Are Timbrens worth it?

Hi everyone. My current situation is that soon I will be tasked with towing close to 4k lbs with my 2008 Nissan Xterra that has a tow capacity of 5k lbs. The cargo will consist of a Uhaul 6x12 trailer w/ ramp and a kei truck in that trailer. Now, the Xterra isn't quite built for outright towing, but it has the capacity to haul decently.

I've towed once before with it, but that was only about 1k to 2k lbs or so, and it handled that flawlessly as expected for such a light load. Now that I'm increasing the weight for this tow, and possible future tows, are Timbrens worth it? I know air bags would be the best, but towing constitutes probably 1% of what this thing is used for, with the other 99% being my wife commuting to work. Due to that, I would like to limit how much I'm spending on this and the air bags are a bit more expensive.

And yes don't worry, I'll be taking it slow when driving. Anyway, would it be worth it to install Timbrens on the truck, or am I better off saving my money? If any other info is needed I can certainly provide it.

I put Timbrens on my 2005 Tacoma BCLB when I added the plow, knowing that I would be putting at least 400 pounds of ballast in the bed. 
 

They did what I needed them to do, and had no impact on normal driving. I may have accidentally exceeded the rated capacity of the bed a time or two, and the Timbrens definitely made a difference then. In fact, I can't see any downside unless you are trying to do some serious off reading on an otherwise stock suspension and need maximum flex. 
 

I would absolutely buy them again, although they probably cost 50% more now than when I bought mine. They were on my truck for at least 100k miles. 

Sounds like overkill. You are trying to solve a problem you haven't even encountered. 
 

Why don't you tow the 4000 lbs a little bit before making the decision?  You are well within the OEM specs (which are usually very conservative).

Well after all my grousing at Marjorie (my apologies) on the validity of this subject matter....guess what, I searched the interweb and to my amazement what did I find ......TIMBRENS....a very kool product I must say

Thanks guys, I actually ended up buying the Timbrens anyway and have them installed on the Xterra. Going to tow the load in the next couple weeks, we'll see how it goes!

SV reX said:

Sounds like overkill. You are trying to solve a problem you haven't even encountered. 
 

Why don't you tow the 4000 lbs a little bit before making the decision?  You are well within the OEM specs (which are usually very conservative).

That's the correct answer. My last f150 (2020) needed airbags when towing anything with any tongue weight to speak of. Pulled the airbags off when I got current truck (2021) and of course rear suspension is totally different. It's basically a single leaf and an overload. 

Went to pickup a boat 4 states away with this current truck two weeks ago and hastily bought and installed $600 worth of airbags prior to trip, only to hitch up down there and see next to no squat before even adding air beyond the 5psi they recommend you run as a minimum at all times.

Ie. I'd have been fine with no additional help in the rear. But for me there was no way to know how bad it would be until I was away from home (didn't/couldn't know the tongue weight of the trailer beyond a guess).

Turns out my weak link was the poor little 3.3L under the hood vs expected speeds even in the right lane of I95.