# How Much Does Your F350 Squat?



## Kanuck (Mar 28, 2007)

Greetings!

We own a 23RS (and love it!!







) and are purchasing a Ford F350.

With the tongue weight of a 23RS, can anybody advise how many inches the back end of 2005-2007(ish) F350 squats once the coupler is seated on the ball?

I'm trying to line up the right Equal-i-zer WD /shank system prior to truck delivery.

Cheers!!


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## nynethead (Sep 23, 2005)

I don't know from experience as I don't have an f350, but I would guess none to less than an inch, I have a 2006 2500hd and when I pulled my 29BHS I don't think I dropped and inch in height. I pull a laredo 30bh 5'er now and only sit down 2-3 inches.


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Kanuck,

I would be surprised if that F-350 will even know your Outback is back there! According to the installation instructions for the Equal-i-zer, you should set the ball height to match the hitch of your level trailer plus 1/8" for every 100 pounds of tongue weight on a 1 ton truck.

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## jbwcamp (Jun 24, 2004)

Kanuck said:


> Greetings!
> 
> We own a 23RS (and love it!!
> 
> ...


We have the 04 28rss and 2000 F350 I don't think it squats it more than an inch at the most. You will love towing your 23rs with the F350


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## Humpty (Apr 20, 2005)

Squat? Not enough to even notice


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## OutbackPM (Sep 14, 2005)

[quote name='nynethead' date='Mar 28 2007, 02:47 PM' post='202335']
I don't know from experience as I don't have an f350, but I would guess none to less than an inch, I have a 2006 2500hd and when I pulled my 29BHS I don't think I dropped and inch in height.

I would agree. I have hava a 2500 also and with 900 lb on the tongue it drops about 1.5 inches so with the F350 I would expect even less. When I went from my 1500 to the 2500 the lack of suspension movement made the set up harder to get. Remeber the WD offsets load on the tongue so the drop is very small.


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

I would be shocked if it squatted at all. The only thing I can tell you is when setting up the hitch with a 1 ton chassis, it might be difficult to get the weight distribution because the back barely feels it so there is really nothing to shift to the front. I had the issue when I bought my Dually and towed a 28RSDS. I adjusted the bars to help with the possible sway but reallizing the suspension was strong enough and I doubted it was even possible to get the front to squat at all..

John


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## pjb2cool (Apr 8, 2004)

PDX_Doug said:


> Kanuck,
> 
> I would be surprised if that F-350 will even know your Outback is back there!
> Happy Trails,
> Doug










I was gonna say that too. Just remember that while towing, when you look into your rearview mirror - it is YOUR trailer you see - not someone elses' Outback fixin' to cream your new truck!!!


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

I just finished installing an Equalizer hitch with the 1200# bars on my 2007 Chevy 2500HD pickup. I have a 29BHS (30'-8"), which has 710# tongue weight (dry). I figured about 750#, with gas tanks, battery, etc.

After tweaking and re-tweaking, here are the settings I came up with:

> L-Brackets are set using the 4th hole from the top.
> Top hitch head bolt is in the 3rd hole from the top of the standard shank.
> 6 spacer washers between the hitch head and shank.

This resulted in the trailer frame being 1" lower in the front than the rear (a little tongue-low, but the next hole up on the shank got me just the opposite, and I would rather be tongue-heavy than tongue-light).

The front axle squat was 1/4" and the rear axle squat was 1-1/4". This is a 1" difference from front to rear, but within acceptable specs, according to the installation instructions.

I originally had the hitch head and the L-brackets both up one hole higher, but that made the front squat a little more than the rear, the trailer tongue was higher than the rear of the trailer, and I had to put 6" of blocking under the tonge jack and raise the tongue as high as the jack would go to be able to release the WD bars. I thought the truck's rear wheels were about to lift off the ground!

The settings I now have seem reasonable. Hitching and unhitching are easy as pie, and handling seems fine (although I'll be able to judge that better when I get it out at highway speeds).

My guess is that your F350 is a bit higher than my 2500HD, so you may need to adjust the hitch head down accordingly to get your trailer level. (A level trailer is important, so that all four tires share a relatively equal amount of the load. Too much out of level, one way or the other, and you could exceed the load carrying capacity of the tires on the lower end.)

And I'd also be surprised if you get much axle squat at all with that beast! It should tow your Outback like a dream!

Hope this helps! And trust me - the installation was easy. Just be patient when when you are making final adjustments and realize that you will need to tweak things a bit here and there.

Keep us posted on how it works out!

PS: Download the installation instructions from the Equalizer website before you order. You may need to get a shank that will lower the hitch head below what the standard shank will allow. Also browse around there site and look for the specifications for ordering a non-standard shank. They have a formula for this, which includes measuring the top of your trailer tongue ball hitch and the top of your truck's hitch receiver box. That calculation will determine which shank you will need. If you're unsure, you can call them.

Mike


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## dmbcfd (Sep 8, 2004)

My 99 F350 drops about an inch with the 25RSS tongue weight of about 650 lbs or so. I do notice that the front end feels a little light if I don't have the weight distribution bars on. I also have firewood, bikes, giant cooler, folding ladder, and tool box in the bed while towing.

Steve


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## Txcamper (Apr 3, 2006)

I don't think you will even notice it back there.


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

Txcamper said:


> I don't think you will even notice it back there.


I don't own the Ford, but I've got a Dodge 3500. When I towed the pop-up (1800lbs, 200lb tongue wieght) I didn't even feel the camper back there, which like other have indicated can be dangerous because sometime it is shocking to look back and see something on your rear end. I now tow a 30' OB 5er and with over 1400 lbs of hitch wieght the rear end squats about 1" at the most. the good thing about pulling with such a heavy duty truck is that the trailer won't wag the truck, but then again sometimes that's a bad thing because again, you forget it's back there. As far as smoothness of ride, my truck-5er combo rides really great.


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## Scott and Jamie (Aug 27, 2006)

Ok just want to make sure "blank" of amount squat is with our with out weight ditrubition.?? It would be a good clarification for others reading. I just finished seting up my hitch after the axel flop and with the fresh tank full and 1/3 in the Black (I normally travel with about a 1/4 of a tank fresh and around 500# in the truck bed) I squated about 1 1/2"" with out the weight distrubition and raised about a 3/8-" in the front. It didn't take much to raise the rear of the truck to level it. I picked up 10 ninty pound bags of concrete on a sunday and went to town the next saturday and forgot they where back there







didn't relize it until I went to load some more materials in the back. It made along day because I had to run home unload and then go back for the materials I bought









I will soon be weighing my tt again and the tounge weight. I figure I am running around 900 with out water and around 1000+ with water...not to mention the 500 or so in the bed.

I have short box extra cab and the tounge weight will cause a long box or four door to squat just a little more in the rear.

Scott


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## Husker92 (Feb 11, 2006)

With our F250 you can't tell! I think it would be the same for the F350.

Happy Camping!


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## Kanuck (Mar 28, 2007)

Fantastic replies folks! Many thanx!

When the new rig comes in I'll share the setup I end up with.

Cheers!!


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## Northern Wind (Nov 21, 2006)

My 250SD hardly squats with a 30FRKS fiver! Loaded! I think you will be ok









Steve


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