Rear sag concern.

alti03 · 07-26-2009, 08:58 PM

I have a ? about my truck. I have a 2004 nissan titan crew cab off-road package which came with the factory towing package. I bought the truck used and it was used for towing in the past.
I have towed two vehicles with the trailer at #1900 and the cars at #2850 and #3300 and the truck when loaded in my opinion squats really low. Its well within its limits and when loaded it has from 1.5in to 2in wheel to fender gap. Is that low? Are the springs worn out? or is that normal, i know at night the headlights were not shining on the road and had a diffilcult time for night driving.
If that is not normal then what are my options to get the truck back to normal and or improve from stock specs. thanks

On a side note the truck handled beautiful with no sway and plenty of POWER. Through out the trip i often forgot that I was towing a car and when looking in the rear view mirror i was like who the f-ck is following me so close and it was my own car on the trailer

**helomech** · 07-26-2009, 09:04 PM

How are you loading your trailer, sounds to me like you have the weight to far forward on the trailer.

alti03 · 07-26-2009, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by helomech

How are you loading your trailer, sounds to me like you have the weight to far forward on the trailer.

That was my second thought about the rear sag and I was using a uhual trailer which is limited to where you can position the load.

**helomech** · 07-26-2009, 09:13 PM

The ideal tongue weight is 10% of the trailer weight. So if you have 5000 lbs of trailer you should have near 500 lbs of tongue weight. I just always try to load a trailer where the heaviest part is just barley forward of the trailer axle.

alti03 · 07-26-2009, 09:26 PM

So do you think its just the way the trailer was loaded. If i remember right the axels on the Uhual trailer were near the midddle so the heaviest part of the cars were well forward of the axels. Would something like the RAS system help. Is there any way to find out if the springs are worn out?

BuckeyeTitan · 07-26-2009, 09:34 PM

I'm not sure about how it was loaded or the status of the leaf springs but you could try some airbags...

Nissan Titan Firestone Air Bags 2004-2008 - Suspension Air Bag Helper Springs

and I'm sure you can find them elsewhere cheaper but thats the first link that came up. I know quite a few members use them...

And I think PRG might recommend another type but I can't remember which.

**helomech** · 07-26-2009, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuckeyeTitan

I'm not sure about how it was loaded or the status of the leaf springs but you could try some airbags...

Nissan Titan Firestone Air Bags 2004-2008 - Suspension Air Bag Helper Springs

and I'm sure you can find them elsewhere cheaper but thats the first link that came up. I know quite a few members use them...

And I think PRG might recommend another type but I can't remember which.

That is the brand I have, and they are great. Been on my truck almost 4 years through some very rough conditions and don't leak at all.

Smoke05 · 07-26-2009, 10:34 PM

I am running the RAS on my Titan. Even before that I did not get the kind of sag you are referring to hooking up to my travel trailer without the WD hooked up. I am thinking the trailer you were using put way more weight on the tongue than there should have been. 2" tire to fender clearance is just about if not on the bump stops.

**loufish** · 07-27-2009, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Through out the trip i often forgot that I was towing a car and when looking in the rear view mirror i was like who the f-ck is following me so close and it was my own car on the trailer

Funny!....I've done a couple of hauls and caught myself saying the same exact thing!

Next time see if you can load the vehicles a little more to the rear of the trailer. This should lighten up the tongue weight. You don't want to get the tongue too light, that will give you "sway city"...

dblaron · 07-27-2009, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alti03

Through out the trip i often forgot that I was towing a car and when looking in the rear view mirror i was like who the f-ck is following me so close and it was my own car on the trailer

Thats funny! Last weekend we went camping with my friends chevy and he did that same thing. He freaked out when he saw a boat in his mirror about to hit him! LOL I was rolling.

HillbillyDeluxe · 07-29-2009, 09:19 AM

Not really sure this is possible but maybe load the car on backwards as most of the weight in the car will be near the front as well. Plus it may not freak you out as bad when you suddenly look in your mirrors. Or it might really freak you out seeing someone trying to back into you on the highway lol.

alti03 · 07-29-2009, 09:38 PM

yeah not sure if it is possible, but yeah that would freak me out lol.

salstats · 07-29-2009, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alti03

I have a ? about my truck. I have a 2004 nissan titan crew cab off-road package which came with the factory towing package. I bought the truck used and it was used for towing in the past.
I have towed two vehicles with the trailer at #1900 and the cars at #2850 and #3300 and the truck when loaded in my opinion squats really low. Its well within its limits and when loaded it has from 1.5in to 2in wheel to fender gap. Is that low? Are the springs worn out? or is that normal, i know at night the headlights were not shining on the road and had a diffilcult time for night driving.
If that is not normal then what are my options to get the truck back to normal and or improve from stock specs. thanks

On a side note the truck handled beautiful with no sway and plenty of POWER. Through out the trip i often forgot that I was towing a car and when looking in the rear view mirror i was like who the f-ck is following me so close and it was my own car on the trailer

well stock shocks always suck so you always gotta spend some cash to recieve. if you dont wanna spend too much buy some MX6 and put them on number 6 they shouldnt sag

**loufish** · 07-30-2009, 08:53 PM

Quote:

well stock shocks always suck so you always gotta spend some cash to recieve. if you dont wanna spend too much buy some MX6 and put them on number 6 they shouldnt sag

...uh....not really.....since the shocks don't hold up the truck....

alti03 · 08-05-2009, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loufish

...uh....not really.....since the shocks don't hold up the truck....

I was thinking the same thing but was unsure.

This last weekend I had a #550 load throught out the bed and it was about 3in wheel to fender, I still think this truck sags too much. Still looking at options to fix this.