Towing rear ride height adjustability. Does it exist?

[TRDFurgesson]

I have a 2022 Wildtrak 2 door with factory tow pkg. I have front and rear spacers for a slight lift. My custom trailer is very tongue heavy due to the placement of the axle with door option. I need a towing solution that doesn’t include selling the Bronco in lieu of a Ranger of F series. From What I can find my only option is aftermarket struts with adjustable ride height or taller rear spacers than What I currently have. Back in the day we would toss some air shock on it call it good. (I understand that with this design that is not a possibility). I’ll include some pics of the current setup. I have been cheating a bit my towing without the top and doors.

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[RagnarKon]

Weight distribution hitch will help.

It's effectively a spring and re-distributes the weight to the axle on the trailer and the front axle of the vehicle. Have to be careful with axle ratings when using a weight distribution hitch though—a lot of people who use them on pickups end up overloading the front axle.

But yeah, fundamentally the Bronco is not a vehicle designed to tow much—350 lbs tongue weight limit is really not much. So there are limits to what you can do that doesn't require a ton of money.

 

[TX-Dennis]

It looks like it's probably okay as it sits. If the truck is terribly overloaded you'll know it from the squirrely handling.

Your trailer sits a bit nose down which adds to the tongue weight. Perhaps a straight hitch rather than a drop would help some? The Bronco, while squatted a little, doesn't look like it's terribly overloaded. Keep in mind, though, that too light a tongue weight will be more likely to cause dangerous trailer sway. Always aim for a tongue weight of roughly 10% of the total loaded trailer's weight.

 

[vrtical]

run a WDH that will fix it.

 

[WarthogJr]

I’ve used air bags on past vehicles. From memory, the range was at least a few inches…thinking 5 or 6 ish was the max.

 

[TRDFurgesson]

It looks like it's probably okay as it sits. If the truck is terribly overloaded you'll know it from the squirrely handling.

Your trailer sits a bit nose down which adds to the tongue weight. Perhaps a straight hitch rather than a drop would help some? The Bronco, while squatted a little, doesn't look like it's terribly overloaded. Keep in mind, though, that too light a tongue weight will be more likely to cause dangerous trailer sway. Always aim for a tongue weight of roughly 10% of the total loaded trailer's weight.

I dont have any stability issues and I understand the 10% rule. Just trying to limit the rear wheel sag on a setup that is always greater than 10% due to its design. Optimally the trailer would be a 12 or 14’ length (for load distribution) rather than the 10’ length it is. That would make it easier to get the the 10% tongue weight.

 

[Badsquatchman]

Maybe something like this? Sumosprings are adjustable (somewhat)

 

[Brian_B]

I’ve only seen two good solutions to this

Airbags would be great but I haven't seen any yet

The first would be to switch to a stiffer spring in the back - it would affect your ride when not towing though. But you do it once and done

The second would be an adjustable coil over with a screw collar. You could tighten it when you tow to compensate, and put it back when done fairly easily. Does require jacking the corner up so you can relieve all the pressure on the spring to adjust the collar though.

There’s also the strut that @BigMeatsBronco runs that’s height adjustable via air pressure but that requires a custom mount and such so it’s not exactly bolt on. I can’t recall the brand off hand but it’s somewhat niche

 

[Truckin]

The second would be an adjustable coil over with a screw collar. You could tighten it when you tow to compensate, and put it back when done fairly easily. Does require jacking the corner up so you can relieve all the pressure on the spring to adjust the collar though.

Eibach has that for the 4Runner. At least they did 5 years ago now. Worked great

 

[Brian_B]

Eibach has that for the 4Runner. At least they did 5 years ago now. Worked great

There are a lot of options for the Bronco

ProComp VSRTs and RC Vertexes are the least expensive I know of, but not the only option by far

 

[Q1svt]

I have a 2022 Wildtrak 2 door with factory tow pkg. I have front and rear spacers for a slight lift. My custom trailer is very tongue heavy due to the placement of the axle with door option. I need a towing solution that doesn’t include selling the Bronco

Yes the placement of the trailer axle is set at is not ideal…
Agree that a higher receiver would help, but I would look at how you load the trailer.

looks like the carts could be loaded side by side with engines up against rear door. Or add removable shelve at rear and stack carts at the rear door

more weight on or behind axle will lighten tongue ‘some’
Could add sandbags, lead, extra fuel, water, examples to offset weight.
It looks like the trailer is not heavily loaded… adding is an option.

If you change the bronco you’ll drive around like that when you’re not towing the trailer…

 

[gbub]

Air-Lift has a bag set for the bronco. I don't like the way it is mounted and if I get them I will make my own mounts.

They came out after I purchased a set of Eibach Pro 2.0 coilovers, They have adjustable perches. I wanted a little lift anyway but needed adjustability and they served both purposes. I may end up getting the air bags too which makes it much easier to control sag from weight. I have used air bags for 35 years on two Rangers and really liked them.

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