Hello all.

I have to start by saying that I have lurked/searched on this forum and have learned a lot about my truck that I purchased 3 months ago. I did not know squat about diesel trucks but thanks to the wealth of knowledge here, I have learned a lot.

Now I am looking for a little advice for my truck. I purchased the truck to tow my recently purchased 5th wheel camper. It weighs in at around 10,000 lbs, depending how much stuff the lovely wife crams into it. Max weight for it is 11,200 but I know we have not reached that weight.

I am wanting to upgrade some suspension parts to better aid my towing experience. I just recently installed new shocks and am soon installing new sway bar end links as they are shot. The truck has new ball joints, a steering box brace and upgraded trac bar.

I am moving to the rear now as I do not have overload springs or a sway bar. So I am wondering if I should install a set of Firestone air bags or Helwig sway bar or maybe something else. Not looking to break the bank but am comfortable spending around $300.00.

I have noticed a bit of sway in the trailer while coasting downhill at around 70 mph. I know I probably should not be traveling that fast with the 5ver but sometimes it happens.

All tire pressure on the camper and truck are adjusted accordingly and within spec.

We are leaving for our first big trip to Michigan at the end of this month and would like to get this ironed out before then.

As always, any help is much appreciated.

Thanks

JC

 

My advice is to slow down or get a real truck or both. At least stiffen up the rear suspension and put real good rubber on it.

Swaying going downhill at high speed with a fiver is a heartbeat away from disaster.

Another thing that makes a lot of difference in handling is fifth wheel lube. Even though I have a teflon washer in mine, I use the slick snot for fifth wheels and it makes a noticeable difference in stability, especially in a cross wind.

 

I don't think the airbags will do much for sway, at least mine didn't. They actually amplified the problem, acting like trampolenes bouncing the wight back and forth. The sway bar or somesort of bump-stop extenders are needed -- if you have the 3500 overloads installed.

Check all the weights and be sure you have enough tire capacity for the axle load. I upgraded to 285/75R17 128R tires with almost 4000 lb capacity each to hold as much weight as possible. The other issue was being able to stop the load -- I vote Pacbrake exhaust brake to get everything slowing down, and be sure the electric brakes on the 5vr are adjusted properly as well as the controller. Swaying 5ver's are scary, as the load can become unstable in a hurry!

 

Thank you for your responses.

Soooo, if I buy overload springs or if I would have bought a 3500 then I could run 70-75 mph with the 5ver? Or is a Peterbilt required?

All kidding aside, I am not looking to stabilize my truck to be able to run that fast all the time. Last time we took the camper out I got some sway going downhill, to the right, at around 70mph. It was a bit scary. I lost track of my speed and it happened. My bad, I know. The rest of that trip the cruise was set at 60-65 with no problems at all. When I did not have cruise set I had my Edge CTS set to alert me when I hit 68mph.

Now, I do not think the truck should sway in that type of situation mentioned above. I have pulled my camper with my father's 2004 2500 CTD and with a friends 2005 Duramax. No sway ever with either.

This leads me to believe I need to address my truck's suspension. So I think I will try a rear sway bar first if you guys think it will be more of a benefit than bags.

I currently run 285-70-17 Toyo Open Country AT tires. They are E rated and have a payload of 3750 each.

Thanks again guys.

-Jeremy

 

Since your having sway problems, I'd go with the sway bar. My 3/4 has the factory sway bar & overloads, and no problem at all with sway.

 

I pull a double with a combined weight about what you're pulling. I wouldn't dream of pulling it without duals, but yes, a 3500 would tow that load easily and safely.

Added bonus. I've never blown a single driver off the tractor with a double pull. I don't ever want to. If and when one of the duals lets go, the other one will carry it safely and under control.

 

I installed PacBrake bags and they work great.
I then put on a set of Sulastic springs wich greatly improvedf the ride.
I then added a Helwig sway bar. It didn't do anything extra other than make it ride extremely harsh and cancelled out the Sulastics.
I took off the sway bar and sold it and i have no problems with sway and our 5er.
BUT, I rarely run over 65 (mst trailer tires are only rated for that speed I think) and I use the heck out of my PacBrake!

 

Yeah apparently DC decided not to put overloads on the 2005 2500 along with the goofy tow haul that wont lock out OD. Wish I knew then what I know now type deal....

Makes sense to get the rear sway bar so that's what I will go with first. Does anybody have a recommendation other than the Helwig?

-Jeremiah

 

So just to throw another log on my fire, I recently found out about the Timbern SES system.

These look pretty good and would seem to work well with the 5ver. I do tow a small trailer with lawn mowers twice a week and am wondering if the trailer + mowers has enough weight to engage the Timbern system....

Anybody have any input on experience with this type of situation with the Timbern system (towing two different weighted trailers)?

At this point I am trying to decide between Timberns or sway bar. Decisions, decisions

-Jeremy

EDIT: Thanks for the input Wiskey. Looks like we posted about the same time and I missed it.

 

[

I upgraded to 285/75R17 128R tires with almost 4000 lb capacity each to hold as much weight as possible. The other issue was being able to stop the load -- I vote Pacbrake exhaust brake to get everything slowing down, and be sure the electric brakes on the 5vr are adjusted properly as well as the controller. Swaying 5ver's are scary, as the load can become unstable in a hurry![/QUOTE]

I agree with zulusafari about airbags not helping sway much and going slower, but find myself going 70 sometimes.

I have airbags that came on my 2010 QC LB 3500. I carry a camper that weighs 3800# with water, propane and stuff. If I fill them too much it disengages the overload leafs and the wobble is worse. I use 30 to 40# in them.

Added Hellwig bigwig but have only driven the combo about 20 miles. Will post after next weekend, got a 150 mile trip that includes mountain passes.

I have heard good things about the Stable Loads from Torklift, would be on my truck if the OL leaf had holes in it.

Zulu, I see you are running pretty large tires, bigger than OEM. Are they on stock rims? Do they rub? Or have you had to lift the truck to go oversized?

 

I had a 97 ctd 3/4T 5spd 3.54 with airbags when we went from a 25' to this 31' 9600 gvw 5er. The 25' was a perfect match for those tall gears and it was very stable with 70 psi in the rear. The 31' felt like a rocking boat ride even with 80 in the rear tires and plenty of air in the bags - it scared me spitless on curves and winds. It didn't rock very much and the truck was still within all capacities but I just couldn't get used to that much more weight. I wanted lower gears, a QC and 6 spd but didn't really think drw was necessary. I found my 03 and wasn't thrilled about the drw but I decided they would be nice for a future 5er upgrade. I'm here to tell you... there's no way I'd go back to srw for my load and I only run 65 psi in the duals. I thought about adding a swaybar to the rear of the 3/4T but decided not to even try it. The drw made so much difference, there's no need for a swaybar. You should be inside your limits if your really at 10k and you might just be feeling the same way I did. Craig

 

I agree with zulusafari about airbags not helping sway much and going slower, but find myself going 70 sometimes.

I have airbags that came on my 2010 QC LB 3500. I carry a camper that weighs 3800# with water, propane and stuff. If I fill them too much it disengages the overload leafs and the wobble is worse. I use 30 to 40# in them.

Added Hellwig bigwig bu, and mi have only driven the combo about 20 miles. Will post after next weekend, got a 150 mile trip that includes mountain passes.

I have heard good things about the Stable Loads from Torklift, would be on my truck if the OL leaf had holes in it.

Zulu, I see you are running pretty large tires, bigger than OEM. Are they on stock rims? Do they rub? Or have you had to lift the truck to go oversized?[/QUOTE]

I used the Hummer H2 rims. No lift was required, and although they stuck out past the fender a bit, they looked awesome on the truck. I didn't like how they dropped the gear ratio, though, as the transmission would hang when running at 45-50 mph. I also missed the extra grunt. the load capacity was worth it, but all of it was an attempt to turn my 3500 SRW Mega Cab into something it just wasn't -- a long box, Crew Cab Dually. If I had saved all the money, and put it away for a bit, I probably could have done a Long-bed Mega conversion, but then I have a 1 of 1 truck, possibly not worth what I had in it, and it was pretty spendy. Then again, it was a 5.9, without all the emissions garbage, and possibly more desireable??

Back to your regularly scheduled thread... I also have two very enthusiastic thumbs up for the Pacbrake. I also liked my Pacbrake air bags, experiencing no leaks using them heavily for 2.5 years. I did get tied of the Iowa road salt attacking the electrical connections to the fill/exhaust solenoids, but that isn't Pacbrake's fault.

 

BD's got the lockout corrector for '05's. My friend has it and gives it thumb's up!

Get the Hellwig Big Wig model. It's 1 5/8" vs 1 1/8" like the standard one. Amazon.com is a good place to start. Mine was $211 to my door. My friend got his through www.autopartswarehouse.com