lot. Wider foot print and heavier side walls solved most of that. Remember that you have a lot of weight up high and it will sway. Carefull of increasing the rear sway bar, as it may also cause the truck to under steer when not loaded. The Bilstein shocks are good shocks and I wouldn't replace them with Rancho's, no reason to. I run 105 and 95 in my air bags and the tires at full rated pressure for max load. Lower air p[ressure in the tires will make the tires squat and rool in corners.

**SmokeyWren** · 12-13-2009, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstwhln

I've got a 99 F350 SRW 4WD that I use to haul my truck camper, an Arctic Fox A990 (~3100 lbs wet).

Do you have a scale ticket for that puppy? Your estimated weight of the "wet" camper is way low. The dry weight of the current one is 3,605, so it's going to be well over 4,000 pounds with minimum stuff in the camper and empty holding tanks. And it can hold 55 gallons of fresh water, plus 14 gallons of propane, not counting up to over 40 gallons each of black and grey water.
Northwood: Arctic Fox Campers 990

Your basic problem is you're severely overloaded - at least 1,000 pounds over the 9,900 GVWR of your truck.

If you have to "make do" until you can trade for a suitable dually truck for that heavy camper, then start with "real truck tires". All-steel construction, retreadable, rated for "all position" service by the tire manufacturer. Note that most LT tires are not real truck tires - they are "light truck" or pickup tires.

The least expensive way to do that is with Michelin XPS tires in size LT235/85R16E. Not cheap, but they are the only Michelin 16" tire rated as a real truck tire. Goodyear makes a comparable tire in the same size, but I don't remember the name. Neither makes a 16" real truck tire in a bigger size. Pump them up to 80 PSI on the rear axle and 70 PSI on the front axle when the camper is loaded and that will eliminate any tire-related sway problems.

But if you have the additional resources, then go for the 19.5" truck tires in load range F or stiffer. Use a load/inflation table for that size tire to determine the proper inflation. All 19.5" tires are real truck tires, so you don't have to worry about the specs. The 16" tires will probably have enough weight capacity for the load on your rear tires if you travel with empty black and grey water tanks, but not any wiggle room. The 19.5s will give you a lot of safety factor in the weight capacity of the rear tires.

The next step for you (if you still can't afford that dually) is to replace your "code B" rear springs rated 6,830 pounds with the rear spring pack from a '99-'04 F-350 DRW, rated 8,450 pounds @ground. The spring packs are the same length and width, but the dually springs are a lot stiffer.

That still leaves you with the Ford 10.5" rear axle rated 6,830 pounds instead of the dually's Dana 80 rear axle rated 11,000 pounds. But the SRW axle should be okay if you don't overload your rear axle to more than about 6,000 pounds, which would be about 11,000 pounds gross weight on the 4 tires.

NickKent · 12-13-2009, 03:53 PM

DRW to fix your problems. No joke.

dieselfreak09 · 12-14-2009, 09:54 AM

Well some of your probalmes may be with loading of the stuff in your trailer....to much on stuff on one side and not enough on the other side....see my drift. And you are running load range E tires....it could help if you throw LT tires on

jstwhln · 12-17-2009, 01:18 AM

No doubt DRW would be nice, but I'd want a 7.3. I'm pretty partial to mine now and I'd have a very hard time giving it up.

jstwhln · 12-17-2009, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmokeyWren

Do you have a scale ticket for that puppy? Your estimated weight of the "wet" camper is way low. The dry weight of the current one is 3,605, so it's going to be well over 4,000 pounds with minimum stuff in the camper and empty holding tanks. And it can hold 55 gallons of fresh water, plus 14 gallons of propane, not counting up to over 40 gallons each of black and grey water.
Northwood: Arctic Fox Campers 990

Your basic problem is you're severely overloaded - at least 1,000 pounds over the 9,900 GVWR of your truck.

If you have to "make do" until you can trade for a suitable dually truck for that heavy camper, then start with "real truck tires". All-steel construction, retreadable, rated for "all position" service by the tire manufacturer. Note that most LT tires are not real truck tires - they are "light truck" or pickup tires.

The least expensive way to do that is with Michelin XPS tires in size LT235/85R16E. Not cheap, but they are the only Michelin 16" tire rated as a real truck tire. Goodyear makes a comparable tire in the same size, but I don't remember the name. Neither makes a 16" real truck tire in a bigger size. Pump them up to 80 PSI on the rear axle and 70 PSI on the front axle when the camper is loaded and that will eliminate any tire-related sway problems.

But if you have the additional resources, then go for the 19.5" truck tires in load range F or stiffer. Use a load/inflation table for that size tire to determine the proper inflation. All 19.5" tires are real truck tires, so you don't have to worry about the specs. The 16" tires will probably have enough weight capacity for the load on your rear tires if you travel with empty black and grey water tanks, but not any wiggle room. The 19.5s will give you a lot of safety factor in the weight capacity of the rear tires.

The next step for you (if you still can't afford that dually) is to replace your "code B" rear springs rated 6,830 pounds with the rear spring pack from a '99-'04 F-350 DRW, rated 8,450 pounds @ground. The spring packs are the same length and width, but the dually springs are a lot stiffer.

That still leaves you with the Ford 10.5" rear axle rated 6,830 pounds instead of the dually's Dana 80 rear axle rated 11,000 pounds. But the SRW axle should be okay if you don't overload your rear axle to more than about 6,000 pounds, which would be about 11,000 pounds gross weight on the 4 tires.

Yeah smokeywren, I'm fully aware that I'm heavier than my GVWR, but fwiw my tag for my camper says that it is just this side of 3200 lbs dry. Ours is a 2007, so the specs are a little different from the newer ones. Our fresh water is only 43 (with the water heater)

When I scaled my truck at the local commercial scale it was 7700 lbs (20 d). Which even with the dry weight of my camper puts me well above my 9900 GVWR.

I'd really love to have a DRW, but I really don't have the means. That is unless someone wanted to trade straight across, but it seems that I would be more likely to getting hit by lightning, indoors on a clear day.

Regardless, thanks for the info - I'll keep it in mind.