Towing tent trailer - suspension upgrade

[DWB_Dodge]

Hi there,

I have a 2002 Grand Caravan with the 3.3l motor in it. I use it to pull a tent trailer that fully loaded weighs about 2300 lbs. The first year, all seemed to work great, last year about mid way through the summer while travelling in another province, I noticed that when hooking up the trailer and cranking the jack up that the van would drop very quickly down to a point where the rubber bumbers up underneath actually came to rest on the axle. You can imagine the ride in this configuration, it was terrible, not to mention handling and we won't even go into the fact that the bottom of the receiver hits going into and out of driveways and most always in the campgrounds due to the way the roads are humped in the middle and the wheels straddling it.

Well, I got the thing home, took it to the shop figuring that something was amisss even though the shop I went to while on vacation said everything was fine. Nope, no problems found with anything, just a little soft in the back. The van does not have a problem pulling the trailer but the suspension is now softer than last summer.

Does anyone have any suggestions to "beef up my rear end" and get the ball a little higher and the bumpers off the axle? I have thought about new shocks, air shocks, another leaf in the spring and really looking at adding a Hellwig EZ1000 Helper spring. Any suggestions or recommendations or opinions on the Hellwig? The dealership who responded jokingly (they are really good to me) "what color of truck do you want?"

Thanks,

Dwight

[Rick99]

I've never towed with our van, so I don't know about helper springs for it (if available, it couldn't hurt), but have you thought about the balance of your load? Are you putting too much wieght toward the front of the trailer? You say that this started to happen during a trip. Maybe you packed differently at some point during the trip setting yourself up with too much tongue wieght.

[DWB_Dodge]

Good question. When I got home and the 3 kids (they were 2,4,6 year olds) and wife got out, we unloaded everything from the trailer. I pushed in the front part of the tent trailer and in the yard hooked it up, same thing, right down again, the exact same thing with a dry trailer as what I noticed it while on the trip. We try to balance out as best we can, putting heavy items in the back to balance out the tongue weight.

Maybe the dealer was right, need to pick out a new truck color. The van failed inspection in March due to holes in the body that I repaired. I thought this was a little odd, thought the body would last a little longer than this.

Dwight

[XDGT03]

Replace the rear shocks with airshocks. Do a search and you will find how I did mine. Basically, if you can't find air shocks made for the van you can find air shocks that will fit like I did. I have a 98 GC so the ones I got may not fit for you but after nearly a year, they are working fantastic. I do not tow but I do load it down now and then with quite a bit of stuff and they work like a charm. Plus they are cheap.

[dirtmover]

I have roadmaster springs installed http://www.activesuspension.com/ and have been happy with their ability to hold up the back end while towing both a tent trailer and a boat at around 2500lbs each. I opted for these beacuse they are not too expensive and are a really easy DIY install. I wouldn't tow this sort of weight with just the stock springs. Didn't really notice the performace benefits that they advertise though.

[TomQuick]

I have a pair of air shocks in my '97. I got them last summer when I put on my receiver hitch, and realized that it was sitting way too close to the ground when my kids were in the van. They were fairly inexpensive. Although they were only listed for vans without the ABS, and mine has it, they fit just fine, and I haven't noticed any issues with them. I'm running about 85 PSI (as that is all my small compressor will do) and only very rarely do I scrape the hitch when the van is fully loaded, and I'm towing. Without the trailer, I never hit the receiver. For the price, I can't imagine a better solution.