Titan Towing question
 

I recently picked up a 05 Crew cab titan 5.6 I am towing a 22ft enclosed trailer with one car and a scooter. Probably not over about 6K lbs. The thing pulls pretty good locked in 4th and tow/haul. Problem is every time a vehicle comes even with the back of the trailer, the truck will take a dive to the left. Right now the truck has a mixed set of tires which probably isnt helping. I upgraded to a load equalizing hitch and sway control, but it really didn't help much...so what kind of tires? Should I use air bags or overload shocks?

Re: Titan Towing question
 

We probably need more info about the tow vehicle. Crew cab what? 1/2 Ton or 3/4 ton truck? Do you know the toungue weight? It should be about 15% of the total weight of the trailer as it goes down the road. Do you have the same issue if the trailer is unloaded? It could be a problem with weight distribution.
Dan

Re: Titan Towing question
 

1/2 ton 2WD crew cab short bed. I haven't checked the tongue weight but weight re distribution won't be an option. My scooter is in the front (that's the only place it can go) along with a battery for the winch.I keep the car as far back as possible to reduce tongue weight. It still sets the back of the truck down and the front up probably about 4" or so. Looks like it may be taking too much weight off the front. I haven't towed down the hwy with the trailer empty, might be good idea though.

Re: Titan Towing question
 

What is the rated towing capacity of the truck?

Can you tighten the the bars more on the equalizing hitch to get more weight on the front of the truck? If not I would consider air bags.

Does the truck have LT tires? I have heard of trucks that come from the factory with passenger car tires, for a better ride, that can have towing problems. If you have a mix of both that might not be good.

Good Luck!

Re: Titan Towing question
 

Good advice and I would add that under inflated (and low weight rating) trailer tires can aggravate the condition but you really need to get more weight on the steer tires and as indicated your weight distribution bars can be tightened up more to accomplish that normally. Only way to know is by trial and error on bar adjustment. CAT scales at truck stops can be used to get axle weights and normally taking the vehicle back across the scales within a set amount of time is just a nominal charge (usually $12-15 for first weighing and $2 for subsequent). On couple of different towing combinations I've gone through the weigh/adjust/weigh/adjust routine in order to get the driving experience stress free as possible. You're probably going to find out your trailer weighs more than you think but you can probably get by with a light truck using a good set up and possibly air bags to achieve good weight distribution. And make sure you don't end up with too little tongue weight or you'll have trailer wagging which can be disastrous.

Re: Titan Towing question
 

Thanks guys...I think im going with air bags and a set of LT tires

Re: Titan Towing question
 

9500 lbs ...sounds a bit optimistic to me.
I might need to work on my hitch set up because it really doesn't help much with the rear squat.

Re: Titan Towing question
 

When you set up the weight bars on your weight distributing hitch use the tongue jack to raise and lower so it's easier to lock the chains. Shorten chain or change the receiver angle if the trunion type equal side to side. Front of the truck should take the load and become more level. Air bags in combination will help and probably a good addition on half ton or any truck.

At the end measure the height of the trailer front and back on level ground, front should be 1-2" higher closer to 1 may be better.

Front of the trailer down makes it wag need some weight on the back tires.
Cube buses and big trucks flying by are still going to push the trailer along with some SUVs that push a lot of air particularly if they are between you and a jersey barrier.