Desperate for airbags or something to eliminate rear sag

@Mattedfred, what kind of tongue weight are you seeing with the bigfoot?

 

Under 800 lbs when loaded.

 

Weight Distributing Hitch for the travel trailers. RAS road active suspension upgrade will get rid of the sag for most loads. They are in Charlotte NC and ship anywhere. It is adjustable.

 

The RAS could work well on 2021's and earlier but the Gen 3 coils are different.

@Mattedfred made a great point to start with a WDH and then go from there, then try airbags if you still need some lift in the rear.

You could add taller coils to the back too but that would affect the everyday use of the truck where as airbags could be deflated when not needed.

 

I plan on flipping the trailer axles. It sits real low as it is. My drop hitch isnt adjustable

 

No scales around here

 

I think the "Spring Over" idea is cool if you plan on taking this overland but if it were me, I would get a lower drop shank for your hitch so the trailer can run level and then get the truck to sit as level as possible using a WDH.

I had a spring over setup in my Samurai many years ago and while the added lift was great, it made the ride very squishy. The forces on the springs change and ended up with springs breaking.

My trailer has a 3" lift where the steel blocks add the height but the suspension is a torsion system in the axle so no springs. The blocks go between the frame and the axle mount. I also have a 6" drop shank with positions every inch which makes for easy adjustments.

Keep us posted on your progress!

 

It is interesting how much higher they make trailers now. I remember my parents trailer in 97 and the 2020 i have now needs more steps to enter than the old one

 

I see some trailers out there that sit nice and high.

My 2019 Airstream was soo low that we would drag the rear frame coming out of the driveway. I added the 3" lift so I could get it parked and not tear off the plumbing that is hanging very low!

I added larger tires last year and raised it up another ~1". I went with 10 ply Falkens (trailer is a single axle so not too much sheer forces on these tires).

I was worried about it becoming too tippy and sloppy in the wind but the lift hasn't made a difference at all.

We just have to bring a portable step to fill the gap to the main step.

 

Flipping the axles on the trailer wont use blocks. It just flips so the leaf springs will be on top and still sit on the flat perch thats already there. We camp out in the off road mountains so flipping will def be a + also bringing it up to match truck. Im pretty sure ill pick up a wdh also. Theres one near me for cheap

 

Yeah flipping axles have been done since I was a kid also. My dad has done it a few times just to match the height of the truck and those were 5th wheels

 

I was worried about towing our camper with a 3rd Gen Tundra, so test drove the camper with my friend’s Tundra first. It towed just as level as my F150, but with seemingly less effort. I towed my camper ~2500 miles this past month with my new Tundra thru the Appalachians to SC. No issues… Level too.
(The parking lot had a crown to it so it looks a bit goofy.)
I’m surmising folks are not setting WD up correctly.

 

Just wondering, but for you guys that knew you’d be towing etc, why didn’t you get the Toyota oem air bag system ?

 

We didn’t have the choice when we got ours. Very limited choice back when we got ours. And not a choice to add anything to the trim. We would have had to take a plat or higher to get air bags and but they weren’t coming up.

 

I thought you could get the oem system down to a sr5, no?

 

We don’t get the configuration options that you get down there.

Wish we did!

 

Yes you can but actually finding one equipped like that was like me trying to find a DC 2wd longbed. Dam unicorns...

 

Bummer , it’s a great system

 

That's exactly the truck I want... I would take air bags off my truck now and put them on that one...

 

I thought about it, but after calling BlueOx ta ask about setting up WD with air bags, they said that airbags reduce the amount of stress on the WD and thus reduce the effectiveness of the sway control. It makes sense to me so after towing with my friend’s truck (w/o air bags) I was sold. I did, however, specifically look for the TRD Off-road pkg because it has dual rate coil springs and monotube shocks…. Again, exactly as my friend’s truck had.

 

Continuously adjusting airbags does present an issue with the wdh, as you dial it in the truck will keep adjusting the psi so it will probably take a lot longer

 

Here's an example working on right now getting this hooked up and adjusted for the first time. First trip leaving tomorrow, flat trip we are going east. I have a Sherline scale but have not weighed it recently, should be at 900 lbs with the propane. Will put it on the scale and add water. Was going to stay stock as much as possible, but going west I see a trans cooler in the future (sigh).

 

Sort of regret not getting it since it'd probably be perfect for our little 20 foot Escape, but even looking at inventory now, it seems impossible to find a Platinum with AVS available anywhere nearby anyway.

 

When it malfunctions, will the truck be squatted to the ground even if the truck is unloaded? It's happened to plenty of Ram/Jeep vehicles along with GM SUVs.

I would only opt for an OEM airbag system if it supplements coil springs or leaf springs.

 

Bingo

 

this isn't ram jeep or GM though, Toyota (Aisin) has used this for a long time, its proven, but to each their own. It works awesome for me so far, but respect the opposing viewpoint.

 

I agree that Toyota will probably execute it better than most, but I believe the airbag-only design has it's inherent weaknesses over a longer time period. It's only a matter of time before those problems show up.

I also think that well matched/tuned leaf spring/coil spring setups can function pretty well and should not be unbearably harsh either.

 

I think the chances are really low (no pun intended). Everything is hooked up with the factory bags in the level/ neutral position, and the self leveling turned off. Once that’s all done, and the truck is turned on, the compressor turns on and re-levels the truck. If there was a failure (electronic control or air compressor), the bags still have air and the sag before leveling is minimal. If the bags pop or leak, that seems really unlikely, but it could happen.

 

Edit: added a little bit of air from the neutral position, then hooked up the camper, then self leveling doesn’t have to work as hard when turned back on.

 

So I had a look at Toyota.ca to see if things have changed since we got ours.

To get the Advanced package with air levelling. We wound need to pick at least a Platinum Hybrid.

So or us Canucks, we would be limited to 3 trims, Platinum, 1794 and Capstone all of which are hybrids.