On The Road To Maine

Riverbabe279 · 06-20-2019, 04:11 AM

OMG!!! Traveling to Maine for the summer! Hubbie has finally retired and our maiden voyage will be to Lubec, Maine for the summer! Our winter home was hit by Hurricane Michael last October but that’s another story. $200,000 later home is fixed and we are back on track as to retirement dreams! BUT, these interstates have just about done us in the last 3 days!!! Pulling out 42’ Redwood with our 2016 Ford F-350 Dually! It’s besting us up!!! Already trying to figure out how to get back to Branson, MO in September. What interstates are better than others???

**piper guy** · 06-20-2019, 06:49 AM

If you are traveling and towing a lot, it is well worth the investment in suspension and hitch upgrades.

Our rig is a 2013 36RL pulled by a 2013 F350 Dually with the max tow option.
Coach has MorRyde IS suspension and MorRyde pinbox. 17.5 wheels with H rated Sailun tires. Truck has Sulastic rear spring hangers for unloaded ride quality and Airlift Airbags with onboard compressor and remote for suspension control. Also has Bilstein 4600 series shocks and Helwig HD sway bars. Hitch is a 245 series Comfort Ride.

With all of the above, most roads are a minor inconvenience. We've got to hit something really bad before anything in the truck is more than a gentle head bob. More than 45,000 miles towing.

Took a while to get everything working together but now it's a pleasure.

Garyl53 · 06-20-2019, 11:34 PM

Hi Piper Guy,
Do you find that you adjust air bags while on your way towing, or is it mostly an adjustment just after hookup to level the truck? Trying to decide which way to go for a truck suspension upgrade. We are also getting pretty beat up when towing our 36RL.
Thx

XCMARK · 06-21-2019, 12:21 AM

air will ride slightly smoother the spring , the draw back is the ride height. The factory style shocks can not control the rebound with lots of air and 1 ton spring . About 45 psi is all I run with my single wheel truck , knowing a duel wheel truck has more spring I would say less air 25-35 psi basically you want the truck to be level. Kelderman makes a full air ride for the trucks for those of you looking for premium ride, the hitch would be the second choice in my eyes.

travelin' texans · 06-21-2019, 01:38 AM

Just a suggestion if you have the Trail Air hitch with the shock/air bag. We found that if aired to the top of arrow as directed it was too stiff & after experimenting with several pressures it was determined that 70 to 72 psi was the best ride.
Also on our GMC dually the tire sticker on the door stated 70 psi front & 65 psi on rears which was ideal, tires recommended 80 psi for max load which I tried for a while, but was also too stiff also.

**piper guy** · 06-21-2019, 06:42 AM

Along the same lines of what Jim and Danny said -

Yes, I do vary pressure while towing depending on road conditions and ride. In my rig, I run 5 psi unloaded, when hooked up and smooth roads I run 48 psi ( my RL pinweight is 3850 lbs). If the road is rough I will grab remote and run up to about 60-65 psi until ride improves to where I want it.

I have to tell you that the Bilstein shocks also make a big deifference. If you have the Flex Air pinbox with a good hitch like a B&W that will also make a big difference and as Danny said, play with the bag pressures in the pinbox.

Since I had to replace my trail air tri glide pinbox anyway, I went with a MorRyde pinbox and a Comfort Ride Hitch which is cushioned. Remarkable difference. We also put MorRyde IS suspension on the coach which made a huge difference.

Garyl53 · 06-21-2019, 05:32 PM

Thanks for the additional comments. Deciding which enhancements to do and where to get the best result for the investment can be difficult. Sounds like adding adjustable vehicle air bags, setting rear tire pressures appropriate to the load and lowering the Flex Air bag pressure a little are good first steps to improve comfort when towing. Then perhaps adding either the MorRyde SRE 4000 or IS would be the next best. Thanks again.

**piper guy** · 06-21-2019, 07:29 PM

Gary, I would start with exactly what you just said. The single biggest change will be the Airbags on the truck. A Dually doesn't normally need the bags for weight carrying, you're doing it for suspension control.

Without the bags, and with a heavy pin weight like the RL has, when loaded if you look at the distance between the rear axle and the hard delrin snubber, you've only got about 2-1/2" till the axle makes contact with the snubber. What happens when you hit a bridge joint or a really bad section of roads is that the truck is coming up as the trailer is coming down and very quickly you run out of suspension travel and hit that snubber.
Something has to give, and at that point it's the truck and you get a sometimes violent up/down back and forth motion in the truck.

The Airbags replace the snubber. Now, you've got almost 5" of loaded travel. More importantly, you have the ability to control the rate of compression of the suspension by how much air pressure is in the bags. That's why you want to spend the extra $$ and have an onboard compressor with the incab wireless remote. When we're in a really bad section like I10 through eastern Louisiana or i95 in South Carolina I may change pressures in the bags three or four times till I get the ride I want.

For a huge improvement in unloaded ride of the Dually, add Sulastic rear spring hangers at the same time. You won believe how much better it rides around town without the coach.

Next, if you're going to be doing a lot of traveling, make the appointment at MorRyde in Elkhart to do the IS suspension and also disc brakes if you don't have them already. You will not believe the difference both in the handling of the coach but also the ride inside the coach. Very little if anything moves around. We don't even take the coffee maker or toaster oven off the counter anymore. Over 42k miles on the suspension and zero issues or worries. Well worth the $$$$

XCMARK · 06-22-2019, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by piper guy

Gary, I would start with exactly what you just said. The single biggest change will be the Airbags on the truck. A Dually doesn't normally need the bags for weight carrying, you're doing it for suspension control.

Without the bags, and with a heavy pin weight like the RL has, when loaded if you look at the distance between the rear axle and the hard delrin snubber, you've only got about 2-1/2" till the axle makes contact with the snubber. What happens when you hit a bridge joint or a really bad section of roads is that the truck is coming up as the trailer is coming down and very quickly you run out of suspension travel and hit that snubber.
Something has to give, and at that point it's the truck and you get a sometimes violent up/down back and forth motion in the truck.

The Airbags replace the snubber. Now, you've got almost 5" of loaded travel. More importantly, you have the ability to control the rate of compression of the suspension by how much air pressure is in the bags. That's why you want to spend the extra $$ and have an onboard compressor with the incab wireless remote. When we're in a really bad section like I10 through eastern Louisiana or i95 in South Carolina I may change pressures in the bags three or four times till I get the ride I want.

For a huge improvement in unloaded ride of the Dually, add Sulastic rear spring hangers at the same time. You won believe how much better it rides around town without the coach.

Next, if you're going to be doing a lot of traveling, make the appointment at MorRyde in Elkhart to do the IS suspension and also disc brakes if you don't have them already. You will not believe the difference both in the handling of the coach but also the ride inside the coach. Very little if anything moves around. We don't even take the coffee maker or toaster oven off the counter anymore. Over 42k miles on the suspension and zero issues or worries. Well worth the $$$$

I totally agree with this list of mods to make your towing time more enjoyable . The Morryde IS II had done in March this spring I have a little over 1400 mile towing with it now , Its well worth the money and the safety factor of going to disk brakes from 7000 lb 2" x 12" drum brakes is unreal. With clean adjusted correctly It would take over 300' to stop the truck and trailer from 62~65mph now with 8000lb 13" disk brakes I can panic stop in about 180' (just about half the distance ) In heavy stop and go traffic I always had to keep a huge margin to the vehicle in front of me. Almost always would follow a 18 wheeler that was loaded just because I knew that had the same issues.

RW3951WB19 · 06-30-2019, 06:46 PM

We are at the Skowhegan/Canaan KOA for the summer. Our 2019 3951WB took a beating coming up on I-40 between Memphis and Nashville, even lost a hubcap on my 2017 F-350 dually. Have taken our Redwood to Harvey's RV near Bangor because of the paneling damage, window's separating, and about 7 other items for them to fix. Harvey's is the only Crossroad factory warranty/repair dealership in Maine. Had to threaten the Dealership with complaints to Crossroad because they do not like to work on RVs they do not sell. Crossroad referred me to them and they are listed as a factory warranty repair facility. Anyways, hope you have fun when you get here. Oh yeah, almost forgot, black flies are really bad in Maine this year. Have plenty of bug repellant.

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