Total newbie here, but my husband and I have been wracking our brains trying to find answers to this problem and neither of us seems to be finding anything definitive--so I thought I might as for other people's opinions since my brain feels like it's about to explode from information overload. Also, I apologize in advance if this is long; I'm a writer and don't know how to keep things short. ;-)
We have a 2016 4WD F150 Supercrew. Max tow package.
When we first got it we were generally pulling a standard flat bed trailer, 16', usually with a Polaris Ranger and deer feed on it. So nowhere near max weight reached. But every time the truck would feel like it was seesawing or porpoising, but it wasn't enough to make feel like I couldn't control it--I would just watch my speed and slow down if necessary (we do a lot of driving in the Texas Hill Country), which is a PITA but whatever.
Last year we moved (from Austin to north Texas), and pulled a UHaul box trailer behind it. Anyone who knows anything about Texas weather--especially in this part of the state--knows that it can be windy. But that day it wasn't THAT windy, and yet that UHaul was swaying all over the road, to the point where I lost my back end a few times. I've been towing for a while, and that's the first time I can ever recall that happening. And I was probably going 55 in a 70, just to give you an idea on speed. By the time we got to our new house I kind of wished I had some Xanax, but was definitely considering breaking into the wine (once I found it and unpacked it).
Moving onto acreage, though, we needed a tractor. So we bought a small tractor. Which necessitated a larger trailer that could handle said tractor since our previous flatbed was not rated for that much weight. The truck doesn't even pull the empty trailer that well, but it's also pretty long so I figured that was the issue. But then we hauled the tractor from our place to my in-laws'--basically across the metroplex, mostly on 377 and I-20 (again, for those of you familiar with Texas, just to give you an idea of what the driving conditions were like)--and it porpoised the entire time. We have a WD hitch, which we installed according to manufacturer's instructions. The tractor was loaded so as to evenly distribute the weight as much as possible on the trailer. But I have never felt more unsafe driving down I-20 through the DFW metroplex (and this was not during rush hour).
So now we're faced with a bunch of questions. We're about to get livestock (goats), which will mean hauling a livestock trailer with animals that don't stay completely still. We own land down on the border that we need to take our tractor down to for sendero clearing and general land maintenance. We have the Ranger that we haul back and forth (this is about a 5.5 hour trip, FWIW). Not to mention feed (for our livestock here and the deer for hunting down on the border), water (we haul a 325 gallon water tank from the public well to our hunting cabin 2-3x multiple times a year), and anything else that might come up (as it does when you own land and animals). Basically, we're not pulling a TT a handful of times a year. We just bought this truck in May of 2017, and when we don't have to tow or haul heavy loads in the bed it's great (if we get deer feed and put it in the bed the lights will end up pointing towards the sky, but we also know that we're getting close to maxing it out at that point). And up until this year we weren't having to do *that* much towing so it was manageable.
We've looked at airbags but from what we've read they're kind of a crapshoot in that they work for some and not for others. We haven't weighed anything on a CAT scale, but I do have pics of stickers! Basically, we're trying to figure out if we can do what we need to do with what we have (with modifications and tweaking, obviously), or if we just need to bite the bullet and move up to 3/4 ton. Any input/advice is appreciated. TIA!
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Trailer info:
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The trailer itself:
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We have a 2016 4WD F150 Supercrew. Max tow package.
When we first got it we were generally pulling a standard flat bed trailer, 16', usually with a Polaris Ranger and deer feed on it. So nowhere near max weight reached. But every time the truck would feel like it was seesawing or porpoising, but it wasn't enough to make feel like I couldn't control it--I would just watch my speed and slow down if necessary (we do a lot of driving in the Texas Hill Country), which is a PITA but whatever.
Last year we moved (from Austin to north Texas), and pulled a UHaul box trailer behind it. Anyone who knows anything about Texas weather--especially in this part of the state--knows that it can be windy. But that day it wasn't THAT windy, and yet that UHaul was swaying all over the road, to the point where I lost my back end a few times. I've been towing for a while, and that's the first time I can ever recall that happening. And I was probably going 55 in a 70, just to give you an idea on speed. By the time we got to our new house I kind of wished I had some Xanax, but was definitely considering breaking into the wine (once I found it and unpacked it).
Moving onto acreage, though, we needed a tractor. So we bought a small tractor. Which necessitated a larger trailer that could handle said tractor since our previous flatbed was not rated for that much weight. The truck doesn't even pull the empty trailer that well, but it's also pretty long so I figured that was the issue. But then we hauled the tractor from our place to my in-laws'--basically across the metroplex, mostly on 377 and I-20 (again, for those of you familiar with Texas, just to give you an idea of what the driving conditions were like)--and it porpoised the entire time. We have a WD hitch, which we installed according to manufacturer's instructions. The tractor was loaded so as to evenly distribute the weight as much as possible on the trailer. But I have never felt more unsafe driving down I-20 through the DFW metroplex (and this was not during rush hour).
So now we're faced with a bunch of questions. We're about to get livestock (goats), which will mean hauling a livestock trailer with animals that don't stay completely still. We own land down on the border that we need to take our tractor down to for sendero clearing and general land maintenance. We have the Ranger that we haul back and forth (this is about a 5.5 hour trip, FWIW). Not to mention feed (for our livestock here and the deer for hunting down on the border), water (we haul a 325 gallon water tank from the public well to our hunting cabin 2-3x multiple times a year), and anything else that might come up (as it does when you own land and animals). Basically, we're not pulling a TT a handful of times a year. We just bought this truck in May of 2017, and when we don't have to tow or haul heavy loads in the bed it's great (if we get deer feed and put it in the bed the lights will end up pointing towards the sky, but we also know that we're getting close to maxing it out at that point). And up until this year we weren't having to do *that* much towing so it was manageable.
We've looked at airbags but from what we've read they're kind of a crapshoot in that they work for some and not for others. We haven't weighed anything on a CAT scale, but I do have pics of stickers! Basically, we're trying to figure out if we can do what we need to do with what we have (with modifications and tweaking, obviously), or if we just need to bite the bullet and move up to 3/4 ton. Any input/advice is appreciated. TIA!
Trailer info:
The trailer itself:
