2016 F350 bounce issue

Buddy of mine has a 2016 F350 cc, sb,4x4,6.7, fx4, srw that he claims he has a bounce issue when towing his TH. Says he travels w/ full tank of fresh water (am going to guess around 50 gallons....unknown location of tank) and forgive me as I don't know what brand TH he has. Anyways, says the rear of truck bounces a lot and headlights "blind" oncoming cars. I suggested he try Stable -Loads which he did (lower only) and no luck. He then added airbags which didn't help either. Has 20" tires and I noticed that there was not a large gap between the aux spring and bracket, yet not much paint worn off the spring. He has told me his CAT scale numbers, but I forgot what they where, but do recall they didn't sound too far out of line. When we had our '15 F350 srw, w/ 18" tires and a lot more weight than he, don't recall a bounce anywheres near what he's saying. Am not sure how bad the bounce is that he says.....could even be normal for all I know w/ his set up. None the less, I told him I'd inquire and let him know as I don't know what else he could do. I would have thought that just the lower Stable-Loads would've worked or even the air bags. Want to say he put in different shocks in that are adjustable but not positive. Perhaps this is his problem on the bounce part.....needs Bilsteins.

Any advice or suggestions you have, please let me know. Good bad or otherwise.

Pulled our Cyclone 3950 for 3 years with our 2016 F350 SRW, no bags/etc. No issues. 20" wheels, Michelin tires in stock size. No lift/leveling kit.

That's 18K of trailer, but tri-axle. Tandem trailer could be different story.

Ran bags on rear our 2012 GMC 2500HD which made that truck ride a bit nicer - but Ford rode/pulled better stock.

Trailer pin-box and/or fifth wheel hitch setup, perhaps?

I know when we went from solid pinbox to a MorRyde box, our chucking reduced considerably. We have a Lippert Flex-Air now and ride even smoother.

We have 2016 Cyclone 4250 that I pull with 2015 350 DRW King Ranch, Installed Firestone air bags and run 55-60 psi. anymore and it will bounce ya out of the cab. He may just need to find the sweet spot. On a side note, I put 60 psi in before I hook, for giggles I put the gauge to it after I hooked and it was reading around 90 psi with weight of the trailer on them.

I know the 2017-19 FX4's have Ford spec'd rancho shocks that are complete garbage. When I put the Rancho RS9000 adjustable's on mine the stock ones were already soft.

Is it possible that he is saying "bouncing" when actually he means "chucking"?

orion7144 said:

I know the 2017-19 FX4's have Ford spec'd rancho shocks that are complete garbage. When I put the Rancho RS9000 adjustable's on mine the stock ones were already soft.

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@Orion7144...

How are you liking those shocks. My tow truck is about due and I used to run those on my daily driver/hunting truck and loved them. Do they do the job on a HD Truck? TIA.

WB

WillyBill said:

@Orion7144...

How are you liking those shocks. My tow truck is about due and I used to run those on my daily driver/hunting truck and loved them. Do they do the job on a HD Truck? TIA.

WB

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On my 17 F250 they were a huge improvement both unloaded and loaded. On the F450 they are not much different when unloaded but loaded I have them on 8 and there is a slight improvement.

The "bounce" very well could be chucking....afterall his 1st name is Chuck! LOL. I will ask him again if he changed shocks and to what if he did as well as the chucking.

He was also talking about switching to a air ride pin box, but 1 thing at a time.

orion7144 said:

On my 17 F250 they were a huge improvement both unloaded and loaded. On the F450 they are not much different when unloaded but loaded I have them on 8 and there is a slight improvement.

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On a side note: I have found if I'm not towing on my dually, if I run the rears at 28-30 psi it rides almost as good as a SRW 3/4 T. IMHO the tires are a big part of the ride quality in a pickup. You just have to be willing to put air in/out based on load which I have been doing for decades, LOL. Thanks for the feedback.

WB

I have a 2016 F 350 SRW Stock with Rancho Shocks, Michelin Tires, Snowplow prep package. I tow a 2018 Landmark scaled at 16,000 lbs an no issues as described.
I have a Reese 18 K Elite hitch and a Sidewinder Pin Box.

Wondering be a tow hauler how much in the Garage? Low pin weight?

Good morning gang! So I texted him to get some more info and this is his reply:

Replaced shocks w/ Rancho Adjustable RS 9000 XL
TH is a Keystone Raptor
3100 lb pin wt
Truck wt: 8500
Combo wt w/side x side in garage: 24,000
TH wt: 15,500
Fresh tank full (50 gal +/-)
Says it's a true bounce and not chucking

I wish I could ride w/ him to see what he's saying to get a better idea, but not gonna happen due to where we both live. Our last 5er and new one both had 5th AirBorne hitches, but still don't recall any bounce w/ either on the '15 F350 we had and all I had was lower Stableloads, box dropped around 2" or so.

Chances are since he has a short bed, his hitch is sitting directly over or behind center of axle. He needs to move the hitch forward of axle, at least 2", preferably 4". The bounce/chucking will be greatly reduced if not eliminated.

hoefler said:

Chances are since he has a short bed, his hitch is sitting directly over or behind center of axle. He needs to move the hitch forward of axle, at least 2", preferably 4". The bounce/chucking will be greatly reduced if not eliminated.

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Short sleep since my last post. Thanks for the above tip/suggestion. I never thought of that. Have no idea what he has for a set up or brand of hitch. Will most def pass this onto him......Thanks !!

Hi everyone, i also have bounce question. I have a 2019 Ford F 350 dual wheel with 8' bed pulling a 40' 5th wheel. When i go over some of the bridges in Pa you would think it was going to brake in half. Would air bags help any? The rv is 12000 lbs with hitch wt of 2000 lbs. When hooked up my over load springs just touch.
Thanks for any advice
Tom C

stretch184 said:

Hi everyone, i also have bounce question. I have a 2019 Ford F 350 dual wheel with 8' bed pulling a 40' 5th wheel. When i go over some of the bridges in Pa you would think it was going to brake in half. Would air bags help any? The rv is 12000 lbs with hitch wt of 2000 lbs. When hooked up my over load springs just touch.
Thanks for any advice
Tom C

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Air bags with TrailAir FlexAir king pin or Trail Saver hitch.

stretch184 said:

Hi everyone, i also have bounce question. I have a 2019 Ford F 350 dual wheel with 8' bed pulling a 40' 5th wheel. When i go over some of the bridges in Pa you would think it was going to brake in half. Would air bags help any? The rv is 12000 lbs with hitch wt of 2000 lbs. When hooked up my over load springs just touch.
Thanks for any advice
Tom C

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Are those measured weights? Sounds awfully light for a 40' 5th wheel. What model/floor plan?

Its a Keystone Cougar 368mbi i'm sure those were the weights before my wife filled it.

One possibility is that there's not enough weight on the pin.

I would start by weighing it and see what the real numbers are. Just sitting on the overloads could be a problem.