Paul
I have tried everthing on my 53 F100 - stock springs, coil overs, and air ride on the
same truck.

I now have a Fatmans MII crossmember with tubular arms with the same Mopar screw in ball joints you have, and a four link in the rear.

I really like the ride and handling I get with the Air Ride system, but proper set up and installation is the main factor, as stated before, ball joint bind, ride height, proper clearance.

If you need info on your air ride set up the techs at ART can help ridetech.com

John

 

IMHO if the truck is a daily driver and you don't have a fairly sophisticated control system with computer, sensors, presets etc, replacing the airbags will end up being a lot more expensive in the long run, with excessive tire wear, poor handling, and drunken sailor stance going down the road. Those controls can cost thousands of dollars to add once you get tired of impressing the kids at the mall parking lot on Sat evenings.

 

I can asure you air springs do not cause tire wear and poor handling , in fact with my coilover set up- the ride and handling was really bad, that was due to the inproper installation.

My daily driver doesn't have a "sophisticated" system on it, I do have compressers and controls and it does great.

you can spend thousands on any system and still have tire wear and a poor ride - if it is not properly installed or set up.

impressing the kids at the mall parking lot is just one of many benifets

John

 

depends on the geometry of the IFS. If there is significant camber or toe gain or loss thru the travel (most do) then the alignment will only be right at one height, the height that it was at when aligned. Don't believe me, have your truck alignment checked then inflate and deflate your bags on the alignment rack and see how much the alignment changes. I can tell you for a fact that 10# of pressure difference in the TIRES will make a difference on most vehicles, that's why a good alignment tech's first step is to check the tire pressures. Or just watch your tires move around/flop in and out as you run through the bags pressure/height range. If you don't think that much alignment change affects the tire wear and handling, you are living in the land of Denial.
With a fixed ride height you can set the alignment for the best tire wear and handling under normal driving conditions.
I can't really argue with the fact that you had poor experience with coilovers when it was admittedly due to improper installation. Don't damn the product when it was operator error that caused the problem. A worn out beam axle won't handle worth a toot, but that doesn't mean all beam axles handle badly.