Much in the same vein as “you get what you pay for,” the experience of towing a racecar trailer is only as enjoyable and as safe as the tools you invest in. Sure, it’s vital that you have the right truck and trailer combination for the load that you’re carrying, but accessories from companies like RealTruck can aid your towing, making your operation safer, more secure, and easier to manage going down the road. Your most prized possessions — your family and your racing operation — deserve it. And so do you … your trips to the track, no matter how long or short, shouldn’t be any more challenging than they need to be.

We’ve partnered with RealTruck to showcase what we believe are 10 of the best towing products — in no particular order — that you can buy to equip your rig with improved safety, security, and drivability.

Air Lift LoadLifter 5000 Ultimate Air Bag Kit 

The key to a comfortable ride, and more importantly, a safe ride, is ensuring that both your truck and trailer are level. You’re going to see this throughout this list, as that fact cannot be overstated. Towing a heavy load, particularly one that is too much for your truck, can cause the combination to sag at the hitch, pitching the nose of the trailer and the tail of the truck down, redistributing the load in an unsafe fashion. Wearing out tires is the least of the concerns here, as it also causes the handling and braking characteristics of the truck and trailer to become unsafe.

Air Lift’s LoadLifter 5000 Ultimate air bag kits provide up to 5,000 pounds of load-leveling capacity. The kit fits 1/2-ton up to 1-ton trucks and vans with leaf springs, and features an internal jounce bouncer, is available with stainless steel or plastic air lines, and includes the roll plates, mounting brackets, and hardware.

Timbren Suspension Enhancement Systems 

A simpler and more cost-effective means of leveling your load and reducing strain on your truck’s suspension, Timbren’s Aeon rubber springs replace the factory bump stops for towing scenarios where your vehicle’s payload capacity would cause them to bottom out. These springs provide more resistance and less travel while loaded to create a more stable and comfortable ride, reduce sag and sway, cushion your shocks, and help keep your truck level.

Installation of these kits requires less than 30 minutes for a typical D.I.Y. individual, and only minimal tools, as there are only a few components.

SuperSprings Trailer SumoSprings

There’s leveling for your truck, and there’s also leveling for your trailer. Much in the same regard as Timbren’s rubber springs, these SumoSprings from SuperSprings improve your trailers’ load-carrying ability, stabilize sway, and improve driver control and comfort. The springs are maintenance-free, with no air lines or compressors — instead, the air inside Sumosprings is captured in millions of air pockets inside the micro-cellular urethane material. That means there is no leaking or rupturing like traditional air bags.

Supersprings come in blue and black. The blue springs are for trailer frames with a GAWR of 3,000-5,000 pounds, with the spring sitting underneath the axle tube. These shouldn’t be compressed past 70 percent of their original height in order to keep full memory rebound. The black springs are designed for trailer frames with a GAWR of 5,000-8,000 pounds, with the spring sitting on top of the axle tube, and should not be compressed past 65 percent of their original height.

Supersprings Trailer SumoSprings are a one-piece unit and only mount at one end.

Edge CTS3 Evolution Programmer

Extra horsepower and torque — and perhaps even a few more miles-per-gallon of efficiency — is never a bad thing to have when you’re towing a heavy load. RealTruck is a dealer for a number of the top aftermarket tuners in the industry, including the CTS3 from Edge Products.

The CTS3 gets the nod from us for its proficiency with diesel applications. It sports a full-color, high-definition 5-inch capacitive touchscreen with auto-dimming. Its built-in performance meter measures 0-60 and 1/4-mile times, it monitors key parameters such as transmission temperature, boost, RPM, EGT, load percent, and percentage of fuel left, can read and clear diagnostic trouble codes, has settings for mileage, towing, daily driving, performance, and extreme use, and features customizable gauges and backgrounds.

The unit works with OBD-II enabled vehicles, and uses an HDMI-style plug for power and linking EAS accessories, and has high-speed data logging with export capability.

The CTS3 is the perfect tool for gaining extra power and torque, improving throttle response, increasing fuel economy, and the overall driveability of your rig.

K Source Snap-On Custom Towing Mirrors 

RealTruck offers an array of replacement and upgraded towing mirrors, including OEM-style mirrors that replace your factory side mirrors with a more permanent solution to expand your fold of view out and around the sides of your trailer. And we’d advise you visit the website and browse their options. But the most simple of solutions are these K Source mirrors that simply snap on to your pickup for towing, and can be just as easily removed when you’re not.

These feature a manually adjustable lens, install tool-free, and are designed to prevent vibration that could alter your view.

Weigh Safe Adjustable Ball Mount 

The Weigh Safe adjustable ball mount features a built-in scale that signals you to adjust your load before you hit the road, resulting in a much safer and enjoyable towing experience. Gauging your trailer’s tongue weight is easy — no relying on inefficient bathroom scales, trips to the weigh station, or purchasing a separate tongue weight scale. To measure your tongue weight, couple your trailer to your ball mount, and the weight of your trailer will push down on the hitch ball, which will push down on an internal hydraulic piston that sits on a bed of oil. When the piston drops into the oil, the pressure reading is sent out to the scale.

RealTruck Husky Liners® Custom Molded Mud Flaps 

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No one likes to get their trailer any dirtier than they have to. Nevermind risking damage to the aluminum skin from flying debris. Husky is a well-respected manufacturer of truck accessories with a great reputation, and their custom molded mud flaps are a no-fuss, simple product that look nice, hold up to the elements, and get the job done. Made of a nail-tough, all-weather thermoplastic, these mud flaps have great impact resistance, require no drilling on most applications, have a limited lifetime warranty, and are even made in the USA. They’re available in single or dually (factory tire) width, so there’s a product for every application … even cars.

Blue Ox SwayPro Weight Distribution Hitches 

The last thing you want with a heavy load behind your trailer is unsafe sway. The SwayPro Weight Distribution Hitch from Blue Ox not only handles weight distribution, but sway prevention as well by using the combination of loaded spring bars, easy-to-use rotating latches, and an integrated hitch head. If your trailer tries to sway, the hitch puts a heavier load on one side of the bars. When this occurs the spring bars will pivot on the hitch head and balance each other, preventing the trailer from swaying.

Trunnions that are located on each side of the hitch head employ a caster effect, working with spring bars to constantly push inward, keeping the trailer in line.

The SwayPro also puts more weight on the towing vehicle’s front tires for better weight distribution, which increases steering control and braking, for safer and easier towing experience. Continuing our earlier theme, the SwayPro provides your truck and trailer combination a level ride, more evenly distributing your payload where it should be: at the axles of your trailer.

There are options for 2- and 2.5-inch receivers. The SwayPro hitch has a 7-hole, 9-hole, or 11-hole shank option, and a maximum gross towing weight of 20,000 pounds, with six different tongue weights: 350, 550, 750, 1,000, 1,500, and 2,000 pounds. It is constructed from heavy-duty steel with a black powdercoat finish, and comes pre-installed with a chrome-plated 2-5/16-inch hitch ball.

Brandmotion Tailgate Replacement Camera

While modern trucks all come standard with backup cameras that can make lining up your hitch to the trailer without assistance possible, not everyone has the luxury of a new truck. I mean, have you seen the price of new trucks lately?

Fortunately, there are affordable solutions to that problem. One of the more popular brands of aftermarket backup cameras, Brandmotion, offers an array of options, including very clean tailgate handle replacements that blend in nearly as seamlessly as an OEM setup. Those cameras however, aren’t necessarily ideal for hitch alignment, so your choice depends upon your needs.

A great option for this is Brandmotion’s tailgate replacement cameras, which comes with a mounting bracket to install the camera to the screw on your license plate, and angle the camera at your hitch. This product is camera-only, so if the camera doesn’t integrate into your factory display (or your older truck doesn’t have a display) you’ll need to purchase an aftermarket screen for your dash, or BrandMotion sells rearview mirrors with built-in screens to display your view while in reverse. There’s also a bullet mount camera option, if you’d prefer to mount your camera in a more custom location or orientation.

The camera features a CMOS sensor with a 648 x 488 resolution (420p), with a 0.5-Lux for better illumination and  sharper image, 150-degree horizontal and 100-degree vertical field of view, parking gridlines, and has a waterproof case with anti-fog lens to manage the elements.

Given the detailed electronic work necessary to get this system up and running, and the potential risk of shorting out your vehicle’s electrical system if done improperly, the team at RealTruck recommends having a professional handle this project on your truck.

Power Stop Z36 Truck and Tow Brake Kit 

You can’t talk safe towing without including stopping in the conversation. The Power Stop Z36 brake kit is one of RealTruck’s more popular offerings, and for good reason, as fitments exist in its catalog for a myriad of trucks, cars, and SUV’s from the 1980s to the present.

The Z36 kit is ideal for towing heavy loads or consistently traveling in hilly terrain. This kit includes the Z36 brake pads, as well as drilled and slotted rotors; the chamfered holes reduce temperatures during extreme braking, while the slots sweep away dust and gas for improved braking. The rotors are constructed of G3000 steel castings from Power Stop trusted foundries, and are silver zinc plated for excellent rust resistance. The pads are constructed of a carbon-fiber-infused ceramic formula for increased braking power, and the surfaces are thermal scorched for fast break-in. There’s a three year or 36,000-mile warranty on these, as well.