Do I need to level this up?

[glenwolde]

I'm new at all this. It seems to tow just fine so far, but I didn't really notice how low it was in the front until I walked away from it in a really big empty lot. I have some room to raise the hitch up. Not sure it will be enough though.

[Shane Wood]

Originally Posted by glenwolde

I'm new at all this. It seems to tow just f3ine so far, but I didn't really notice how low it was in the front until I walked away from it in a really big empty lot. I have some room to raise the hitch up. Not sure it will be enough though.

You do look low on the fro t. Also it looks like you could use more bedrail clearance. How many inches do you have from the top of the bedrail to the bottom of the trailer. You can raise your hitch up and also lower the pin box on the trailer to help raise it up.
Airbags on the back of the truck will also lift it a couple inches as it looks like the truck is low in the rear

[XCMARK]

you want 6~8" bed rail clearance at bare min. I have a soft tonoe cover that has 1" rails that clamp on the top of the factory bed caps. With 5 1/2" clearance and a mild grade change I could have the trailer belly touch the bed rails . I raised the hitch up 2" and it sits under the soft cover but high enough that I can leave the hitch in year round covered when not in use. check the owners manual for the hitch you more then likely have 3"+ you can raise the head to gain the necessary clearance and level the trailer. I would say 2" is about right to raise it.

[coloradolivin]

To me, the truck looks pretty good. As Shane and Mark said, the bed clearance is what is critical. I guess you could throw a tape on the trailer frame at the front and at the rear while you are in that lot and see what the difference is.

[r time soon]

When hitched up and on a level surface measure along the frame of your Redwood to see how far off you are. If you are too nose down you are putting more weight on the front axle and going to add to your suspension worries. I would like to have more distance between our Redwood and the bed rails on our setup. Upgraded to a F550 in October and the bed rail height is significantly higher than my old F250 with air bags. We raised the pin box one set of holes for a 2" difference and now need to raise the B&W companion up one set of holes for a 1" gain. Your truck appears to be squatting from your picture. Probably need to measure to top of wheel opening unloaded and loaded to see how bad it is squatting. I had the Firestone airbags on our previous truck and it reduced the squat a lot. Won't actually increase your towing capacity but might help leveling out your setup.

[glenwolde]

I have more bed-rail clearance than it appears in the photo. I asked an experienced guy about that and he did the "two-fists" thing and it cleared that....just.

The B&W Companion I have it set on the middle of three elevation positions so I could easily take it up some. I think I'll do a bit more considering before I go and do that. I'm a big believer in "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

I'll have it hooked up here pretty soon to take it in for some warranty work. I'll do some measuring...

Here's my weights from a CAT scale:

Truck with a full tank:

Steer Axle: 4780
Drive Axle: 3840
Gross Wt: 8620

Hitched up together they are:

Steer Axle: 4960
Drive Axle: 7000
Trailer Axle: 13180

Gross Wt: 25140

I thank you all for your assistance.

[XCMARK]

the weight difference is the front and rear axle weights on the trailer. Very little change will happen on the rear axel of the truck but the balance of the trailer on the front and rear should be almost exactly the same . Nose low will shift hundreds of pound to the front trailer axle. bed rail clearance is only a minimum , you could put the hitch up as high as possible and the pin box as low as possible as long as you don't push the over all height of the trailer past 13'-6" . I am slightly nose high at 13'-4 1/2" over all , I can get any lower to the bed rails unless it never see unlevel ground.


also your weights are close to where mine crossed the scales last month. 2015 RL38 with a GMC crew 4x4
steer 4970
drive 7800


trailer 13830


I would guess the difference is fuel and water and morride added steel

[xtasee]

My opinion is to change the Companion height first. It is easy to do and will not change your towing experience. It will only make about 1.5" difference in the height from that center setting. That could make a difference 30+ feet back at the rear of the Redwood. It certainly is a very easy thing to try with no downside. You can always change it back if you don't like it.

BTW my companion is set at Max Height with a Chevy Duramax. That said I also have Airbags and inflate them to 45-50 lbs. The difference in the ride with the bags is significant.

[glenwolde]

Originally Posted by xtasee

My opinion is to change the Companion height first. It is easy to do and will not change your towing experience. It will only make about 1.5" difference in the height from that center setting. That could make a difference 30+ feet back at the rear of the Redwood. It certainly is a very easy thing to try with no downside. You can always change it back if you don't like it.

BTW my companion is set at Max Height with a Chevy Duramax. That said I also have Airbags and inflate them to 45-50 lbs. The difference in the ride with the bags is significant.

That's where I think I'll start. I've been fooling around with the airbags too but haven't put the pressure up that high. But it didn't seem like what I did made all that much difference. Quite possibly because I didn't go far enough.

[RWJSIM2003]

I bet all you need to do is up the pressure in your Airbags. You don't look to nose down. You can most likely get the nose up a 1 or 2 by adding air to bags. Our air bags are between 45-50 PSI most of the time when towing.

[XCMARK]

45-55 psi I my air bags works for every crap road I drove on in March going to Morryde. Never bottomed out the truck but the trailer broke a wet bolt before I go there ! I set the airbags so the truck is just about to come off the helper spring perch , just like the trucks sits with a light load in the bed .