Any benefit to load range G over E on a 3/4 ton?

[Provience]

bigger question is : how much wind sway is acceptable from a 5th camper? those things are massive sails, always strikes me as amazing that they don't blow over more often on the highway. at some point, it is just going to be there. I know in my class C, i've absolutely been in winds that had me slow way down just due to feeling light and getting shoved half a lane over and it is both shorter and more aerodynamic than a 5th camper.

 

[booger]

Coil spring rear? I felt like mine was more prone to swaying vs. leaves when I had it.

Leaf springs

 

[booger]

ditch the spacer in the front and let the rear mash down to level rather than sitting it way stupid high, add a few leaves into the pack rather than using air bags, additional leaves will stiffen up the main leaf from rocking where the bags just perch the axle atop flappy spring packs

there's good reason lower suspension setups are usually more stable

I wouldn't worry about being overweight on the tires, I'd just run them a few psi higher or a few mph slower than what the weight rating is at. When you do buy tires, just get the heftiest ones you can get that'll fit. Plenty of the 17s and 18s are good for more than 4k per tire now.

ETA: 19.5s implies steel sidewalls
you can not air down a steel sidewall any, running them at 35 when unloaded will shred them
factor that into your calculations when you're deciding, if you're trying to use this truck like a minivan for most of its miles

Good points in there. I'd rather not ditch the spacer but if it comes down to it and I buy tires it won't hurt to do it.

This truck is used for towing mostly but is also great for long range road trips so even when not towing if we are going far it is the most likely to be put to use. We sold our bumper pull work and play early this year and bought this larger version, now getting through the teething issues you see here.

I don't want to kill the ride so the 19.5s are off the table for now. I bought this set of tires in November not thrilled at the prospect of switching them out so soon but I do have 2 other vehicles that use the same size tire so not the worst of things if I go that route.

 

[booger]

bigger question is : how much wind sway is acceptable from a 5th camper? those things are massive sails, always strikes me as amazing that they don't blow over more often on the highway. at some point, it is just going to be there. I know in my class C, i've absolutely been in winds that had me slow way down just due to feeling light and getting shoved half a lane over and it is both shorter and more aerodynamic than a 5th camper.

Good question, I don't know the answer. I am used to wind sway pulling bumper pull trailers for as many miles as I have but I wasn't expecting that to continue moving to the 5th wheel. I've had large gooseneck trailers and I was expecting more of that style ride, I did not account for the 13'5" sail though and it clearly is having an impact.

I am going to try towing without the airbags inflated to see if that helps and may add a rear sway bar to the truck as well. Also going to add a Reese Goosebox as this trailer came setup as a gooseneck (just a cheap 15" adapter) and I don't have a 5th wheel hitch in my bed. I don't expect this to help with the sway any but I do believe it will help with the chucking that does not help with the confidence going down the road.

Living as close as we do to the coast we always have wind. On our maiden voyage, that spurred this thread, I did reduce speed to help alleviate the sway. At it's worst maintaining a lane was a tad difficult with the rear sawing back and forth 3+ feet. Slowing got it down to about a 1-2 feet I'd guess.

Going to make some adjustments, perhaps change to a beefier tire and see what happens from there.

 

[booger]

I have an 2005 Dodge 2500 and had a heavy ass cabover.

I put 19.5's on it and it really helped it with the cabover but over time I grew to hate the 19.5's if the truck was empty, it just rode so bad.
The toyo 19.5's I had were terriable in any sort of off road area, from backing up on wet grass to gravel, they sucked.

Are you air bags T'd together? Don't do that if they are.
The big hell wig rear sway bar helped me.

They are not T'd together. Going to look into that sway bar.

 

[u2slow]

I'd even consider having a pair of 19.5's I only put on for when the camper is on.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I'd even consider having a pair of 19.5's I only put on for when the camper is on.

Although I don't hate that idea, he's no where near needing it. I think I had close to 8k on my 97 F350 rear with my camper and trailer with 3975 lb tires at 80 psi it was a non issue, even traveling in 100*+ temps.

Just get the correct tires and be done, you can run them around 50 psi empty and 80 when loaded makes a huge difference.

 

[TrailTamer]

booger

Have you try either move things inside toward the front or remove things from back of the camper to increase the 5th wheel pin weight & test drive?

Gooseneck/5th wheel trailers aren’t immune to swaying and still need some tongue weight to pull well.

 

[u2slow]

FWIW, there's a difference between sway from a pickup bed camper vs hitch-connected unit. The former you're trying to counter the teetering effect of the whole camper on the truck. With a 5'er or bumper-pull, its suspension has its own sway dynamic to address. IME, more pin weight handles better; even if technically overloading the truck or hitch (within reason).

 

[booger]

booger

Have you try either move things inside toward the front or remove things from back of the camper to increase the 5th wheel pin weight & test drive?

Gooseneck/5th wheel trailers aren’t immune to swaying and still need some tongue weight to pull well.

This is only the second time I've pulled this trailer and the first time was too short of a distance to get a good feel for it. I do have about everything loaded as far forward as possible but of course the garage is in the back and that's where I had 2 street bikes. I'll work a little harder at it moving forward and make sure I know where all of the tanks are located. It looks like they are all over the axles but the bottom is covered so it's not easy to see them. All tanks were basically full as we were dry camping for several days.