2022 King Ranch pulling 25’ Airstream

[Bruce B]

After living with 2 different 2500 Diesel pickups in the past 8 years, I finally decided that I’d had enough of the bad ride, “too tall to get in a parking garage“ and bad build quality (GMC Denali) so I traded for a 2022 F-150 King Ranch 5.0. The Ford was actually sitting on my dealers lot last year and I was so unhappy with my Denali that I traded it on the spot. My F-150 is a pretty vanilla KR with no Max Tow package, no 360 camera but I love it. I use this truck as my daily driver and to pull our 25’ Airstream Globetrotter. I use a ProPride ppp hitch and according to the CAT scales, I am just about at my payload max of 1600 plus pounds when fully loaded. The combination handles great although it is sensitive to setup. I get great fuel mileage towing, it is more than quick/powerful enough and the Airstream is definitely happier being towed by the F-150 after a long trip as seen by the lack of disturbed pillows and open lockers.
So, after a year of use I am more than comfortable with the combo in spite of landing pretty close to the max weights specified by Ford for the truck. I am just a little curious about the front sway bar though. I keep reading that one of the changes made to the truck to achieve a higher tow rating is a different sway bar. I assume that this change is made to help In an emergency or sudden maneuver with the additional weight.
Because I am curious, I went to my dealer and asked about what parts change in the Max Tow version of the truck. The parts department says that they can’t look up parts by package as everything is derived by VIN. They also said that they would be happy to compare the part numbers of my suspension to those of another similar truck with a Max Tow package if I could find a donor VIN… has anyone else don’t this? If it is as simple as swapping a front sway bar and some bushings, should I think about the “upgrade”?
Just curious…

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[Northguy]

After living with 2 different 2500 Diesel pickups in the past 8 years, I finally decided that I’d had enough of the bad ride, “too tall to get in a parking garage“ and bad build quality (GMC Denali) so I traded for a 2022 F-150 King Ranch 5.0. The Ford was actually sitting on my dealers lot last year and I was so unhappy with my Denali that I traded it on the spot. My F-150 is a pretty vanilla KR with no Max Tow package, no 360 camera but I love it. I use this truck as my daily driver and to pull our 25’ Airstream Globetrotter. I use a ProPride ppp hitch and according to the CAT scales, I am just about at my payload max of 1600 plus pounds when fully loaded. The combination handles great although it is sensitive to setup. I get great fuel mileage towing, it is more than quick/powerful enough and the Airstream is definitely happier being towed by the F-150 after a long trip as seen by the lack of disturbed pillows and open lockers.
So, after a year of use I am more than comfortable with the combo in spite of landing pretty close to the max weights specified by Ford for the truck. I am just a little curious about the front sway bar though. I keep reading that one of the changes made to the truck to achieve a higher tow rating is a different sway bar. I assume that this change is made to help In an emergency or sudden maneuver with the additional weight.
Because I am curious, I went to my dealer and asked about what parts change in the Max Tow version of the truck. The parts department says that they can’t look up parts by package as everything is derived by VIN. They also said that they would be happy to compare the part numbers of my suspension to those of another similar truck with a Max Tow package if I could find a donor VIN… has anyone else don’t this? If it is as simple as swapping a front sway bar and some bushings, should I think about the “upgrade”?
Just curious…

Lots of threads about the advantages and disadvantages of max tow. Max tow has several things that are difficult to add afterwards. The reinforced bumper which I think you are referring to is about the easiest. It comes with bigger brakes and a different real axle (those of us who have it arebt so sure it is a good thing) and you get the 3.55 rear differential (you may have this). Potentially a few other things but I assume you have the trailer tow package which would include some of the addition items you get in max tow.

I have included the spec sheet below which takes a bit to tease out the differences but they are there.

Re: stabilizer bars many on this forum have added back and front stabilizer bars which they report not only help with towing but help with daily drives. Hope this helps.

 

[Aron]

Adding a rear sway bar (I think that you already have a front sway bar) will improve the stability of the vehicle while towing, but shouldn't affect tow rating. Or rather, it'll reduce payload by about 50 lbs (the weight of the device).

For what it's worth, the max tow package does not include a rear sway bar--that's a user-added option. It's not a strictly necessary addition to improve towing, but it should improve the vehicle handling (both in general, and while towing). I don't have one on my max-tow truck, but @Snakebitten has had some pretty good things to say about the Steeda brand.

 

[Snakebitten]

Yea, I added a rear sway bar to an F150 that I towed my RV cross country with. (~6 years ogo. 3 trucks ago)

I was so impressed with the composure it added to the truck, both empty and towing, that I don't think I can convince myself NOT to add one now.

I have always been more of a suspension sensitive guy than a horsepower guy. I pinch myself these days with a Powerboost with a dialed in suspension. It's like having my cake and eating it too. Runs so good and has amazing truck manners.

 

[Kshort62]

What did you do to your PB to dial in the suspension? I have a 22 Limited PB ,

 

[Snakebitten]

What did you do to your PB to dial in the suspension? I have a 22 Limited PB ,

There's a few threads around here where there's a considerable amount of posts regarding.
Look for thread(s) on RAS in the title. And others with CCD?

In summary, I have added the rear Antisway, RAS (normal duty, but would choose HD if my tow/Payload burden was heavier), and altered the AsBuilt values in the VDM module.
Admittedly the current configuration has not been tested much towing heavy or even light for long distances. I keep planning in my head where I'm going, but my grandkids have me grounded.

But it's nicely dialed in for running empty or with the bed carrying a few 100#'s.

 

[bcb97]

There's a few threads around here where there's a considerable amount of posts regarding.
Look for thread(s) on RAS in the title. And others with CCD?

In summary, I have added the rear Antisway, RAS (normal duty, but would choose HD if my tow/Payload burden was heavier), and altered the AsBuilt values in the VDM module.
Admittedly the current configuration has not been tested much towing heavy or even light for long distances. I keep planning in my head where I'm going, but my grandkids have me grounded.

But it's nicely dialed in for running empty or with the bed carrying a few 100#'s.

Can you go into a little more detail on what you changed in your asbuilt values in the VDM? I'm really just curious is all.

Thanks.

 

[JExpedition07]

I’ve been very happy with my 5.0L V8 towing my 20’ Four Winns Horizon as well. The 5.0 is the sweet spot in the F-150 if you are regularly towing 5,000-7,500 pounds as it is so fuel efficient under load.

 

[Snakebitten]

Can you go into a little more detail on what you changed in your asbuilt values in the VDM? I'm really just curious is all.

Thanks.

Here's a record of the values I edited and what I changed them to (an increase of 20% mathematically)

 

[amschind]

Rear sway bar (Steeda and Hellwig are the same thing except that the Hellwig is $400 more and has bushings that you'll need to "coax" with a bench grinder), Powerstop upgraded discs/pads and upgraded shocks are the big items for towing. The final and maybe most important mod isn't yet available for the Powerboost, but might be for you: a bigger radiator. HEAT is the enemy which will stop these trucks while towing, in the transmission or (less so with the 5.0) in the engine.

Also, Airstreams are FAR more aerodynamic than comparably sized trailers. My '78 25' weighed #2400 gutted, and I don't think that I'll be able to push the final weight over #6k. It goes without saying that I strongly agree with your choice of size, and hope that you'll do a number of cool mods to it.

 

[Bruce B]

So I thought I’d add to my post. We are about 2500 miles into a winter trip and I am simply amazed at how well this truck is at pulling our Airstream with all of our stuff. Yes, we are absolutely at the edge when it comes to payload. The last time I went through the CAT scales both axels were just under max GAWR and I am sure that we occasionally sneak above those weights at times. We have averaged 12.3 mpg towing so far on this trip, hand calculated. The 5.0 engine has huge power, the truck handles well and it is quiet!
Im still running the Pirelli Scorpion 275-60/20 ATR tires as the truck only has 20,000 miles on it and I am even happy with these.
Before the trip, I ordered a Roadmaster Active Suspension and tried it but I actually didn’t like it. I tried the heavy duty version and I actually felt like it was far too much for the truck. It felt like the truck was jacked way too far up when unloaded and it kind of bounced. Anyway, I sent it back and decided to go stock. In any case, she sits level and handles nicely as is.
Would I be happier with a max tow/Max payload equipped truck? Probably, I’d have a little more peace of mind but I can honestly say that this truck does so well that I don’t believe that I need it. I will also say that it feels much better to drive this than it felt to drive my previous truck, a 2020 Denali 2500 Diesel. That truck also towed very nicely but it was far more difficult to find the “happy spot” in terms of weight distribution set up. I suppose that’s because it isolated you more from what was actually happening. My F-150 just lets you know when it is happy…
At this point, the only thing I’d likely play around with are tires. I suspect that there may be a little to gain there.

 

[Aron]

Beautiful setup! When my kids are grown and out of the house, I'm kind of hoping that the wife and I will be able to swap the bunkhouse setup for a nice 2-person Airstream. (I'm still hoping that I'll have this truck by then.)

 

[Bruce B]

Ours is a 25’ Globetrotter. We had a 16’ International for almost 10 years and towed it some 80,000 miles. Airstreams are kind of cool if you don’t need a ton of space. We love ours.

 

[Pantherburn]

Ours is a 25’ Globetrotter. We had a 16’ International for almost 10 years and towed it some 80,000 miles. Airstreams are kind of cool if you don’t need a ton of space. We love ours.

Hi Bruce,

May I ask why you went with the globetrotter? Do you have the queen or two twin floor plan? Those are very nice rigs.

 

[Bruce B]

So, we chose the Globetrotter mostly because we preferred the light interior option it offered. We love the electric stabilizer jacks and we even love the power Zip Dee awning. As for queen vs twins, I never thought I’d say this but the twins are a better match to my 6’3” height. The Airstream queen is exactly the same length as I am tall and in the 25 it is athwart ship. With the queen you loose the aisle up the middle and the trailer feels a lot smaller.
We did a single air conditioner, the solar option and the second it came home I upgraded the electrical system to an all Victron LiFePO4 battery /3000 watt inverter charger system. We can go days and days without external power now even with the 12 volt fridge. It is a great set up.

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