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Old 10-20-2018, 08:59 PM   #1
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Name: David
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Firestone coil-rite helper air bags

Recently purchased these because I was getting a bit of rear squat that I wanted to get rid of. Installed today, but won't get to test them out with the scamp until 2 weeks from now. Seem to be working, with 35 psi in them they raised the car up an inch or so.

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Old 10-20-2018, 09:55 PM   #2
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I've heard of folks doing this but don't quite understand the purpose, may I ask what your rationale is for adding them?
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:22 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles View Post
I've heard of folks doing this but don't quite understand the purpose, may I ask what your rationale is for adding them?
The bags essentially firm up your springs and they raise the rear of the car up a bit when heavily loaded.

Even though I am within the weight limits of the car, the rear squats a little bit too much. Especially with the cars very bright led headlights just a little bit of rear squat gets the headlights into peoples eyes and I am constantly being flashed.
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:36 PM   #4
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That's a very good reason indeed, effect on headlights by the squat on the tug is something I'd never thought of. Thanks!
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:47 PM   #5
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A weight distribution hitch makes more sense to me. It transfers weight from the rear axle to the front axle of the tow and to the trailer. Improves ride and security. Added bonus is the headlight point in the right direction.

All those airbags do is make the rear suspension harder to compress. You could just weld the coils together and the rear wouldn't sag at all.
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:52 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo View Post
A weight distribution hitch makes more sense to me. It transfers weight from the rear axle to the front axle of the tow and to the trailer. Improves ride and security. Added bonus is the headlight point in the right direction.

All those airbags do is make the rear suspension harder to compress. You could just weld the coils together and the rear wouldn't sag at all.
I believe the OP has a Scamp 13' trailer. It's NOT recommended to use a WDH. It's way to easy overload the 2200 lb axle.
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Old 10-20-2018, 11:12 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman View Post
I believe the OP has a Scamp 13' trailer. It's NOT recommended to use a WDH. It's way to easy overload the 2200 lb axle.

The axle, or does the frame have some weak points?
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Old 10-20-2018, 11:22 PM   #8
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The axle, or does the frame have some weak points?

I don't know about the frame, it could have some weak points. I do know that, at least my trailer has a 2200lb Dexter axle under it. When I bought mine (new) in 2005 the manual said not to use a WDH.

Observing larger and heavier they seem to do ok with WDH.

A local owner of a Burro 17' and towing with a minivan put those air bags on and it seemed to work quite well.
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Old 10-21-2018, 07:53 AM   #9
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Back in the 70s the government did tests on trailers and tow vehicles and found that air bags provided about 1/2 of the benefit of the weight distributing hitch.
As a matter of fact they suggest using air bags with the WDH to take about 1/2 of the sag out before adjusting the hitch for the rest.
The air bags serve to increase the spring rate of the rear which raises the natural frequency of the system.
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Old 10-21-2018, 09:31 AM   #10
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I agree with Byron and will add that not only does a WDH put stresses on small trailer frames that most aren't designed to take, many smaller tow vehicles aren't supposed to use them either. Ladder frame construction has gone the way of the dodo in most all autos and unibodies do NOT like the WDH. Since David refers to his tug as a car it's likely he has one of those, this looks like the appropriate solution to the headlight problem to me. One I should look into doing myself, i've noticed a similar phenom when towing at night and it's never occurred to me that the headlights may simply be aimed too high due to rear squat. Thanks again, David!
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Old 10-21-2018, 09:56 AM   #11
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Firestone coil-rite helper air bags

Have a 5000 pound dual axle Lance RV trailer with WDH. Will need to check if that’s okay to have WDH as am the second owner. thinking of air bags as it bounces too much (slightly), and sags two inches; and hope it reduces that.

Looks like the kit is around somewhere less than $350 for the parts. So many variations of it on amazon so assume will buy via mechanic who will install. Maybe get it all in and working for less than $500 I hope in my 2006 tundra
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Old 10-21-2018, 10:26 AM   #12
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I've used a number of these capacity increasing devices with some success. I look at them as a temporary solution. A little "tug squat" is to be expected however if it becomes significant you may have a capacity issue. Capacity decreases with vehicle age. Increasing spring capacity is a better solution. The best solution is a heavier tug.

A WDH, in essence, makes the frame of the trailer and the tug a single. Vehicle squat doesn't occur as the rear and front ends drop the same distance as does the trailer as the total weight is distributed over both frames. Some trailers are not designed to do this.
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Old 10-21-2018, 10:26 AM   #13
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I appreciate the value of a weight distribution hitch, if frames can handle the stress. Of course many tow vehicles are not built on frames. Pardon me, as Glenn points out, unibodies have proven themselves. If someone cares to mention exceptions, they also have a point.

I follow Keep Your Daydreams travel channel on YouTube. He is a big fan of the Firestones on a very beefy rig. Tow Vehicle is at least an F250. You can probably find episodes devoted to the Firestones.

PS, Sprinters have a switch to raise or lower headlight beams.
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Old 10-21-2018, 10:46 AM   #14
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Of course many tow vehicles are not built on frames.

Another way to say this is, "not many vehicles are built on frames" and that weight distribution hitches are successfully used on most unibody vehicles.
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Old 10-21-2018, 02:53 PM   #15
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i've used WDH, WDH+Airbags, and Airbags only when towing a ~3000 lb casita 16 with a Tacoma 4x4 (6500 lb tow capacity).

the WDH eliminated the severe "porpoising" I was experiencing which was undoubtably largely due to the very soft TRD Off Road suspension on my Tacoma, but when the truck was also quite loaded, it still sagged considerably.

the airbags greatly improved the ride quality of that vehicle when heavily loaded, with or without a trailer.

Airbags by themselves solved all the problems without the hassles of dealing with the ~60 lb WDH assembly, which quite frankly was a pain in the patooie to remove and install on the truck (I don't like leaving any hitch on the truck when I'm not towing, and I don't like removing the spring bars from the WDH as the grease on them gets sand in it at a campsite which makes a big mess). I found it much simpler to put 35-40 PSI in the airbags when loading for a trip, using my Viair portable tire inflator. When back home and unloaded, I drop them back to 5PSI for every day empty driving with the original stock ride.

If my trailer was significantly heavier, sure, I'd be back to the WDH. Even my F250 diesel longbed with its 12500 lb tow rating specifies using a WDH if the trailer is over 6000 or 7000 lbs (I forget the specific number), but towing the 4500 lb Escape 21, with a moderate load in the truck bed, and its still 1/2" or more before the factory overload leaf spring even touches the brackets..
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Old 10-21-2018, 02:59 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by offroad View Post
Have a 5000 pound dual axle Lance RV trailer with WDH. Will need to check if that’s okay to have WDH as am the second owner. thinking of air bags as it bounces too much (slightly), and sags two inches; and hope it reduces that.

Looks like the kit is around somewhere less than $350 for the parts. So many variations of it on amazon so assume will buy via mechanic who will install. Maybe get it all in and working for less than $500 I hope in my 2006 tundra
go to the firestone ride-rite site, and put in your vehicle, it will tell you exactly which kit is correct, and what compressor options are suitable if you wish to go that way (vs manual inflation with a compressor or bike pump). THEN put the firestone part number of the proper kit into amazon if thats your preferred reseller.

if a shop installs it for you, figure 2 hours labor... its really not a very hard install on a leaf spring truck, they U-bolt to the frame and leaf spring pack. basicl 3/8 and 1/2 sockets, a torque wrench, and maybe a drill for installing the inflator valves on your rear bumper near the license plate... on my tacoma, you had to cut the factory rubber bump stop down. probably easier to self-install if you have a decent jack and sturdy jack stands, so you can raise the back of the truck... my shop asked me to go ahead and order them as they weren't available from any of their regular parts suppliers without special order.
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Old 10-21-2018, 03:15 PM   #17
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lol I cant help but laugh a little here, the OP's just looking to solve the lights angle problem and here we are off in the endless WDH discussion that seems to arise in just about any towing string. He doesn't seem to have handling problems or anything else suspension-related, just that pesky lights problem. Nor do I. But I'm most interested in the lights thing since I seem to have a similar phenom when I'm towing at night. My trailer tows dead level btw, and squat is minimal tho perhaps enough to change the angle of the beams. Going to look further into this, probably by starting with the good old line-on-the-garage-door method of judging where the lights are focused both hitched and unhitched.
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Old 10-21-2018, 03:35 PM   #18
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mildly amusing, the Europeans take headlight aiming a lot more seriously than us USAians... I drive a 1993 Mercedes 300CE, the european model has a vacuum controlled headlight tilt mechanism with a thumbwheel on the dashboard next to the headlight switch, so when you load your trunk down and the vehicle sags, raising the beam angle, you can dial the lights back down where they belong.

also, European vehicles have ECE spec headlights, which have a far crisper/sharper cutoff than is common with DOT (American) headlights, which have illumination specifications that date back to the 1950s.
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Old 10-21-2018, 04:21 PM   #19
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mildly amusing, the Europeans take headlight aiming a lot more seriously than us USAians... I drive a 1993 Mercedes 300CE, the european model has a vacuum controlled headlight tilt mechanism with a thumbwheel on the dashboard next to the headlight switch, so when you load your trunk down and the vehicle sags, raising the beam angle, you can dial the lights back down where they belong.

also, European vehicles have ECE spec headlights, which have a far crisper/sharper cutoff than is common with DOT (American) headlights, which have illumination specifications that date back to the 1950s.
That is VERY interesting. I wonder where I can get eurospec headlights for my kia, the first-gen Sportage like I drive has a big following among off roaders over there. And the lights on USA models are notoriously lousy right out of the box.
Side note, WDH hitches are virtually unknown over there too from what I've read, this supposedly due to superior trailer design standards. Go figure
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Old 10-21-2018, 04:38 PM   #20
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That is VERY interesting. I wonder where I can get eurospec headlights for my kia, the first-gen Sportage like I drive has a big following among off roaders over there. And the lights on USA models are notoriously lousy right out of the box.
Side note, WDH hitches are virtually unknown over there too from what I've read, this supposedly due to superior trailer design standards. Go figure
I'd suggest seeing if you could get teh euro headlights and the parts for the tilt adjust directly from those european offroaders via whatever forums they use much like this one.

while technically ECE headlights are not street legal in the USA, unless headlight inspection is part of your state's vehicle inspection, you're not likely to get tagged for it, here in California, I've been running ECE headlights on various cars for years.

re: European caravans, they tend to be much lighter weight than ours, with much less tongue weight. they also tend to not try and go anywhere near the speed limit when towing on highways, and most folks don't drive nearly as far as we do, all of Great Britain (England, Scottland, and Wales) is less than half the area of California. Germany is smaller than California, too.
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