Liquid Spring

[eyemgh]

Has anyone had any experience with this system? They are going to make a setup for 1-tons like the F350. It is complex because of the electronics, but they have systems in a bazillion ambulances and busses and seem to have a good track record. It would only be a bit more than a full Carli, but offer lots of advantages. It self levels meaning it should ride well loaded or not. It has a significant amount of articulation. They have one pic with a single wheel lifted over 20”. At speeds below 15 mph, the front and back can be lifted to change approach, break-over and departure angles. Plus, they will offer leveling when parked. Their overland page isn’t well developed yet, and they only talk about the smaller chassis on FB. Pretty intriguing. ?

Smart Suspension Vehicle Upgrade | LiquidSpring

LiquidSpring’s innovative suspension technology is a game-changer for recreational, overland, emergency, and transit vehicles. Choose a vehicle to learn more.

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[BritKLR]

Has anyone had any experience with this system? They are going to make a setup for 1-tons like the F350. It is complex because of the electronics, but they have systems in a bazillion ambulances and busses and seem to have a good track record. It would only be a bit more than a full Carli, but offer lots of advantages. It self levels meaning it should ride well loaded or not. It has a significant amount of articulation. They have one pic with a single wheel lifted over 20”. At speeds below 15 mph, the front and back can be lifted to change approach, break-over and departure angles. Plus, they will offer leveling when parked. Their overland page isn’t well developed yet, and they only talk about the smaller chassis on FB. Pretty intriguing. ?

Smart Suspension Vehicle Upgrade | LiquidSpring

LiquidSpring’s innovative suspension technology is a game-changer for recreational, overland, emergency, and transit vehicles. Choose a vehicle to learn more.

liquidspring.com

FWIW. My brother-in-law is the director of fleet for a very large municipality. His budget for new Emergency vehicles is in the nine figures and this is the only suspension system they use on the heavy vehicles and he speaks very highly of this company. FWIW.

 

[Darwin]

They run about 15-20K BTW

 

[eyemgh]

They run about 15-20K BTW

I know they're pretty spendy. The final price for the smaller trucks is TBA. An article in one of the RV mags last year said they run $10-14,000. The RV setup would be bigger than the 1-ton setup. I'm wild guessing under $15K. A full Carli Pintop setup is about $12K installed. What the Liquid Spring will do is pretty compelling. I'd rather save on things like bumpers, etc and have a crazy bomber suspension. I just don't know if this will be that.

 

[ripperj]

That’s pretty cool, but awful expensive.

I’d spend $4500 on a Kelderman first, and that’s pricey enough.

2010-2013 Ram 2500/3500 4X4 Pickup 4-Link Rear Air Suspension | Kelderman

Get more done with one haul and enjoy the road while doing it by adding a Kelderman 4-Link Rear Air Suspension!

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[eyemgh]

That’s pretty cool, but awful expensive.

I’d spend $4500 on a Kelderman first, and that’s pricey enough.

2010-2013 Ram 2500/3500 4X4 Pickup 4-Link Rear Air Suspension | Kelderman

Get more done with one haul and enjoy the road while doing it by adding a Kelderman 4-Link Rear Air Suspension!

kelderman.com

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Kelderman is $4500 for the rear only.

Although it’s a 4 bar link, that’s where the similarities end. They‘re just air bags.

For that money ($6-7k), I’d probably do a Carli with a Deaver spring pack and leave a few chi-chi’s out. Since the camper will stay on full time, I probably wouldn’t want the torsion sway bar anyway. It improves articulation, but at the expense of highway speed roll (from the best I understand it). The radius arms are more for show than function.

Liquid Spring would combine full articulation while reducing high speed roll, two things usually in opposition. That’s the most interesting thing to me…better slow performance with better high speed comfort and safety.

On the odd chance I pull the camper, Liquid Spring auto levels.

It‘s not super difficult to level once parked, but it’s a bit of a pain. Leveling with the push of a button, without jacks, on a relatively agile overland vehicle (F350 with Hallmark K2) would be cool.

It‘s a lot of money, but relative to a new truck, camper, deck and boxes, and wheels and tires, I can somehow justify it…maybe. ?

 

[Copperhead14]

I worked on an ambulance that had it. Great system and is made about 15 minutes from me.

 

[eyemgh]

I worked on an ambulance that had it. Great system and is made about 15 minutes from me.

Good to know!

 

[ripperj]

I’m not trying to talk you out of it, get it and post lots of pics . I’d love to have it, but can’t justify it


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[Darwin]

Makes no sense on a light duty truck. I can it being helpful for a medium duty like the f550 where in order to get the 16,000 lbs load rating you need a lot of stiff springs.

I also don't know why anyone would spend 12k on a Carli kit. YOu can get THuren coils for like $350, The kings are the same price either way and Thuren will tune them for you and your application, Carli will not. The rest of the parts are all bolt on. I could put a full Carli Thuren kit on in my driveway drinking beer the whole time.

 

[eyemgh]

Makes no sense on a light duty truck. I can it being helpful for a medium duty like the f550 where in order to get the 16,000 lbs load rating you need a lot of stiff springs.

I also don't know why anyone would spend 12k on a Carli kit. YOu can get THuren coils for like $350, The kings are the same price either way and Thuren will tune them for you and your application, Carli will not. The rest of the parts are all bolt on. I could put a full Carli Thuren kit on in my driveway drinking beer the whole time.

The setup Carli did for TFL Truck is already tuned for what I need. It includes a Deaver pack too, and at that price, some chichis I wouldn’t really need, new radius arms for example, so it could be cheaper.

I’ll look into Thuren and like the idea of you installing it in my driveway (which I don’t have) while I drink beer. ?

In all seriousness though, it’s not the spring strength that I find interesting. It’s the on the fly adaptability. Usually roll and articulation are at odds with one and other. In this system they aren’t. I’ve never seen anything else like that. Plus, it adapts camper in or out and levels.

 

[rholbrook]

There is a lot going on with that system. When it works It’s great. It is however, one of the systems that seems to struggle to keep working.
F550 4x4 wheeled coach Ambulances, for context.
Just my first hand experience. But it is much more reliable then the air system we had on the rear in the prior model F450’s we used!


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[eyemgh]

There is a lot going on with that system. When it works It’s great. It is however, one of the systems that seems to struggle to keep working.
F550 4x4 wheeled coach Ambulances, for context.
Just my first hand experience. But it is much more reliable then the air system we had on the rear in the prior model F450’s we used!


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I was under the impression that they were pretty reliable in ambulances. I'd love to hear more about your experience. All the advantages go away if it's down any significant amount of time.

 

[rholbrook]

There is an override switch in one of the panels we can use to manually lower or raise the rear end. It happens enough that we joke every time “is it gonna drop?”
The suspension drops when the rear doors open, and raises when shifted from park. Much of our problems could very well be in the switching, interlocks, relays, and everything else that combines multiple systems in one custom wired vehicle.


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[eyemgh]

There is an override switch in one of the panels we can use to manually lower or raise the rear end. It happens enough that we joke every time “is it gonna drop?”
The suspension drops when the rear doors open, and raises when shifted from park. Much of our problems could very well be in the switching, interlocks, relays, and everything else that combines multiple systems in one custom wired vehicle.


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I know that switch that is very common in ambulances wouldn't be part of the system we get. It would also be brand new. That said, it will probably cost as much as the whole freakin' use ambulance!