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Installation Guides

Installation of Torklift Superhitch #F1002 on 2003 Ford F350

I wanted to tow a 24' race trailer behind my truck while carrying an Arctic Fox 990. This would require an extension of at least 24". I evaluated all the products on the market, including the Reese Tow Beast hitch and extension, but the Superhitch is vastly superior. It is also the only hitch designed specifically for truck campers. It is more expensive, but well worth the extra expense. Here are pictures of the end plates as I am unboxing the hitch:

This is the hitch piece which attaches to the end plates:

Everything has a nice powder coated finish. Quality welding is evident throughout. The included hardware:

You can view the Torklift installation manual for this item HERE I do not intend to replace the factory manual here, just to supplement it and add some helpful pictures. So read the manual and follow it, I will not repeat what's in the manual, just add my installation notes.

I would not have attempted this installation without some quality air tools. Your first step is to remove your factory hitch, and that itself is very difficult without a good impact wrench. So if you were thinking of just using a set of sockets because this thing is no-drill, think again. It is also very helpful to do this installation with 2 relatively strong individuals because it helps a lot to have someone to help you lower the factory hitch and raise the Superhitch into position.

Remove the factory hitch. Hold onto it if you have the space, because Superhitches have quite a good resale value so when you sell your truck swap it back out and sell the Superhitch.

Assemble the Superhitch and lift it into place. Even with 2 people, it would be very difficult to hold it into place and bolt it on. So what I did is put a piece of wood on an automotive floor jack and use it to lift the weight of the Superhitch. Then we just positioned it and started bolting it into place.

Everything else in the manual is pretty straight-forward. It also has some very important and helpful information about weight distribution and towing. We carry several types of weight distribution setups to compliment the Superhitch and extension.

Bolting it into place:

In place:

It took about an hour to do it. In the last picture you can see the 4 holes in the side of the end plate to which you attach your rear Torklift tie-down.

Ride Rite Air Springs Installation

Installation of Ride Rite kit #2071 on a 2003 F350.

Here is a picture illustrating why I put air bags on this truck:

See the difference in the gap on the front and rear wheels? Note the dipping of the trailer nose and squatting of the rear of the truck. This setup is using a Torklift Superhitch and a 28" extension. I am using a Rapid Hitch 5-3/4" drop version at the highest rise setting. The trailer is approximately 7000lbs. Tongue weight is unknown. Having this condition, with the front of the vehicle being raised, changes the handling characteristics of the truck in a dangerous way. When you reduce the weight on the front tires you reduce steering effectiveness in emergency maneuvers. Braking effectiveness is also reduced. Optimally you want

the truck to be as level as possible. With 4000lbs in the bed, the first step is to put air springs on the truck to support the extra weight. If this isn't sufficient to level the load weight distribution bars should be added.

This article is meant to give a better graphical representation of the installation process for Ride Rite air springs. While different applications will differ, this is a good example and will provide some detail that the factory instruction manual does not. I do not intend to replace the factory manual. You can see the factory manual here: RideRite #2071 PDF manual.

Picture of the top of the air bag with the top bracket attached:

I gave the air fitting about 4 full turns to make sure that there was a good seal.

I assembled the air spring as described in the manual and placed it on the leaf spring. Note how unlevel it is:

The installation manual poorly describes how to fix this problem. I have to admit I didn't catch it the first time and proceeded to mess up the driver's side air bag thusly:

Notice how it is quite crooked to the bed of the truck and the frame? You do want to have the air bag level to the bed and the frame, the idea is to have it travel vertically as the axle does. The box includes 2 sizes of brackets so that you can level it. 1/2" and 1". In the above picture I used 2 of the 1" brackets on the bottom and none on the top of the leaf spring. In this picture you'll see it assembled properly:

Note how level the setup is in relation to both the frame and the bed of the truck. This is how you position it in order to mark your drill holes. The manual indicates that the height of the air spring must be between 6-1/2" and 5" in this position. As it is situated here, there is no pressure on the air spring, it is sitting here unloaded and measures almost 6-1/2". You also need to adjust it so that the top bracket is flush to the frame. The kit includes some washers in case your frame is indented. The bottom bracket is adjustable so that you can slide it in and out to position the air spring as well. In this application I needed to slide the bottom bracket all the way towards the outside of the truck.

In this photo you'll see that the emergency brake cable is in the way of the application:

While the manual indicates that some Fords have this issue, this truck is not in the date range they listed. It does need to be moved though, so I used the included bracket to relocate it:

You need to make sure that the bottom bolt on the bracket is at least 1/2" away from the air spring when you position it. It was in this case, so I did not need to cut the end of the bolt off. You will note that the bracket directly below it is still there. In the manual it says that if it is in the way to remove it. It did not appear to stick out enough to affect the installation so I did not remove it.

Once everything is out of the way, you can position the air spring in place again and mark the holes you need to drill. The frame is hard to drill. It helps to have good quality high speed drill bits made for drilling steel. What also saved a LOT of time in drilling, was to drill a small pilot hole and then use the larger bit to drill the hole.

Next, mount the air spring in place. Use washers if necessary on the top bracket. Attach the bottom bracket.

Here it is fully mounted. I attached the air line before mounting it because it looked like it might be hard to stick it in once it was mounted.

Next route the air lines to a convenient place where you can get to it to adjust the air pressure. The manual recommends putting the fittings near the license plate. This is not practical for me, because of the way the truck campers hang off the back of the truck. I found a couple holes that were already in the bumper at the bottom near the outside edges so I used those. They should be easy to access even with a long camper loaded and a trailer attached:

View from the inside:

View from the outside:

It is kinda hard to see it in this picture, but the brass fitting is just below the red circle reflection in the bumper, just behind the rear tie-down.

This installation took me about 4 hours. I definitely took my time and I didn't use any air tools. Of course the second one took much less time than the first. If I was to do it again I could probably knock it out in about 2 hours.

This is the result:

You can see how much the air springs lifted the truck and evened out the whole setup. Everything here is the same as the first picture in this series except that I have the air springs installed with 80psi. Note the gap in the rear wheel well, it's much improved. Note the angle of the trailer. It is raised significantly. The rig drives much nicer now. Well worth the small investment.

Fifth Airborne Sidewinder Installation