'03 F250 Crew SB 6.0 Problem

Where did they put the hitch? It should be a couple inches forward of the rear axle, and you may need a sliding hitch for backing if you have a short bed. You may also have way too much trailer.

Get a smaller 5th wheel. Get an older PSD.

Consider installing Air Bags.

Thanks for the suggestions, Chris. The hitch is fitted per the Pullrite bracketing that is designed for the vehicle. It is using existing frame holes. Hopefully, I don't have too much trailer since only one end of the overload spring is being touched. We filled ALL holding tanks (they are ahead of the trailer axels) and it still didn't touch the front end of the helper spring. Hard to believe it is overloaded. Problem seems to be that only one end of the helper is being hit and when it is it tends to rotate the axle backwards.

Bill

Chris Hill wrote:

Air bags were the first consideration but the brackets for the Pullrite Superglide 16 go where the bags would go. Dealer contacted three different air bag suppliers and Pullrite for suggestions. None of them had any ideas. Only good thing about it is the RV dealer (Apache Village in St. Louis) is working with me and says they will make things right!

Bill

Mellowed wrote:

Bill,

I believe all Ford factory overload springs touch on one end (front I think?) first...

How heavy is your 5th wheel? My F-250 pulls a 5th wheel that weighs in just under 10,000 pounds fully loaded and puts just under 1000 pounds on the truck, and never touches the overloads..

The book weight for the trailer is 8310 dry and GVWR of 11640. Hitch (pin) weight, according to the manufacturer, is 1480. With only a full fresh water tank, the rear of the overload just barely touches. Problem shows up when a rough spot in the road rocks the trailer forward. We filled all the tanks (all are in front of the trailer axels) and it did push down on the overload a little more. It got rid of the VIOLENT jerk but still moved back and forth quite a bit. Strapped a 2X4 to the front of each spring and tried it again. Problem GREATLY REDUCED.

Thanks for the feedback.

Bill

Depending on how much twist you get on the axle, you could be changing the angle at the rear "U" joint of the drive shaft enough to damage the joint.

Pullrite

checking

direction

Was that "book weight" with or without options. I'd start by taking the unit to a scale. Remember, if an rv dealer's lips are moving, there is a real good chance you aren't getting the truth.

Well, I took the whole rig to a scale. Didn't disconnect and weigh just the truck, but this is the result while connected. We have no personal items loaded yet but did fill all holding tanks with water. (45 fresh,

43 black, 56 grey) Obviously, we wouldn't normally travel with all tanks full.

Steer axle 4360 (Front GAWR=5200) 840 UNDER rating Drive Axle 4960 (Rear GAWR=6084) 1124 UNDER rating Trailer Axle 7580 Gross Weight 16900 (GCWR=20000) 3100 UNDER rating

Now the real confusing part. If I add the Steer and Drive axle weights, I get 9590. According to the sticker by the door, the GVWR is 8800. I'm 790 over that. Am I overloaded or not?

The original problem has been greatly reduced by adding about 3" to the front frame mounted rubber bump stop. Now both ends of the "helper" get contact at the same time.

Thanks to all that responded to the original problem.

Bill

>

Yep. Should've bought the 350, although it likely has a very similar if not the exact same setup under it.

You shouldn't be contacting at all. I'd still put money on a hitch mounted too far back. Might be interesting to unhitch the trailer, measure from truck to ground front and back, rehitch and see how much it drops front and rear. My guess: it'll drop in the rear but maybe not drop or even go up in front. This will cause weird handling at best.

Thanks for the follow-up, Chris. I'm on my way to the scale this morning to weigh the truck with only the hitch in the bed. That should shed more light on the situation.

Later,

Bill

Chris Hill wrote:

Well, Chris, I have new weights. Truck only with about 1/2 tank of fuel. Steer axle 4380 (was 4360 with trailer), Drive axle 3000 (was

4960 with trailer. Trailer gross weight is 9520 with 1940 on the pin. You may be on to something about the hitch being too far back. It seems to be taking 20 pounds OFF the front axle when trailer is connected.

I put a call into Ford Customer Service today. Their adviser put all the info into their computer and the answer came back "Refer to Research Group." Rep says it usually takes about 3 days to get an answer back.

Will post response.

Bill

Chris Hill wrote:

I am thinking of replacing my travel trailer with a fifth wheel and I am looking for something in the weight range that you have since the F250 PSD Crewcabs cannot handle a lot of pin weight. What make and model of fifth wheel do you have?

TIA

Robin

Robin,

Our trailer is a Keystone Sprinter 282 FWRLS. You can pull all the info from Keystone's site at

My problem with the 250SD 6.0 Crew cab is that with the trailer empty other than water in the fresh tank, it just touches the "helper" springs, but only on the rear end of the spring. Going down the road, it is on and off the spring constantly and when it hits, it torques the axle backward and causes a front to back jerking. We filled all the tanks with water and it helped some by not bouncing on and off the spring (it is on it all the time with the added load). RV dealer added a spacer to the bump block for the front of the spring so front and rear hit at same time and it halped a lot. With all tanks full of waterand no personal items loaded, the trailer weight came out to 9,520#.

More than enough power to pull with the 6.0 but still concerned about GVWR. I'm going to empty the tanks and refill the fresh tank about 1/2 full and weigh again.

Rob>

Bill - Just recently started reading your thread - so don't know what all has been said or not - so forgive please if I repeat something someone else has said - but if you put on the fifth wheel and it reduces the load on the front, I'd be raisin' hell at whomever put on the hitch - with my apologise if you did the work. The hitch should be just far enough ahead of the read axle to distribute the load. At least that is my understanding. Like I said, I came in late, so don't know where you live - but I'd sure take it to another dealer if the first one won't give you any satisfaction. How big is the trailer? A friend of mine towed a 35 footer with a 250 for years with no problem and it had to weigh a lot more than 9500# - that sounds more like a 30 footer or so.

Don

Thanks for the input, Don. I confirmed through the hitch manufacturer that the placement is per their design. It has the kingpin directly over the rear axle. The difference in weight between having the trailer on or off the truck is, according to them, of no major significance since I still have over 1 ton per wheel holding things down in front. It just seemed odd that I would get lighter by 20 pounds by adding a trailer. The truck handles well with the trailer. Plenty of power, no sway, but a horrible front to back jerking. Since my original post, I took the problem to Ford. They sent an engineer from Kansas City to drive my truck/trailer rig. He is totally confused by all the numbers in the tow guide and confirmed via a couple of phone calls that the ideal location for the kingpin is directly over the axle, as mine is. He did a quick calculation and found that on a 156" wheel base, moving the pin forward an inch will only add about 13 pounds to the front axle per ton of pin weight per inch the pin is moved forward. I still don't have an answer back from Ford yet, but so far, everybody that has looked at my situation is confused by what is happening and even more so by the published numbers in the towing guide. By using Fords numbers that say my truck will tow a10,400 5th wheel and recommended pin weight is 15-25% of the total weight, they exceed their own GVWR rating. Which set is a person to believe?

Oh, well.... I'll wait and see what their answer is before I start fueling up to go ballistic. So far, all involved have been cooperative and helpful within the limits of their knowledge.

Later,

Bill

Don wrote: