Air Bags?

[aquahauler]

I towed my boat with a 2001 F-250 Crew Diesel and decided to install firestone airbags to make the ride more stable. It improved the handling when towing however it made the ride a little more stiff even with only 5 lbs. I now have a 2006 Crew Duramax 2500HD. This truck is definately a little stiffer in the back as far as ride is concerned. I would prefer to aviod installing airbags and making the ride even stiffer. My question is; straight up with no alterations, will the duramax handle more tounge weight that the ford. If the answer is yes, I may wait and see however unfortunately, the first tow with this will be NJ to Florida. I would love to hear from someone who went from a F-250 to a 2500HD who towed a big load to see your thoughts. For what it's worth, I tow a 29' boat that along with the trailer comes in at around 12,000 lbs.

This is not a cry for a !@#$%^& contest from you bleeding rabited duramax fans Just a question limited to the tongue weight capacity difference if there is one. By the way, I absolutely loved my Ford however I just maybe love my 2500HD a little better. I am still having trouble saying Chevy

[John-Boy 331]

ford you could get upper overload springs on the 250s that until loaded down whern't rode on, and the only way you can get these on a chevy is a 3500 dually, i worked my 2500hd heavy w/g-necks day in out and wasn't impressed " but rode very smooth empty", i went to a 3500 srw and bought a set of 3500 drw double overload springs which handle a heavy load very well but the ride is rough.... at 12k pounds w/a 29' boat that trailer is around 32-34 foot long, thats a lot of tongue wieght, how about running a wieght distributing hitch or is the boat pretty balenced over the axles.+ it all comes down to how you like the way it feels, that long of a trip load it up and pull it 20-30 miles to kinda give your self an idea

[aquahauler]

Well, I can say from the way if felt on the Ford was just about right. I know that I should know however the only time I felt anything I didn't like was when I drove over a severely wash board road where the road feels like your on an amusement ride. In that case, I could feel the rocking front to back of the boat through the truck and would slow down. With the air bags on the Ford, that stopped completely. Judging by the squat of the tires, I would be comfortable saying the tongue weight is somewhere between 700 and 1000 lbs.

Fortunately, I will be hauling the boat up from the Marina a week before I actually leave for Florida. If I don't like the handling, I will just scramble and install a set of air bags. On the ford, it was a slight pain in the !@#$ however company say's there is no drilling on the Chevy so I can't imagine it taking more than 1 1/2 hours. Thanks for the info!!

[aquahauler]

Well, did the haul to the house from the marina (60 miles) to get ready for my trip to florida. The truck handled the load very nicely and pulled like a mule. I am very impressed with this truck and will not be installing airbags. It looks like I will be getting around 11.5 - 12 mpg running around 65 mph. That's about the same as my Ford except this truck pulls a lot better!!!

[BigRedChevy]

That's nice to hear. Glad you are happy with it.

[custom8726]

I pull my 30' DONZI with my duramax with no problem, I would assume that is close to the same weight as yours if not a little more. I usually run between 70-75 up to lake george whitch is basically a 3hr uphill ride for me.