Truck Height of new Superduty's

[Fordguy]

Hello Everyone.
I recently purchased a new F250 Superduty. I have a concern about the height of the box. My 2012 Big Country when hooked up has only 3 inches
between the box and trailer. I am sure others have had this issue, and was wondering what could be done to fix this. I would like to know if a 2 inch lift block
between the spring and axle would be a good option.

 

[danemayer]

Hi FordGuy,

If you pursue lifting the trailer, you probably will need to reinforce the hangers and cross brace the frame members to manage the additional leverage created by the lift. Also, you'll need to consider the overall height of the rig and the handling risk involved in raising the center of gravity.

You should be able to adjust the height of the trailer pinbox, and you may have vertical adjustment range on the hitch. I would start there.

 

[Sniper]

2017 F350 & 2011 Cyclone 3010 I have almost 7 inches of clearance. Haven't got to tow wit it yet and move it to perfectly level ground yet but I'll get a good measurement for sure on the 14th of April. i still have some adjustment left in the hitch. I would check your hitch and pin box to see if you have any adjustment left there before doing anything drastic.



Good luck and safe travels.

 

[NYSUPstater]

Something seems amiss here. My B&W Patriot is in lowest setting and I think the 5er hitch is in highest (closet to underside of 5er--in storage currently) and our '18 BC has 7"+ of gap. In fact, the nose of the 5er is a tick high, but it's going down the road cuz I ain't messin' with it. And this is w/ a '15 F350 w/ 18" tires. Do you have taller tires perhaps on your truck? Really don't think the height of the SD's changed w/ the alum body.

 

[rhodies1]

Hello Everyone.
I recently purchased a new F250 Superduty. I have a concern about the height of the box. My 2012 Big Country when hooked up has only 3 inches
between the box and trailer. I am sure others have had this issue, and was wondering what could be done to fix this. I would like to know if a 2 inch lift block
between the spring and axle would be a good option.

Agree with everyone’s comments,something doesn’t sound correct.I have a F350 with 20 in tires and a BigHorn 5 th wheel and have approx 7 inch clearance .How low is your hitch set and the tongue of the 5 the wheel.
I understand the newer Ford Super Duty sets approx 2 inches higher than previous models at the box,saying this you should have more clearance than stated,would not look at lifting the 5 th wheel.As mentioned it could affect the center of gravity and make it unstable while towing.

- - -

 

[orion7144]

I also have ~7" of clearance on 2017 F250 using Andersen hitch on lowest ball height.

 

[pegmikef]

I ran into the same problem with my Big Horn 3010RE and my 2017 F350. The best I could get was five inches clearance and still keep it level. I could gain more clearance by manipulating the height of the hitch and pin box, but then it was out of level with excess weight on the rear wheels. The basic problem was that the 3010RE has a ten inch frame, while the bigger models have twelve inch frames. I solved the problem by trading the BH for an LM Oshkosh.

 

[Fordguy]

Thanks for the replies. Especially pegmikef. You have dealt with the same problem as I am now.
It seems that Ford has gone to extreme heights with the new Superduty's. There is no reason for it
but we have to try and modify our RV's as it is not possibly to lower these new trucks.

I am going to contact Heartland for possible help with this issue.

 

[bwdt]

I'm really concerned about this as well with a Dodge truck. What is the bed height of the newer Fords?

I just purchased a Traveler 39MB and I have an older Dodge but it has 19.5s that are 33". The truck sits about 2.5-3.0 inches higher than stock.

Does anyone know of a place that lists bed heights of manufactured trucks? or pin heights of manufactured trailers?

What is the recommended bed clearance range for trailers?

 

[danemayer]

I think there may be some difficulty in looking at bed heights. When we were shopping the 2014 RAM 3500 dually that we purchased, I measured bed height which was higher than the 2011 GMC we were trading. If I remember, the rail height was also higher on the RAM. So I think the rails were about 3" higher than the GMC's rails - combination of bed + rail difference.

BUT, when we hitched up, the rear of the RAM sank further than what the GMC had sunk. So we ended up still towing level. And the truck rear end is not squatting.

 

[jnbhobe]

I would lower the truck before I would try to raise the camper. go to https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/index.php some people have lowered their trucks.

 

[Fordguy]

I just measured the bed height on my 2017 F250 Platinum. The truck has not been modified and is at stock height.
The box height is 59.5" With the truck and 3450TS BC hooked up the two units sit level but spacing between box and trailer is only 4 inches.
To raise hitch or lower pin box would be fruitless as this would make for unlevel towing. And with Fords new soft bodies a person does not want
contact between the two while setting up in some real world camp grounds. 6" spacing would be much safer.

 

[Snow]

I have a 2013 350 and a 2013 3650 big country with about 6 inches between trailer and bed I believe I would raise the hitch 2” before lowering the trailer I doubt you gonna see a difference in the trailer as far as being level JMO


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[Big_Jojo]

I have 2019 F350 DRW with a B&W companion and a Heartland Elkridge Focus 327bh. The hitch is on the middle section and pin box raised to top position, truck has 35" tires and level kit on the front and I have about 8" of clearance.

 

[TerribleTim68]

So just to throw a couple wrenches in here, mostly to educate myself:

1. So is there an ideal measurement we should be looking for? 7"? 8"?
2. Is the measurement from top of bed rail to bottom of 5er body more important than the amount of "nose-up" rake in the overall trailer? How much do you guys care about towing perfectly level?

I've never measured my distance from the bed rail to the 5er. It didn't hit so I was mostly just happy at that. But I know the trailer could go up in the front a touch, my truck tends to squat considerably. But I also plan to add helper springs soon (the springs are in the garage, need new u bolts before I can mount 'em), so I hesitate to put a bunch of effort into this until i get the truck the way I want it.

I did have an incident a month or so ago where I got he jack-knifed a bit too far and the 5er hitch assembly contacted the bed rail. It's got an aftermarket air ride hitch assembly on it, so I'm not really sure how much that changes the stock dimensions because it was on there when I got the 5er. I just know that my spray on bed liner now has a foot long scratch in it at the top inside edge of the bed rail. Lesson learned = pay more attention to how far I jack-knife it.