I currently have a Fabtech lift that was on the truck when I bought it. I think it's the basic lift. It rides like a tank and has minimal suspension travel. I wouldn't mind spending a little money to get something that rides/performs a little better. The only caveat that I can think of currently is that I need to incorporate air bags in the rear (either as a helper setup like I currently have or as a replacement for springs, etc.) so that I will be able to tow my 34' toy hauler. Any recommendations for a lift around 4"-6" or so?

 

Bump for the day crew...

 

There is a thread that isn't too old about a guy who replaced the rear leaf springs with a complete air suspension system, auto leveling, and the front had true variable rate springs. The front springs were wound with variable pitch and as they loaded up the fine pitch section would coil bind, making the spring stiffer under heavy load/bump, but a softer ride under smooth road conditions. I was very impressed, and you could get the front springs separate from the rears.

Edit: here it is: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...r-goodies.html

front springs are by Icon. You can see the variable pitch clearly in the picture. For those who haven't designed coil springs, the spring rate is basically a function of the wire diameter, the diameter of the coil and the number of coils. So those springs have a constant diameter of the wire, diameter of the coil, but the part where the number of coils per inch goes up is a lot softer than the section where the number of coils per inch is less. As soon as the section with lots of coils binds up (the coils touch each other and can no longer "spring", the stiffer section starts to do all the work. We used to try to do that in race cars but we could not control the "binding rate" close enough and we couldn't adjust it so we gave up. We put in big adjustable bump rubbers instead.

Brian

 

Thanks. Icon is supposed to be a pretty good brand. I've also been looking at full air suspensions front and rear. Very tempting...