WDH with airbags help

[DOFF]

Hey all,

I have a 24’ travel trailer I tow with the truck. I have the 6112s up front and a 1” block in the rear leaving me about 1/2” rake. When I tow with the WDH, truck sags a good amount but have no sway, good control, no issues other than sagging. When I load the bed it’s worse. I have the Timber Grove bags showing up next week in hopes to get the truck more level when towing loaded.

Question is, fill the bags first, then hook up the trailer and WDH? Hook up WDH then inflate the bags to get me more level? Does the WDH need to be adjusted for adding the bags?

Sorry so long winded. The shops down here weren’t giving me very helpful

 

[IvoryHemi]

Fill the bags first, then setup your WDH.

Yes, you will need to re-adjust your current WDH setup after the air bags are installed and filled.

 

[Seadoorxpguy]

What hitch are you using?

 

[DOFF]

Thanks for the replies. I have the Husky Centerline TS. Could it be just as simple as air the bags up to desired PSI, then adjust the ball hitch on the drop shank to where the trailer is level without sag? Or would I have to adjust the washers and L brackets for angles?

 

[41magmag41]

You should readjust the WDH first. I had some sag from a trailer I had loaded on the WDH and all it took to level it out was taking up 3 or 4 links on the adjustment bars.

 

[Cbty2050]

Contact timber grove. I think they want you to hook trailer up, air up bags until level and then set up hitch. Once you know your psi you just fill bags to that psi.

 

[DOFF]

Thanks for the responses. Found my WDH manual if I need to adjust the L brackets or washer and I’ll give TG a call tomorrow and see what Steve recommends. When I can finally get a day off work I’ll try a couple methods and see what works best.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

Any updates? I will be installing my Timber Grove ASAM in a few weeks and will have to do the same as you with the WDH. Any help and info would be great.

 

[HEMIJAKE]

May be different with different manufacturers, but I thought (not sure) airlift, which is what I have, recommends filling the bags before adjusting the hitch. May take some trial and error to get the right settings for your needs. I'm not doubting others, but this makes sense to me as you're essentially altering the ride height of your vehicle with air bags. With a wdh, your first step is setting up the hitch height, so I would think you would want that as constant as possible. That's my opinion, and what I did with mine.

 

[jvcnova73]

Hey all,

I have a 24’ travel trailer I tow with the truck. I have the 6112s up front and a 1” block in the rear leaving me about 1/2” rake. When I tow with the WDH, truck sags a good amount but have no sway, good control, no issues other than sagging. When I load the bed it’s worse. I have the Timber Grove bags showing up next week in hopes to get the truck more level when towing loaded.

Question is, fill the bags first, then hook up the trailer and WDH? Hook up WDH then inflate the bags to get me more level? Does the WDH need to be adjusted for adding the bags?

Sorry so long winded. The shops down here weren’t giving me very helpful

I have tried a bunch of different ways and come to the conclusion. The bags don’t do much. I put 5 psi in the bags then hook up everything including wdh. Then the pressure goes up in the bags a little with the trailer connected. I then make sure I have no more than 10 psi. The bags still help with the ride, but if I put 25 psi in then it affects my wdh. Let me know what ends up working for you

 

[HEMIJAKE]

I have tried a bunch of different ways and come to the conclusion. The bags don’t do much. I put 5 psi in the bags then hook up everything including wdh. Then the pressure goes up in the bags a little with the trailer connected. I then make sure I have no more than 10 psi. The bags still help with the ride, but if I put 25 psi in then it affects my wdh. Let me know what ends up working for you

I'm not preaching my way is right, but give it a try sometime if you're struggling. Put the 25 psi (or whatever number) in the bags first, then hook up and setup your hitch. You may have to adjust height initially. Essentially, you want your ride height / hitch height to be the same as always, the bags are just there for more stability and to reduce squat. By hooking up first and airing up second, I think your throwing your wdh out of whack by inadvertently adjusting ride height.

 

[silver billet]

I'm not preaching my way is right, but give it a try sometime if you're struggling. Put the 25 psi (or whatever number) in the bags first, then hook up and setup your hitch. You may have to adjust height initially. Essentially, you want your ride height / hitch height to be the same as always, the bags are just there for more stability and to reduce squat. By hooking up first and airing up second, I think your throwing your wdh out of whack by inadvertently adjusting ride height.

This makes the most sense to me as well. You have to adjust the WDH last. The airbags are basically like installing permanent heavier-duty springs. If you did that, you'd have to readjust the WDH after that as well.

When I ran bags for a few months I did it that way too. Set pressure first, adjust WDH. If not enough air in the bags, fill them more and readjust WDH.

 

[Cbty2050]

This is from Timber Grove.

 

[DOFF]

This is from Timber Grove.

Still haven’t been able to get the trailer yet. Fire department mandatory shifts are out of control right now. Recently saw that from Timber Grove too. I’ll give that a shot and some others too. Will most likely have to adjust the L brackets due to new ride height. Hopefully I get some days off soon and will be able to try it out

 

[jvcnova73]

I'm not preaching my way is right, but give it a try sometime if you're struggling. Put the 25 psi (or whatever number) in the bags first, then hook up and setup your hitch. You may have to adjust height initially. Essentially, you want your ride height / hitch height to be the same as always, the bags are just there for more stability and to reduce squat. By hooking up first and airing up second, I think your throwing your wdh out of whack by inadvertently adjusting ride height.

I used to do it that way because it made sense to me to, but had no luck. I would have to pull over and let the air out and get down to 10si. Its weird but letting that rear sag a bit, but all the weight back on the front tires and I could tell a big difference. I do think everyone‘s setup is different though. We all have different trucks, different tongue weight and different hitches

 

[HEMIJAKE]

I used to do it that way because it made sense to me to, but had no luck. I would have to pull over and let the air out and get down to 10si. Its weird but letting that rear sag a bit, but all the weight back on the front tires and I could tell a big difference. I do think everyone‘s setup is different though. We all have different trucks, different tongue weight and different hitches

Absolutely. This is also the first truck I've towed with that has coil spring rear. The first trip out with it, when I thought I had everything set up correctly, I had my hands full ha. I ended up readjusting at the campground a little just to make it back home. It's a lot of trial and error, for sure.

 

[Bt10]

Anyone notice the second sentence say that bags and WDH are not both necessary? I think we all know that the weight needs to be transferred to the front axle as well. The 1500 just isn't made to carry that weight on the ball.

 

[HAL9001]

Anyone notice the second sentence say that bags and WDH are not both necessary? I think we all know that the weight needs to be transferred to the front axle as well. The 1500 just isn't made to carry that weight on the ball.

Air bags only help with leveling, they do not transfer weight as a WDH does. You can use a WDH alone without air bags but you should not use air bags alone without a WDH. You can, however, use them both together.

Watch this excellent video to see the exact effects of air bags vs a WDH:

On my 2021 1500 Limited with air suspension, the procedure is to first set the ride height to "Normal", then turn off the automatic leveling. That inflates the air suspension to set the desired height and level the truck but stops the addition of any more air. Then you attach the trailer and set up the WDH. Finally, you turn the air suspension back on which re-levels the truck. As a precaution, I again check the WDH settings after the truck re-levels with all the weight on it.

 

[HEMIJAKE]

Anyone notice the second sentence say that bags and WDH are not both necessary? I think we all know that the weight needs to be transferred to the front axle as well. The 1500 just isn't made to carry that weight on the ball.

View attachment 118710

I noticed that too ha. Seems like terrible advice to me as well. I moved my trailer a couple miles once last year to my dad's house, no wdh, just bags. It handled okay, but it wasn't on the highway either. Just town roads. I would never go out of town without the hitch fully hooked up.

 

[DOFF]

Saw that too. Talked to Steven from timber grove about it too. He agreed due to my stance and amount of sagging when hitched and bed loaded airbags would be a good addition to level the truck back out. Then let the WDH do it’s job