Calling all suspension geeks.

[b dkw1]

Have you checked the bushings and the links on the sway bar to make sure everything is good?

If those are good, bigger shocks, better sway bar. Then air the bags up in the rear. Be aware, those bags hard mounted like that are probably limiting your down travel in the rear. Articulate it hard and you can rip them. I would recommend the Daystar cradles.

Front, get a new leaf pack, the stock ones suck.

 

[Newbflat]

sorry, out camping for a few days.

thatns for all the info... I think I will look at new springs front and rear and shocks I guess. In the mean time I will add some falling wedges on the over loads and deal until I an spring up.

 

[fisher205]

I went the cheap route on '01 F350 with a 10' Alaskan. I took a couple of hockey pucks on the overload mounts so that the overloads were in contact all the time. It seemed to work well when loaded, but would it about kill me if the camper was unloaded and I hit bumps. Basically, my springs were shot, but at the time I did not want to put any more money into the truck.

 

[burt]

sorry, out camping for a few days.

thatns for all the info... I think I will look at new springs front and rear and shocks I guess. In the mean time I will add some falling wedges on the over loads and deal until I an spring up.

Id get a new set of leaf springs in the rear that match your load. Your springs are too soft whether they always were or sagged with age. With a dedicated camper set up you have a much easier task than a normal work truck that needs to ride acceptable but has drastically varying loads. Trying to get it to sit on the overloads isnt what you want. I’d go slightly on the light side for the spring pack if you are going to keep the airbags so you have some adjustability since if your main pack is right the bags will make it even more stable but give you the option to dump them to be plusher on wash board or other rocky road. You can get stock style aftermarket springs in your budget and if they are the right weight will fix you up. If you shop around you can get us made ones that are pretty high quality.

 

[Newbflat]

So I finally had the truck weighed yesterday. My 99 F350 extra cab with an Alaskan with 27 gallons of water in it, full tank of gas, plus about 75% of the gear I want to carry and two people weighed 9930lbs.... my GVWR is 9900 Split 4400lbs front/ 5400lbs rear. That’s a bummer as I had planned to add about 500lbs more weight and thought I had about that bunch buffer.. apparently not. I guess that truck weighed a lot more than I thought it did. I wish I had weighed it befor I put the camper on it.

So when you buy leaf springs how do you buy them? The camper wet should be about 2100lbs and I have about 500lbs of gear and stuff. if I want to carry 500lbs more no I look for a spring packages of 3000lbs or so? Or is there a different equation?

 

[MichaelK10]

So I finally had the truck weighed yesterday. My 99 F350 extra cab with an Alaskan with 27 gallons of water in it, full tank of gas, plus about 75% of the gear I want to carry and two people weighed 9930lbs.... my GVWR is 9900 Split 4400lbs front/ 5400lbs rear. That’s a bummer as I had planned to add about 500lbs more weight and thought I had about that bunch buffer.. apparently not. I guess that truck weighed a lot more than I thought it did. I wish I had weighed it befor I put the camper on it.

So when you buy leaf springs how do you buy them? The camper wet should be about 2100lbs and I have about 500lbs of gear and stuff. if I want to carry 500lbs more no I look for a spring packages of 3000lbs or so? Or is there a different equation?

Most replacement leaf springs are sold each, so I'd take your rear axle weight and divide it by 2 to get a rough spring capacity. These factory replacement spring packs won't be as dialed in as custom springs would be, but it should get you close for a lot less money. And generally speaking, the more leaves you have for a given weight should ride better, since you have lots of thinner leaves vs a few thick leaves. Don't forget new ubolts to go with the springs.

 

[quachau]

So I finally had the truck weighed yesterday. My 99 F350 extra cab with an Alaskan with 27 gallons of water in it, full tank of gas, plus about 75% of the gear I want to carry and two people weighed 9930lbs.... my GVWR is 9900 Split 4400lbs front/ 5400lbs rear. That’s a bummer as I had planned to add about 500lbs more weight and thought I had about that bunch buffer.. apparently not. I guess that truck weighed a lot more than I thought it did. I wish I had weighed it befor I put the camper on it.

So when you buy leaf springs how do you buy them? The camper wet should be about 2100lbs and I have about 500lbs of gear and stuff. if I want to carry 500lbs more no I look for a spring packages of 3000lbs or so? Or is there a different equation?

you can run airbags to help with additional weight

 

[burt]

He says he has air bags. One thing to check if you find the air bags don’t improve your stability is if they are on independent lines. I’ve heard sometimes people tee them together in which case air pressure can freely flow back and forth between them not helping sway. If they are independent they really should help in the mean time but sounds like your main spring pack is pretty overwhelmed

 

[Newbflat]

So I did a little experimenting with felling wedges between my overload springs and main leaf springs, kind of a poor mans stable-load. The work pretty damn good really... the ride has stiffened up a lot and I get no real wobble or sway when a front wheel drops into a hole when I’m leaning on a sloped road. I’v gained back about 1.5 inches and it feels good. I know it’s not a perming fix and when I get the truck fully set up and loaded I will invest in springs front and back and likely adjustable shocks as well. But for now though these will do. I’ve thrown a lot of money at the truck lately and a full set of power stop rotors, calipers, pads and branded lines are in the Mail. Stopping seems kinda important so I decided to do that first.

air bags have Independent lines..... and one leaks ?

 

[Runfar21]

Excellent! Sounds like engaging overload spring earlier is a workable temporary solution.


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