trailer support?

[Donny55]

Hey everybody, I have not been back for months. I've had some serious health stuff going on. The last of it will be this month....Sunny Brook is nice but....
Trying to solve a problem that Ford or Canadian Tire was not sure about.
I have a 2007 V6 Ford 500 4 door car. It has 100,000 clicks on it, and a new tranny cooler Mr. Tranny.
I going to pull a 1974 Trillium 13' camper. When I have the 13' on the Ford trailer package, it sits fairly level. But, for any long haul trips, I'm pretty sure
I'm going to need better suspension in the rear. Gas shocks, air shocks, stronger rear springs? I don't know. Ford and C.T. said go to the "airlift suspension" web site. I did, and they said they don't make anything for an 07' Ford.
Any ideas fellow campers? Thank you very much....Don

[Hambone]

Not sure what type rear suspension is on a Ford 500, coil? McPherson strut? leaf? Not a big fan of "Air shocks" though....

[Donny55]

Hey Tom, my Ford has coil springs, and just regular shocks.

There has got to be an easy way to fix this.

Thank you

[Thomas G.]

Would this work? It is for a 2005 Ford 500

Air Lift Air Bag Suspension Kits - Videos & 635+ Reviews on Air Lift LoadLifter Air Bags for Towing - Ride Control, 1000 & 5000 Ultimate Install

[RRJR]

Hi Donnie.
I pull my 1975 Trillium with a 2007 Chrysler, 4 door, Sebring, Touring model and trailer sits level and pulls like a dream. Car has just the regular suspension.
I don't think you'll have to do anything to your Ford . Give it a test run and see.
Ron

[Brian B-P]

The other big supplier of air bags which insert into the car's coil springs is Firestone, with their Coil-Rite product, part of the Ride-Rite product line. Their Kit Search doesn't list the Five Hundred; the car was renamed as the Taurus for 2008 and shares a chassis with the Freestyle (and various Volvos), but those are not listed either. It may be that there is little demand for this application, or there may be something about the coil spring mounting area which prevents reasonable installation of this sort of air bag.

Tom, your link didn't go to a specific product for me, just the Air Lift line; selecting the 2005 Five Hundred gives a price, but not a specific image. The AirfLiftCompany site does not show the Five Hundred (or Freestyle), so I would be suspicious of the AutoAnything site's listing.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

...................

Tom, your link didn't go to a specific product for me, just the Air Lift line; selecting the 2005 Five Hundred gives a price, but not a specific image. The AirfLiftCompany site does not show the Five Hundred (or Freestyle), so I would be suspicious of the AutoAnything site's listing.

Maybe it needs the cookies I have on my computer to get there. Here is a screen shot.

[Donny55]

Thanks everybody,this has been useful. What I will do is take the suggestion to just try it first, and see what happens? As I said earlier, it seems to follow quite nicely but, I only drove it about 30 miles.
I will give it a shot this spring, and see how she does.

Thank you again to everyone and their suggestions, it is appreciated.

Donny

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Donny55

Thanks everybody,this has been useful. What I will do is take the suggestion to just try it first, and see what happens? As I said earlier, it seems to follow quite nicely but, I only drove it about 30 miles.
I will give it a shot this spring, and see how she does.

Thank you again to everyone and their suggestions, it is appreciated.

Donny

Check your tongue weight. It should be about 10% or so of the trailer's total weight. You don't want it much less, but there is no need to have it at a lot more.

[Mike Magee]

Hmm, the topic "trailer support" puts a picture in my mind of an underwire bra on an egg......

[RRJR]

Don't mater what the subjest sooner or later it turns to sex !

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

Maybe it needs the cookies I have on my computer to get there. Here is a screen shot.

That's a system for use with leaf springs, and it appears even before a year/make/model are selected. When the Ford Five Hundred is selected, a section further down the page updates to show a price, beside an image of an Air Lift 1000 bag-in-coil product... but even that is just a "sample image", not the specific kit, and the text describes "Ride Control air shocks" instead. "RideControl" is another style of air spring for use with leaf springs, not a shock or a product for coils, so the AutoAnything listing doesn't make any sense at all to me.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

........ so the AutoAnything listing doesn't make any sense at all to me.

Dunno. Maybe the 500 rear suspension doesn't lend itself to any kind of air lift.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

Maybe the 500 rear suspension doesn't lend itself to any kind of air lift.

Quite possibly. The only image I've found is a low-resolution chassis overview in this article: 2005 Ford Five Hundred Limited AWD - Review. It looks like the shocks might run up the middle of the coil springs, which would obviously eliminate bags in the coils, and might even make air shocks difficult.

[841K9]

The rear end on the 500 was a strut style system. The only way to add airbags would be with heavy modification.

[Joe MacDonald]

on one of my cars, I went to the auto parts store, got the length of the shock suggested for my car, then had it cross referenced to an overloader shock. This is a shock with it's own coil spring over it.
It lifted the rear slightly when not towing, but worked great when towing my trailer

[Roy in TO]

I agree with the others that ask do you really need anything extra? If you maxed out your load and keep the tongue weight in line it would be the equivalent maximum of maybe 200-250 lbs in your trunk. most likely less. Have you weighed your tongue?
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...rld-43010.html
If anything, check out a spring shop. I think Collingwood Spring Service should be close to you.

26 Elm St, Collingwood, ON L9Y 3J2

[Hambone]

Like Logan posted Ford 500 comes up with a strut rear suspension, so no air bags, or air shocks would work, also as others have posted it should handle towing that weight without any modifications

[Roy in TO]

If the 500 was ever sold with a severe use package for police or taxi's there should be a beefier rear strut available. Might be worth looking into.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Roy in TO

If the 500 was ever sold with a severe use package for police or taxi's there should be a beefier rear strut available. Might be worth looking into.

Good point. The AWD and FWD rear struts are a separate part number . Wonder if AWD is stiffer?