Best Towing Solution WITHOUT major compromises

[Nick11]

I am hoping you guys can help give me some ideas regarding my 2019 mod plan for my 2018 F150 Raptor "SuperCab".

I have owned the truck for about a year now, and pretty much love everything about it other then the ecoboost. "My friends 2018 F150 Lariat with the 5.0 & Roushcharger make me a tad bit envious ".

The only issue I have with the truck is how much rear squat I get when towing my toy hauler all the way up to Alaska for our annual summer vacation.

Before you shit on me regarding using the F150 Raptor for towing. I would like to say that the F150 Raptor for me is all about no compromises. This past year I towed my trailer & dirt bike all the way up to the Alaska border and back "approx 4,000 km journey", 10kish weight & probably 800 lb tongue weight.

The beauty of this was my Raptor tows everything up there, and once I am up there I did some serious offroading with the truck. It pretty much negates the need for a side by side or Quad.

However this year I really would like to improve it's payload, without major compromises to what I use it for. When I say major compromises I am getting at the fact that although I offroad it probably more then 90% of Raptor owners what am I really doing:

<> Few high speed runs down old mining roads.
<> Little bit of playing in the local Carcross Desert, nothing crazy.
<> Lots of playing in mud & water
<> Absolutely NO jumps... ill NEVER jump a $100k truck

So question out to you fine gentlemen, are there any towing solutions that will help me find a perfect compromise between practical towing capabilities and fun once I get to our destination?

 

[dew.man]

I recently had my old Reese weight distributing hitch/system fail while my 18 was pulling a 8k lb TT and subsequently upgrade to a Curt TruTrack system. Spent a couple hours setting it up properly, and can tell you it made a WORLD of difference. Truck now sits level and does not sway - even at 80. And the system allows me to back up without disconnecting anything. Highly recommended over a traditional weight distributing system with chains.

Sent from my SM-T820 using Tapatalk

 

[sheaks3]

I have used these, see link below, on my 2012 and 2018 raptor and helps a bunch. Not hard to swap back and forth. Towed my trailer to the desert and swapped the system with stock once I arrived and then swapped when I was ready to head back. Best $200 investment I made.
http://timbren.com/blog/2017/10/20/new-timbren-ses-ford-raptor-2017/

 

[Rob O]

Ping this guy on IG: https://www.instagram.com/gm3sf/ ... or his personal site: https://www.gm3sf.com.

He tows a 26-foot Airstream more than regularly and has an excellent set up. Not cheap, but no compromises once installed. I'll be going this way if we pull the trigger on an Airstream. He's very helpful and has some general info with links on his site under the FAQs.

Image credit: gm3sf

 

[Trick.Raptor]

My 23' Fleetwood Nitrous Hyperlite toybox maxes out at 7700lbs. and with the picture above I was slightly over GCWR at 15,080lbs. If you look at the rear I'm sitting level. I have Deaver +3 leaf springs with a load leaf. The ride is far better than stock and only "issue" if you call it one is when my bed is totally empty I sit higher in the rear than stock. However most of the time I carry a chase rack with 2 spare tires and even with that weight I sit at a factory stance... a little higher in the rear.

With stock leafs I was pretty close to level with the toybox maybe a inch lower than level. It wasn't bad and of course the stock Raptor ride was great.

When I upgraded to Deaver's I went with +2 leaf springs and with an empty bed I sat level and the ride was so much better than stock. It was so worth the upgrade! The look was good but when I added my chase rack and gear I was running nose high with some Cali-lean. Adding my toybox was worse, I was riding on my RPG bump stops and the ride was horrible!

Deaver did the re-arch to +3 and added a load leaf. The ride was just a good as before and now I sit with factory stance with all my gear. With the toybox I sit level and there is still at least 2" of travel between the bump stop and leaf spring. The ride is pretty good as well.

I wouldn't worry too much about my Gen1 vs. your Gen2. Going with Deaver springs with load leaf will improve your ride and towing capability.

 

[BlazinPond]

My 23' Fleetwood Nitrous Hyperlite toybox maxes out at 7700lbs. and with the picture above I was slightly over GCWR at 15,080lbs. If you look at the rear I'm sitting level. I have Deaver +3 leaf springs with a load leaf. The ride is far better than stock and only "issue" if you call it one is when my bed is totally empty I sit higher in the rear than stock. However most of the time I carry a chase rack with 2 spare tires and even with that weight I sit at a factory stance... a little higher in the rear.

With stock leafs I was pretty close to level with the toybox maybe a inch lower than level. It wasn't bad and of course the stock Raptor ride was great.

When I upgraded to Deaver's I went with +2 leaf springs and with an empty bed I sat level and the ride was so much better than stock. It was so worth the upgrade! The look was good but when I added my chase rack and gear I was running nose high with some Cali-lean. Adding my toybox was worse, I was riding on my RPG bump stops and the ride was horrible!

Deaver did the re-arch to +3 and added a load leaf. The ride was just a good as before and now I sit with factory stance with all my gear. With the toybox I sit level and there is still at least 2" of travel between the bump stop and leaf spring. The ride is pretty good as well.

I wouldn't worry too much about my Gen1 vs. your Gen2. Going with Deaver springs with load leaf will improve your ride and towing capability.

Great stuff....thanks for sharing.

Curious about how you get Deaver to add a "Load Leaf".
I'm guessing that's something that needs to be custom ordered?

 

[Trick.Raptor]

Great stuff....thanks for sharing.

Curious about how you get Deaver to add a "Load Leaf".
I'm guessing that's something that needs to be custom ordered?

You can do custom orders with Deaver. When talking with Deaver about going back to have the springs re-arched to +3 they suggested the load leaf.