Hey all,
Towing first time with the 295/70/17 Terra Grapplers. I tow a 20x7 Utility trailer with a Polaris Ranger and two Sportsman ATVs. trailer is 1700lbs and not sure how much each ATV is. My guess is it's around 3000lbs total for trailer and ATVs. My truck runs loose and has a little porpising(spelling) and steering is very touchy. I know the Terras are D rated. Will this be something I have to live with or will something like helper springs or the air bags help my problem. I literally have to have hands at 10 and 2 and eyes wide open and to the front to keep everything straight and on the road, compared to the stockers that ran solid and true and comfortable.

thanks for any help, Jamie

 

It mite be a tongue weight problem and not the tires. Thats sure what it sounds like. Try loading more weight in the front of the trailer and see how that fills.

 

The ranger goes to the front of the trailer(toward the truck) and the two 4wheelers go toward the rear. The truck squats down enough to see that the front is higher than the rear. Your saying to try to take some tongue weight off the truck?

 

Are the tires up to presure.

 

D rated tires=spongy ride while towing.

I wish I had gone with E rated tires instead of my BFG 315's...I think it is the D rated tires that is giving you the spongy feeling mine does it too, but not as bad as my 01 with 35" MTRs (D rated)

 

I also think it is tongue weight and balance. Use a scale maybe even a bath room scale and measure the weight at the same height as the trailer is hooked up. On a small bass boat I need 150 pounds on the tongue are else I am all over the place. I think when your trailer is loaded it is back heavy.

just my 2 cents

 

Your truck squats. You need air bags. Bags will make your truck level and might eliminate the porpoising and the touchy steering, but I suppose those good looking tires contribute also. Why do you think truck manufacturers deliver trucks with the rear higher than the front? With a load, they want the rear no lower than the front for proper steering.

What were you thinking when you bought D tires? Didn't E tires come on the truck new, and are specified in the owner's manual? D tires are for 1/2 ton trucks used to carry a TV back from the store, not for a loaded CTD. D tires are not heavy duty.

OEM shocks are notoriously poor. They are designed to deliver an impressive test ride at the dealer with an empty truck, and not much more. They wear out in less than 30,000 miles. A loaded truck's need for suspension damping is different than an empty truck, especially the rear axle, an empty CTD needs almost no damping in the back and more than standard in the front. A set of Rancho 9000 shocks can be adjusted for an empty truck or a loaded truck. Since weight on the front axle doesn't change much, Bilsteins in the front (which I have read on this forum are excellent) and Rancho in the rear for adjustability might be a good setup. With your load it seems that the trailer tongue weight actually lightens your front axle, so with Ranchos you might dial them down (?).

My truck does not have the camper package with overload springs so I compensate with air bags and I don't have to suffer the harsh empty ride. With my camper loaded I like to turn my front Ranchos up a notch and the rear up all the way, with it off I adjust the front to the middle setting and the rear down low (and deflate the air bags). Great ride both ways, no steering problems, sway is not bad but I am thinking about a Helwig sway bar. When I bought my camper I hauled it home on this truck without airbags and the truck squatted so badly and steered badly and looked and felt so dangerous that I got airbags and Ranchos right away. Happy camper.

All of the shock adjusting and air bag fussing and tire inflating and deflating (I always use PSI appropriate for the load) is a royal pain, but the result is pleasant driving and increased safety.

 

[QUOTE=Rare1;1516300]
What were you thinking when you bought D tires? Didn't E tires come on the truck new, and are specified in the owner's manual? D tires are for 1/2 ton trucks used to carry a TV back from the store, not for a loaded CTD. D tires are not heavy duty.QUOTE]

Tell it like it is, bro.

 

Too harsh? The easiest way to degrade a CTD to the level of a 1/2 ton chevy is to install D tires.

 

I put Cs on my last 3/4T hoping for a better ride and they still had more than enough capacity for anything I hauled, at that time. There was hardly a noticable improvement - I'll never do it again! Craig

 

Junk the "D" rated tires. Replace them with "E"'s and max them out when hauling or towing. Put some Bilsteins,through Geno's on it also. Upon removing the stock shocks,I found them to be hopelessly inadequate for such a heavy truck. They're designed to smooth out the unladen ride to get your signature on the purchase agreement.

 

I appreciate your passionate response and do agree that air bags may help. I have run the 315 BFGs and the 315 Cooper tires loaded and unloaded, and they did not do the above mentioned symptoms. My previous experiences with these two D rated tires is why I went with the "good looking tires" of the Terragrapplers. When these wear out I will go back to an E rated tire if I can't resolve my current symptoms.

One thing I failed to do when I towed this weekend was air up the rear tires. I'll do that next time before making any drastic changes.
I also fully agree with the poor quality of oem shocks and plan to install the 5100 series Bilstiens when I can afford them.

Thanks for the help...I think.

Jamie

 

If your trucks squating that much, then the tongue weight mite be OK, and it could be to much. ??
But after thinking about it, the tires are very suspect.
Do you have any kind of weight distributions system ?? or just hooked up to the ball?
There's nothing worst then a bad trailer setup. And if the tires are no good too, your asking for trouble.

 

Hooked up to the ball. Truck pulled fine with the oem tires. All three atvs can't be that heavy. As I posted earlier the weight of my trailer and 3atvs is minimal to what these trucks can do.