Update 1/3/2025

As some of you have pointed out to me, I have not kept up on this blog as I had intended. I am in the process of fixing that by adding posts about things we did in the last six months. I am going to be putting them in chronological order To make it easier to see new posts I will keep this entry at the top and list the latest postings below. Once I am caught up I will delete this page.

You can see where we have been and our most recent position on this map.

 

Post Title	Post Date	Date Added
Air Springs for the Truck	3 Jan 2025	3 Jan 2025
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Huntington Beach	24 Nov 2024	1 Jan 2025
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Palm Springs	12 Nov 2024	31 Dec 2024
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Joshua Tree	6 Nov 2024	29 Dec 2024
Lake Havasu	5 Nov 2024	29 Dec 2024
Las Vegas	31 Oct 2024	29 Dec 2024
Death Valley	29 Oct 2024	29 Dec 2024
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US-95	27 Oct 2024	28 Dec 2024
The Loneliest Road	27 Oct 2024	28 Dec 2024
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Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park	26 Oct 2024	20 Dec 2024
Delta	18 Oct 2024	20 Dec 2024
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Vineyard	17 Oct 2024	18 Dec 2024
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Leaving Idaho	16 Oct 2024	16 Dec 2024
Boise	14 Oct 2024	16 Dec 2024
Massacre Rocks	2 Oct 2024	16 Dec 2024
Soda Springs	1 Oct 2024	16 Dec 2024
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Sawtooth Mountains	10 Oct 2024	15 Dec 2024
Bear Lake North	1 Oct 2024	15 Dec 2024
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North western Utah	30 Sep 2024	14 Dec 2024
Bear River Bird Sanctuary	29 Sep 2024	14 Dec 2024
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Promontory Summit	28 Sep 2024	13 Dec 2024
Salt Lake City	27 Sep 2024	13 Dec 2024
Ogden River Scenic Byway	26 Sep 2024	13 Dec 2024
Ogden River Parkway Trail	25 Sep 2024	13 Dec 2024
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Northern Nevada	24 Sep 2024	12 Dec 2024
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Truckee River	11 Sep 2024	11 Dec 2024
Lake Tahoe	10 Sep 2024	11 Dec 2024
Donner Lake	9 Sep 2024	10 Dec 2024
Snowflower	8 Sep 2024	9 Dec 2024

Air Springs for the Truck

I have been using a load distribution to transfer some of the load from the rear axle of the truck to the front axle of the truck and to the trailer axles.

Because of the size of my trailer I ended up with a massive hitch.  The part that gets attached to the truck weighs 70 lbs and is awkward to carry.  The two bars that act as springs exert about 500 lb each onto the trailer frame.  They bent the brackets that carry them and are slowly cutting through them.  I knew early on that this was not a permanent solution.

Hitch for 3800 lb GVWR r-pod on the left.  Hitch for 8800 lb GVWR Cougar on the right 

I looked around for other options and settled on air bags for the truck.  Whereas some smaller trucks have different towing capacities with or without a load distribution hitch, my truck has a rated tongue load of 2000 lb either way.  The trailer has a 1400 lb tongue load with a full fresh water tank.  Using truck scales I determined that the distribution hitch I was using only put about 200 lbs back on the front axle (from 4600 lb to 4800 lb). 

Given all of these factors I decided to try using air springs on the truck as a way to level the load and improve handling.  I installed them while we were in Port Townsend and after one test drive was amazed how much better the truck drove than with the load distribution hitch.

The air springs make the rear axle suspension stiffer so not only do they raise the ride height but they reduced the bouncing that occurs when you go over a bump.

There are still a few related upgraded I have in store.  I have an onboard compressor that I have not installed yet.  This will allow me to adjust the pressure more easily and provide a more convenient way to maintain correct pressure in all 10 of my tires (2 spares).  I also need to replace the massive 70 lb hitch with a much smaller, adjustable one.  That way I can level both the truck and the trailer (see below).

The air springs get installed where the jounce springs used to be.

Passenger (right) side air spring

Driver (left) side air spring

Air lines are routed to the rear bumper.  Schrader valve for manual inflation.

The pictures below show the difference the air bags make.  With 5 psi the rear of the trailer is about 2 inches higher than the front.  It doesn't look dramatic, but the difference in ride quality was striking.

With 5 psi in the air springs.

The trailer is level with 20 psi, but the truck still sags a bit.  A smaller, lighter, adjustable height hitch will solve this issue.

With 20 psi in the air springs.