99 expi towing question

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Bassmas5

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Hello, I tow a 21ft Skeeter Bass Boat with my 1999 Ford Expedition. It has the factor tow package under it and it does a good job towing the boat overall. My question is that when the boat is hooked up the truck sags a little in the rear, what can be done to even the truck out? This would make braking and steering a whole lot better.
Any suggestions would be most welcomed
 

RRILO

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You're going to have to lighten the load on your rear axle somehow. Either remove gear/items from inside the truck itself or from the boat, modify the trailer so that you have less tongue weight or use weight distributing bars.

Do you know what your boat/trailer weight is and tongue weight? What kinda brakes, if any, do you have on your trailer?
 

Soldier777

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Hello, I tow a 21ft Skeeter Bass Boat with my 1999 Ford Expedition. It has the factor tow package under it and it does a good job towing the boat overall. My question is that when the boat is hooked up the truck sags a little in the rear, what can be done to even the truck out? This would make braking and steering a whole lot better.
Any suggestions would be most welcomed

you need a weight distribution hitch...
 
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Bassmas5

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You're going to have to lighten the load on your rear axle somehow. Either remove gear/items from inside the truck itself or from the boat, modify the trailer so that you have less tongue weight or use weight distributing bars.

Do you know what your boat/trailer weight is and tongue weight? What kinda brakes, if any, do you have on your trailer?

The boat weight on trailer is 1930, the trailer itself has tandem axles and has surgbrakes on them. The boat is already set as far back as it can go on the trailer. Im not sure what the tongue weight is but its not very much because we can left it with ease.
I dont have anything in the back of the truck.
I had new shocks put on last year. Is there a way to beef up the rear suspension, maybe add a leaf or something like that.
 

thenaaks

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A 1930 pound boat should not require tandem axles. And if you can easily lift the tongue of the trailer, then it should not be causing your truck to squat. Unless you're an Olympic weightlifter.
 

RRILO

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Something is not adding up here. That weight should not be an issue especially if you have the factory tow package. You could somehow beef up your shocks but braking and steering may not improve much until the weight is transferred back to the front axles, which shocks aren't designed to do. You could try a wdh but with surge brakes, I would not recommend it. Surge brake-compatible wdh are available but they are pricey and I doubt they would even make them for such light duty towing. Without pre- and post-coupling measurements and pics, my guess is, your sagging issue is normal and something that can be easily managed through more prudent driving habits.
 

american steel

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Hello, I tow a 21ft Skeeter Bass Boat with my 1999 Ford Expedition. It has the factor tow package under it and it does a good job towing the boat overall. My question is that when the boat is hooked up the truck sags a little in the rear, what can be done to even the truck out? This would make braking and steering a whole lot better.
Any suggestions would be most welcomed
your bass boat with trailer weighs almost as half as the expedition does. on an SUV with that old with facotry with coil cprings its goings to sag. if you have an air ride leveling system from ford it should not sag. if it does sag your air springs need to be replaced or the pump is not working to full capacity.
You're going to have to lighten the load on your rear axle somehow. Either remove gear/items from inside the truck itself or from the boat, modify the trailer so that you have less tongue weight or use weight distributing bars.
there is no way he get around this, the trailer manufacture has these axles where they're needed to be.

Do you know what your boat/trailer weight is and tongue weight? What kinda brakes, if any, do you have on your trailer?

A 1930 pound boat should not require tandem axles. And if you can easily lift the tongue of the trailer, then it should not be causing your truck to squat. Unless you're an Olympic weightlifter.
bass boat builders use traielrs with tandem axles soley for the purpose of looks.
they also use axles with small weight rating s combine the two and have a GVW rating of 3,000lbs.
my 19ft CC sea Pro weighs 4k I think, and has a single 5k axle.
 
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RRILO

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The trailer/boat weighs a good 300-400#s less than half of what the Expi weighs. Regardless, the tongue weight has more to do with rear end squat than the weight of the trailer itself, although I will admit that tongue weight is a function of the gross trailer weight. To attribute rear end squat to the ratio between tow vehicle and trailer weight, though, is a bit off the mark. Considering the OP can lift the trailer tongue by hand, I would guess that the tongue weight is more no more than 10%-15% of the gross trailer weight so at most only talking about 300#s. That's like 2 people sitting in the last row or one person with some gear in the trunk. There should not be too much squatting. With that said, you could be correct though that suspension system is shot and needs some attention.

Originally Posted by RRILO View Post
You're going to have to lighten the load on your rear axle somehow. Either remove gear/items from inside the truck itself or from the boat, modify the trailer so that you have less tongue weight or use weight distributing bars.
there is no way he get around this, the trailer manufacture has these axles where they're needed to be.
On many trailers axles can be moved fore to reduce tongue weight. The bow stop can also be moved aft. NOTE: from experience, the latter is the easier fix of the two.

bass boat builders use traielrs with tandem axles soley for the purpose of looks.
Double axles have several advantages to single axles. For one, they are safer because they are more stable at highway speeds and are less prone to sway. Tire blowouts are less of an event. Double axles are typically also required to have brakes where single axles are not. The disadvantages though are more maintenance, i.e. replacing 4 tires vs 2, brake system maintenance, etc. Not sure if double axles on bass boats are solely for looks but there sure are other pluses than just aesthetics.
 
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EightIsEnough

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This may be obvious to you all, but since it was mentioned that the boat is set back on the trailer, I thought I would throw it in. I found that if the boat is not secured firmly against the bow stop, it is very difficult to handle no matter the suspension. On the other hand I could haul a bass boat behind a medium sedan if everything is secured well forward. Any trailer with a loose load or weight too far to the rear is hard to manage.
 
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Bassmas5

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I wanted to thank everyone for replying to me about this and for the info everyone has provided. Im taking my Expi to the dealership that has always worked on it. I think the rear springs are just old and wore out, the Expi has over 245,000 on it. Even with the high mileage it still runs great and pull my new boat just fine. I'll have new spring installed and then see if the rear squat is better.
 
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