Calling all suspension geeks.

[Newbflat]

I
I have a 99 F350 4x4 with an alaskan camper on a flatbed. It is bolted down and is a dedicated rig and will not be removed except for repair. While I haven’t weighed it yet I know the camper loaded, wet and gear weight is about 2500lbs give or take 200lbs. In the future with it totally built (under boxes and more water tanks) and fully loaded it might have about 500lbs more cargo, water etc...

At the moment it handles well when wet and loaded but when dry and “light” it has a bit of a sway and if I roll on un even ground, it has that un dampened rocking that is annoying. Add 500lbs and much of this goes away as it settles on the bottom overload springs and the uppers get to about 1/2 inch from touching the stops on the front (rear axle). With this load it handles better with minimal swaying on road and is well dampened off road with no real rocking, only a little at very end, that last degree or two it wobbles more than I want. The main issue at this wet loaded weight is I have about 2 1/2” of travel before the rear axle hits the stop. I did bottom out a number of time in some serious pothole (cluster bombed) roads. With this much weight on the truck (2500lbs or so) the leaf springs are about flat, the upper overloads are about 1/2” and 1” from the stops (front-back) and the lowers flat with the other leafs. Up front the leafs are about flat and I have about 3 1/4 travel left before the axle hits the stop.

I also have airbags in the rear that at this point have no air in them as I don’t see how they would help. If I used them to lift the rear I would unload the overload springs and it would likely become wobbly/sway again.

What I want.....
1. I want to get back as much travel as I can get before the axle hits the stop
2. I want it to handle well on the road without swaying or rocking. It does this with the full load... mostly... a little better would be nice.
3. Good off road manners, well dampened rocking/ swaying and as much travel as I can get reasonably.
4. I want it to work with the anticipated 500lbs added potential load.

What I see as my options...
1. Stableload lowers or equivalent...
2. Stableload uppers or equivalent..
3. Both Stableloads or equivalent...
4. Some combo of the two and my air bags working together.
5. New upgraded leafs?

What I don’t understand... (a lot but that’s a different subject)..
1. Which Stableloads do exactly what?... what’s the difference if I just use lower Stableloads vs. if I just use uppers.
2. How do I integrate the airbags?
3. What do I do up front? just not sure what my options are.

What I’m thinking.
1. Armchair thinking has left me with the thought .. Add stableload lowers and uppers and use the airbags to lift it until the uppers overloads are just touching on the front upper stop. Then they would engage right away, I would get my travel back, and the overloads would engage right away. Am I thinking clearly or do I have the concept all wrong? This also doesn’t address the front end.

Things to consider..
1. It has Blistein (blue and yellow) shocks
2. This truck/camper is for easy to moderate off roading at best. I’m not looking for anything fancy. All 4 wheels will be staying on the ground... I hope.
3. Not looking for a lift, at least at this point. I’m not getting bigger tires than I have (285/75/16’s) and want to keep the center of gravity as low as I can. If I can’t get there with this basically stock rig I probably shouldn’t be going there with this camper.

Thoughts?

sorry for the crappy pictures.... I think you can whats up though.

 

[montypower]

Bigger question is budget. Performance is at a cost... Deaver leaf springs would fix your handling trouble and you could ditch air bags. Handling performance will have much to do with proper spring rates for load and tuned shocks.

 

[Newbflat]

I’m not really looking to spend 2 grand on springs and shocks. I’m hoping for a reasonable solution for hopefully well under a grand.

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

Which Stableloads do exactly what?... what’s the difference if I just use lower Stableloads vs. if I just use uppers.

According to the StableLoad website, the lowers will do 70% of the work and the uppers will do 30%. So if you just use one, it should be the lower.

 

[Newbflat]

I saw that, but do I get back my travel? Do I use the air bags as well?

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

I saw that, but do I get back my travel? Do I use the air bags as well?

I really don't know. We're getting into a lot of complication and I've got no experience with this particular type of setup (I'm just kind of a suspension geek so your title drew me in ?). I'm no fan of air bags simply because of the additional complexity (and high failure rate).

It sounds like you are happy with the ride as long as there is enough weight to engage the overload springs. That sounds to me like the "regular" springs may be worn out. If you don't want to go crazy with it, perhaps just a new set of factory springs would do the trick. Assuming the current springs are original equipment then they are over 20 years old...

 

[MichaelK10]

I really don't know. We're getting into a lot of complication and I've got no experience with this particular type of setup (I'm just kind of a suspension geek so your title drew me in ?). I'm no fan of air bags simply because of the additional complexity (and high failure rate).

It sounds like you are happy with the ride as long as there is enough weight to engage the overload springs. That sounds to me like the "regular" springs may be worn out. If you don't want to go crazy with it, perhaps just a new set of factory springs would do the trick. Assuming the current springs are original equipment then they are over 20 years old...

Sorry, don't know much about Stableloads, but they seem pricey for what they are.
Rear factory replacement springs companies like General Spring offer different weight capacity leaf packs so you could customize to your truck weight and update your old springs at the same time.

For the front, Sumo Springs could do well, and never leak like airbags are prone to. I run a pair on the front of similar F250 plow truck, and they so a great job of stabilizing the weight and don't affect your suspension down travel. They have different densities as well.

Which SumoSprings density (color) is right for you?

Why are SumoSprings different colors? The different SumoSprings' colors identify their density. SumoSprings come in three different densities: blue SumoSprings are -40, black SumoSprings are -47, and yellow SumoSprings are -54. Blue – 40 Blue -40 density captures more air in the millions of...

www.superspringsinternational.com

This setup should run under a grand.

 

[Newbflat]

So this might be a stupid question, but.......... how do you tell if your leaf springs are worn out?

 

[Runfar21]

I’m not a suspension geek so disregard but I have a truck with similar weight camper and use just lower Stableloads. I am at max GVWR with camper, gear and family. Are you at or above max payload?

The difference is significant. Rear sags too much on a leveled truck and wallows when not engaged with the camper on but very stable with them engaged. I don’t keep the camper loaded full time so I like the flexibility to have factory handling unloaded yet have a level truck and stable hauling when loaded. Having camper loaded full time changes the equation and heavier duty springs may be better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[billiebob]

Beautiful rig

What about an old fashioned rear away bar?
And I'm thinking the red air line is rubbing on the aluminium cross member.

 

[Newbflat]

Beautiful rig

What about an old fashioned rear away bar?
And I'm thinking the red air line is rubbing on the aluminium cross member.

The truck has stock sway bars on it now. I’m not sure new ones will make a difference as I’m told switching to after market ones makes very little difference.

 

[Regcabguy]

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I have a 99 F350 4x4 with an alaskan camper on a flatbed. It is bolted down and is a dedicated rig and will not be removed except for repair. While I haven’t weighed it yet I know the camper loaded, wet and gear weight is about 2500lbs give or take 200lbs. In the future with it totally built (under boxes and more water tanks) and fully loaded it might have about 500lbs more cargo, water etc...

At the moment it handles well when wet and loaded but when dry and “light” it has a bit of a sway and if I roll on un even ground, it has that un dampened rocking that is annoying. Add 500lbs and much of this goes away as it settles on the bottom overload springs and the uppers get to about 1/2 inch from touching the stops on the front (rear axle). With this load it handles better with minimal swaying on road and is well dampened off road with no real rocking, only a little at very end, that last degree or two it wobbles more than I want. The main issue at this wet loaded weight is I have about 2 1/2” of travel before the rear axle hits the stop. I did bottom out a number of time in some serious pothole (cluster bombed) roads. With this much weight on the truck (2500lbs or so) the leaf springs are about flat, the upper overloads are about 1/2” and 1” from the stops (front-back) and the lowers flat with the other leafs. Up front the leafs are about flat and I have about 3 1/4 travel left before the axle hits the stop.

I also have airbags in the rear that at this point have no air in them as I don’t see how they would help. If I used them to lift the rear I would unload the overload springs and it would likely become wobbly/sway again.

What I want.....
1. I want to get back as much travel as I can get before the axle hits the stop
2. I want it to handle well on the road without swaying or rocking. It does this with the full load... mostly... a little better would be nice.
3. Good off road manners, well dampened rocking/ swaying and as much travel as I can get reasonably.
4. I want it to work with the anticipated 500lbs added potential load.

What I see as my options...
1. Stableload lowers or equivalent...
2. Stableload uppers or equivalent..
3. Both Stableloads or equivalent...
4. Some combo of the two and my air bags working together.
5. New upgraded leafs?

What I don’t understand... (a lot but that’s a different subject)..
1. Which Stableloads do exactly what?... what’s the difference if I just use lower Stableloads vs. if I just use uppers.
2. How do I integrate the airbags?
3. What do I do up front? just not sure what my options are.

What I’m thinking.
1. Armchair thinking has left me with the thought .. Add stableload lowers and uppers and use the airbags to lift it until the uppers overloads are just touching on the front upper stop. Then they would engage right away, I would get my travel back, and the overloads would engage right away. Am I thinking clearly or do I have the concept all wrong? This also doesn’t address the front end.

Things to consider..
1. It has Blistein (blue and yellow) shocks
2. This truck/camper is for easy to moderate off roading at best. I’m not looking for anything fancy. All 4 wheels will be staying on the ground... I hope.
3. Not looking for a lift, at least at this point. I’m not getting bigger tires than I have (285/75/16’s) and want to keep the center of gravity as low as I can. If I can’t get there with this basically stock rig I probably shouldn’t be going there with this camper.

Thoughts?

sorry for the crappy pictures.... I think you can whats up though.

Add a leaf and some King 2.5's.

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

So this might be a stupid question, but.......... how do you tell if your leaf springs are worn out?

Usually you can tell right away after you replace them!

Your description of the ride just makes it sound like the springs are flexing too much unless the overloads are engaged (and the overloads are very heavy springs). That would seem to suggest that they are not doing their job.

 

[David_h]

Air bags for me were not complex nor failure prone. I did also then subsequently have shop add couple leafs to each pack. Fast forward few years and I just ditched all that and had brand new custom leaf set made for my load/lift. Should have done it at the outset. $1000 for leaf set plus install. Local spring shop worked up a good design for me.

 

[sourdoughben]

Add a leaf and some King 2.5's.

That is what I did on my Tiger/Ram3500 4x4 RV plus a Hellwig Big Wig sway bar. Greatly improved handling. Kings have 55K on them and have noticed they have softened and might be real for a rebuild.