ELIMINATING TOWING SAG

WORDS BY BRANDON BURRELL

PHOTOS BY KRISTIN BURRELL

TOWING A TRAILER IS A PRETTY BASIC FUNCTION OF A LOT OF TRUCKS ON THE ROAD TODAY. Whether it’s a boat, a camper, a small utility trailer for yard work, or, in the case of many of our readers, a car trailer, having something hooked to the receiver is common. A lot of times, if the tongue weight is too much or if the load itself is excessively heavy, the rear of the truck can squat. No one likes riding around looking like one of the squatted kids, but that’s part of towing a trailer sometimes.

Not only does this look bad, but it’s extremely unsafe.

Having your truck sit level, especially with the extra weight of a trailer, makes driving and, more importantly, stopping easier. This can also apply to those times when you load the bed down with something like mulch, gravel, or even furniture when helping a friend move.

The easiest way to fix this is to add a set of helper bags for extra support for the rear of the truck when it is sagging due to extra weight. This fix allows you to add as much air pressure as needed to eliminate the sag. Normally, an off-the-shelf helper bag kit would work just fine, but for my situation, it won’t work, as this truck is already being lowered, which requires the leaf springs to be flipped.