Heavy Hauling Need Suspension Opinions

Hello Everyone,

I am in a predicament with my truck and the towing capabilities. I have a 2016 Limited Tundra, with a 4" rough country lift, I have an add-a-leaf in the rear also not a block, so that's a plus, but I just purchased a new tractor that will be towed from time to time with this truck. I have a buddy that swears by these Sumo Springs, He tows a 10,000lb tractor like I will be doing soon also, and also tows a 3-horse trailer w/ living quarters loaded as well. Anyone on here running these? or should I consider some type of bag lift? I have a buddy that specializes in bag lifts. Any opinions or help here is great. UPDATE: The tractor weighs around 6,500lbs



The truck squats terribly when the trailer is loaded due to the way the trailer is set up, it is a full metal deck trailer with a slight roll from the first axle back to the tail. Just my wonder here but does anyone also know if there are different rated leaf spring packs for these trucks according to what package it is?

 

You could buy you hitch with load level bars i tow 8000 lbs camper no issues 800 lbs tonge weight .

 

I plan on doing on-board air anyways but the funds are a little tight right now after the tractor purchase so I think bags is probably my easiest option but I don't know forsure.

 

I tow a 8,000lbs trailer with my Tundra and towed a 6,000lbs car trailer with my Dodge Ram 1500. One both vehicles I had Firestone Ride-Rite airbags in the rear. On the Tundra, I also added a weight distribution hitch. I have to say, I could not be happier. The truck tows as if nothing is behind it, no bouncing, and no sag at all. Others have mentioned they can get away with just a good WDH but I have yet to see that and not have any bounce or sagging. My friend had helper springs and towed his 7,000lbs trailer just fine but had quite a bit of sag and bounce. Here is my Tundra with the trailer and additional camping gear in the bed. I love the face that I can set my WDH and then use the airbags to level out if needed.

 

Airbags will level your truck, but put more total weight on your rear axle. Could get better leaf springs too. The stock ones are a little flat and seem to sag easily. I’d say anything over 5k lbs needs a WDH, or would greatly benefit from one.

 

That won’t improve your towing Characteristics


Watch this to better understand why weight distribution is a solution.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XBZu39pQ8Gg&list=PL6cJmw2PdPqaXCUoZDEkuVpSoO3YrKsQ6&index=35&t=591s

also be aware of how lite duty the tundra is with its curb weight and GVRW (7200). You should focus more on hitch weight adding to the trucks cargo weight.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qwFLOBrADBs&list=PL6cJmw2PdPqaXCUoZDEkuVpSoO3YrKsQ6&index=31&t=0s

 

Good points there

regarding airbags and leaf packs and bumpstops.....

i had firestone airbags and hated the way they handled weight. HATED THEM. Rough ride when aired up.

I had timbren SES bumpstops and they were phenomenal. Later paired them with heavy duty Old Man Emu leaf pack and it was a perfect setup for me with my slide-in camper and for towing.

 

Tractor weighs 6500 lbs? How much does your trailer weigh?

 

It's so funny how people have completely different experiences. I absolutely LOVE my airbags. I think what it comes down to is personal preference and what your personal requirements are.

 

Trailer is somewhere around 2,000lb Id say, don't really know honestly. Im not too much worried about a WDH. Im coming from a dodge ram 2500 which road and drove like a road wagon and weighed out around 7,200 on the scales. I know the tundra has the pulling power, not worried about that. the only thing I want to fix is the sag of the rear end. I don't load cargo weight much just me and a few tools here and there, so not trying to overkill this either with new leaf packs I enjoy the unloaded ride quality.

 

With 8500 lbs of trailer behind, tongue weight might be something like 800ish lbs? Add passengers and gear, plus all of your mods.... Just be aware of payload issues on these truck. Tundras are really weak in that area. Doesn't take much to get up over your GVWR - especially with the CrewMax model. Yeah, the 5.7 pulls well - but the truck can't carry much at all.

 

My guess is that you have too much tongue weight on the hitch.

Can you move the tractor back away from the hitch on the trailer so as to reduce the tongue weight?

If you want to DIY to measure tongue weight, get one of these: https://www.etrailer.com/Tools/Sherline/5780.html

BTW - is your tractor green?

 

Tongue weight should be 9-15% of total weight of trailer plus load or you will run the risk of the trailer pushing the rear end of the truck around and could lead to a jack knife.

 

‘There is a huge difference between the sticker rating on the door and Toyota’s capabilities. They will handle much more than you think. Before you spend a bunch of money load her up and see how she rides/stops and tows.

 

Sigh. Typical 'Merica response. Do you know exactly where that threshold is? I've said it before. The sticker rating is there for a reason - to build safety into the system. Instead of retyping it - I'll just quote myself from another thread:

They are called factors of safety. Engineers use them to help prevent the unexpected. Manufacturing defects, changes in material quality, assembly errors, blah, blah, blah, blah. So you are correct - the truck can "handle" more than the advertised or rated load. That is how they design it. With a (sometimes large) factor of safety built in. That keeps things safe. That keeps people from dying. You never know when you might have something go wrong at a steel processing plant that creates abnormalities in grain sizes, excess precipitates or contaminants, heat treatment errors, etc - that causes a relatively serious degradation in the strength of the material. You never know when a welding process might suffer some type of systemic issue that allows some seams to go through with weaker properties. Etc, etc, etc. They test these things regularly and do catch a lot of things that come up with processing. But, they don't test all of them, and they don't catch all of them. I have worked in industry as a Mechanical Engineer in a production environment - things slip by from time to time. Recalls happen, but still.... That is one of the reasons factors of safety are built into the design. Because people and processes fuck up.

But, people will always continue to believe that their truck can "handle more" and load the shit out of them because they have too much stupid pride wrapped up in their truck. Most of the time it is just fine and nothing bad happens. But every once in a while an accident occurs and people's lives change in an instant.

Sorry. Hot button for me.

 

Wouldn't own it if it wasn't!

 

Prior to this tractor I had a john deere 3032e (3,000lbs roughly) and loaded with a bush hog you have use the whole trailer deck other wise hanging in the road. When loaded like this it increases tongue weight, which increases the sagging of the truck. I just need extra support for these scenarios.

 

I would definitely take it all to the scales and get some measurements. Overall weight, tongue weight, trailer empty weight etc. As long as you stick inside of the sticker numbers, you should be fine. They have built in buffers to try to eliminate risk and accidents from occurring.

someone (@Atomic City Tundra) correct me if i'm wrong, but don't lifts reduce towing capacity?

 

Anything that you add to the truck that adds weight increases your curb weight, which reduces the amount of weight you can put on before meeting your GVWR. Similar situation for towing and for GCWR. So, from that standpoint - yes, they typically do reduce towing/payload capacity (unless the lift you put on is the same weight as the stuff you replace).

Now, what different springs/shocks do to your towing capacity? That's a hard one. None of the lift kits that I have put on vehicles have said anything like "maintains payload/towing rating". In fact, they usually have some CYA statement like: "for off-road use only", which translates to "if you get in an accident out on the highway caused by our stuff, it isn't our fault".

 

Sweet!!!

Looks like a nice new 4000 series.

I have an older JD 3520 that I trailer with a car hauler and a Tacoma. The 3520 has been a great tractor.

I use a tongue weight scale to find the best location of the tractor on the trailer so as to get the tongue weight on the hitch within spec. for the Taco. I use a weight distribution hitch to help distribute the load. This hitch makes a huge difference with the Taco handling and safety.

Am considering an upgrade to a Tundra...

Enjoy your green machine!

 

Exactamando !!!

DOT doesn't give a rats ass what suspension you have rigged up or airbags you have installed or what they might be rated for. They go strickly by your axel weight rating, GVWR and what the placard inside your door jam reads. If you're numbers are off, game over and get ready to bent over no lube.

The worse is if you get someone hurt or killed god forbid as result of negligence, man oh man ......

Ofcourse the truck can pull a shit load. No one is disputing that. Look, I can drive with my feet, but that doesn't make it a good idea