Towing at the limit of the Tremor

[Rebel12]

So, what’s better at the limit? RAS or air bags?

 

[BoostKing]

The one thing I did not like about my Timbrens was sometimes going over dips in the road they would bottom out easily. I adjusted the spacer size to make a little more room, but then the back end would drop pretty far on larger loads. It seemed I was not finding a good balance between daily driving and them actually helping.

Bags have pretty large adjustment and will not feel harsh until you get down to the internal jounce bumpers (bump stop).

 

[Rebel12]

The one thing I did not like about my Timbrens was sometimes going over dips in the road they would bottom out easily. I adjusted the spacer size to make a little more room, but then the back end would drop pretty far on larger loads. It seemed I was not finding a good balance between daily driving and them actually helping.

Bags have pretty large adjustment and will not feel harsh until you get down to the internal jounce bumpers (bump stop).

Let me know how your install went, and the results with towing your boat. I’m leaning towards the same setup with my stock suspension. Is yours stock?

 

[BoostKing]

My suspension is stock. I have the Bilstein 5100 to go on the front for a level, just haven't put them on yet.

I got the bags in place last night but I ran out of time to get the compressor hooked up. Maybe tonight I can get that install finished. I won't have the new boat until the end of the month. I have a 3 hour tow home so I'm sure to have some feedback after that.

 

[Rebel12]

Thank you!

 

[Rebel12]

I’m not doing any serious off road, but after doing some light reading, seems like it might be a good idea to put some better rear shocks on as well. Again, planning to occasionally tow 10k boat less than 50 miles. Thinking of pairing the Airlift 5000’s with the rear Eibach Pro’s, and stock front. This should improve daily road ride without being too firm, and beef up the backend for the additional tongue weight.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[Rebel12]

I've read as much as I can handle on suspension mods. The problem I'm having is that most of the suspension mods are done for cosmetics or off road, that's not what I'm doing. I've learned the front lift can be counter productive if I'm trying to keep a level rear while towing and look good while doing it - the Tremor rake actually will help with that. So maybe, I don't need a front lift, but just need to improve the stock rear shocks since they seem to be useless, and then prevent tongue weight sag using airbags. All of this of course while maintaining the stock ride.

With that in mind......maybe I should consider the Bilstein 5100 rear shocks paired with the airbags? If there is anyone out there with similar setup, I'd like to hear from you.

 

[Aandrews109]

I've read as much as I can handle on suspension mods. The problem I'm having is that most of the suspension mods are done for cosmetics or off road, that's not what I'm doing. I've learned the front lift can be counter productive if I'm trying to keep a level rear while towing and look good while doing it - the Tremor rake actually will help with that. So maybe, I don't need a front lift, but just need to improve the stock rear shocks since they seem to be useless, and then prevent tongue weight sag using airbags. All of this of course while maintaining the stock ride.

With that in mind......maybe I should consider the Bilstein 5100 rear shocks paired with the airbags? If there is anyone out there with similar setup, I'd like to hear from you.

I don’t have Air Bags, but do have 5100s on the rear.
Ride is pretty close to the same as stock when not loaded. They may be a little more firm, but nothing harsh.
When pulling my Travel Trailer with WDH, they dampen much better than the stock shocks.
The 5100s did exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Rebel12]

I don’t have Air Bags, but do have 5100s on the rear.
Ride is pretty close to the same as stock when not loaded. They may be a little more firm, but nothing harsh.
When pulling my Travel Trailer with WDH, they dampen much better than the stock shocks.
The 5100s did exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you for the feedback.

 

[CMar]

I don’t have Air Bags, but do have 5100s on the rear.
Ride is pretty close to the same as stock when not loaded. They may be a little more firm, but nothing harsh.
When pulling my Travel Trailer with WDH, they dampen much better than the stock shocks.
The 5100s did exactly what I was looking for.

What are you towing? Weight and tongue weight if you happen to know it. Also, did you try anything else before going with the 5100s?

 

[Aandrews109]

What are you towing? Weight and tongue weight if you happen to know it. Also, did you try anything else before going with the 5100s?

Copied from my earlier post in this thread. I went with 5100’s from prior experience on a ‘13 F-150 Super Crew.

‘23 Tremor, 2” ReadyLift level, stock rear, about 1 1/2” taller in rear unloaded.
Pulling a 26’ TT (dry 4,700 / loaded 7,000) Curt 2P LL Hitch rated at 10,000 lbs. / 1,000 tongue weight. Trailer is about 650 Tongue weight loaded.
Running almost completely level when towing.
No issues at all and truck pulls it well with no sway.
Just pulled from Florida to New Mexico, lots of wind in west Texas on I-10. You can tell there is wind blowing, but never any feeling of loss of control.

Hope this helps

 

[CMar]

Copied from my earlier post in this thread. I went with 5100’s from prior experience on a ‘13 F-150 Super Crew.

‘23 Tremor, 2” ReadyLift level, stock rear, about 1 1/2” taller in rear unloaded.
Pulling a 26’ TT (dry 4,700 / loaded 7,000) Curt 2P LL Hitch rated at 10,000 lbs. / 1,000 tongue weight. Trailer is about 650 Tongue weight loaded.
Running almost completely level when towing.
No issues at all and truck pulls it well with no sway.
Just pulled from Florida to New Mexico, lots of wind in west Texas on I-10. You can tell there is wind blowing, but never any feeling of loss of control.

Hope this helps

Very helpful! Did you do any towing with it before the upgrade?

 

[Aandrews109]

Very helpful! Did you do any towing with it before the upgrade?

Yes I did. Towing with the factory shocks it took some time to settle when going over dips in the road and/or bumps. With the 5100’s it settles quickly and handling is much better. No complaints.

 

[roxbury29]

So, what’s better at the limit? RAS or air bags?

I only know from a few friends who have had both. I am going with RAS - no maintenance and multi-purpose. I know Air bags work great and need maintenance. I will be installing my RAS and likely some bilstein 5100 rear-shocks this week. Will be towing a TT soon.

 

[CMar]

I only know from a few friends who have had both. I am going with RAS - no maintenance and multi-purpose. I know Air bags work great and need maintenance. I will be installing my RAS and likely some bilstein 5100 rear-shocks this week. Will be towing a TT soon.

I had the RAS setup and towed about 3-4k miles with it within a month or so.
Within a short time I was noticing rust and developed a squeak over every little bump. Additionally it raised the rear quite a bit. Towing felt much better than stock to be fair. Had it not squeaked I probably would have just lifted the front to get over the rear being even higher.

 

[Rebel12]

I only know from a few friends who have had both. I am going with RAS - no maintenance and multi-purpose. I know Air bags work great and need maintenance. I will be installing my RAS and likely some bilstein 5100 rear-shocks this week. Will be towing a TT soon.

I'm also leaning towards the Billsteins to start with. I might have missed it though, what maintenance is required with the airbags? Thank you for the input!

 

[Rebel12]

I had the RAS setup and towed about 3-4k miles with it within a month or so.
Within a short time I was noticing rust and developed a squeak over every little bump. Additionally it raised the rear quite a bit. Towing felt much better than stock to be fair. Had it not squeaked I probably would have just lifted the front to get over the rear being even higher.

That is definitely a lot more rake, I didn't know that the RAS lifted the rear......thank you for the input!

 

[roxbury29]

I'm also leaning towards the Billsteins to start with. I might have missed it though, what maintenance is required with the airbags? Thank you for the input!

Not 100% sure, was told general maintenance. Checking lines, fitting, pressure, excessive wear on components. Where the RAS - install, set and forget Also the RAS helps with sway control too. Plan on installing them as soon as my new Bilstein rear shocks show up. Figured might as well change the factory ones out too

 

[roxbury29]

I am not 100% convinced I should proceed with the Travel Trailer I was looking at....
Looked at some new 2025 F150-Tremors they have a lower CCC ( only 1300-1400 ) at least on the one's I looked at.

My Tremor 402A is just over 1500lbs.(CCC)
The trailer has a dry hitch 800lbs.
adding propane, battery, and WDH ( might add 200-250pounds )
100pounds of tools, plus 2 little dogs(15 each), my wife(110) and myself(180)
nearly 1350-1400+ without any food or luggage...

Thinking if I hold onto my Tremor to look for something around 500-600 max hitch...
not worried about the trailer weight as much, I think everything we looked at was under 8000Gross

 

[McCarthy]

I am not 100% convinced I should proceed with the Travel Trailer I was looking at....
Looked at some new 2025 F150-Tremors they have a lower CCC ( only 1300-1400 ) at least on the one's I looked at.

My Tremor 402A is just over 1500lbs.(CCC)
The trailer has a dry hitch 800lbs.
adding propane, battery, and WDH ( might add 200-250pounds )
100pounds of tools, plus 2 little dogs(15 each), my wife(110) and myself(180)
nearly 1350-1400+ without any food or luggage...

Thinking if I hold onto my Tremor to look for something around 500-600 max hitch...
not worried about the trailer weight as much, I think everything we looked at was under 8000Gross

Depends on the options. 25 401 is 1600+.