I was recently afforded the opportunity to evaluate one of our vendor’s (StableLoad - Lowest Cost, Most Effective Suspension Upgrade Available) products and would like to share my experiences here with you. If you happen to own a 2011 and up F250, you are probably aware of the rear end sag that plagues our vehicles, even when lightly loaded. Now while many of us have used air bags to correct this problem, the StableLoad seems to have a more economical solution.

The object of the device is to preload your overload springs such that they become effective earlier. Simply, they are a wedge pack that attaches to each end of your overload spring. When engaged, they physically connect the overload to your leaf pack. They are quickly engaged/disengaged using a standard 3/8” ratchet and a 3” extension bar; you simply remove a retaining pin and rotate the wedge pack 90 degrees, that’s all there is to it.

I was going to head to the shop to do the work; however, it looked so easy I just did it in the driveway. You’ll probably spend more time reading the instructions than doing the install at least that was the case for me.

This first picture shows all of the pieces and parts laid out. The larger plates at the top and bottom are what attaches to the overload itself via the single hole at the ‘south’ end of the plate. The four things in the middle are the wedge packs themselves. The pivot 90 degrees on the larger 1/2" hole that is in the ‘northeast’ corner of each plate.



Each StableLoad is assembled by attaching a wedge pack to the mounting plate using the ½” bolt and a number of spacer washers. If you look at the last photograph, you can see the washers’ purpose: to account for the thickness of your overload. Mine miked out at 0.610 and 6 washers at 0.600. In this case LESS is better as we desire the wedge pack to be fully in contact with the overload; you DO NOT want to be transferring the load through the 1/2" bolt!

Tuning: the next four pictures show the relation of the overload to the leaf pack at all four corners. As was the case in my application they all have different spacing.

Left Front



Left Rear



Right Rear



Right Front



Each of the wedge packs (middle, first picture) is comprised of the 1/4” plates held together with a bolt. The instructions state to measure the gap between the overload and the leaf pack at each of the four corners and adjust the wedge pack thickness accordingly. Again in this case, more is better. For example, if the gap measured is 3/8” you would only want to remove the topmost wedge, leaving the wedge pack thickness at 1/2". Remember the idea is to preload the overload and you can’t do that if there’s an air gap when the StableLoads are engaged.

Installation: In order to install the StableLoads (actually, insert the bolt through the spring) you have to open up the space between the overload and leaf pack. To do that, simply raise the vehicle using a floor jack on the receiver hitch. (I didn’t even need to lift the rear wheels off the ground, just lighten the load so to speak.) Now before, you go doing that, make sure to chock your front wheels and please put a couple jack stands under your frame rails.

I assembled the StableLoads before attaching the mounting plate to the spring. You are asked to measure your overload’s width; this tells you how many (one or two) 1/4" x 3/4" bolts you will add to keep the plate centered on your overload. My overload was 3 1/4" wide, so I needed to only use 1 and that 1 goes into the 1/4" hole nearest the 1/2” ‘pivot’ hole. You may want to assemble them loosely, and hold them up to insure you have the correct orientation. Attaching is as simple as running the 3/8” grade 8 bolt through the top of the overload and through the mounting plate (but don’t forget the plastic sleeve that takes up the space between the bolt and spring).

The next 4 pictures show the StableLoads installed at the four corners and in the ‘engaged’ position. At this point they are still ‘unloaded’ (the truck is still on the jack):

Left Front:



Left Rear:


Right Front:



Right Rear:



The picture above also serves to illustrate the engagement mechanism: Do you see the 3/8” square hold just outboard of the 1/2" bolt? That is where you plug your 3/8” extension into. Once your remove the pin, you simply rotate the wedge pack 90 degrees to the left; replace the pin, and you are disengaged.

In the final picture below, you can see the Stableload in action. You can see how the wedge pack is transferring the load from the leaf pack to the overload:



Honestly, I expected the ride to be harsh with the StableLoads engaged with no load, but it wasn’t. I know many of you can relate to the older light duty trucks riding like a dream when heavily loaded, but teeth jarringly uncomfortable when unloaded. As others have opined, Ford probably targeted ride comfort in designing the leaf packs that are on the current trucks while perhaps not sacrificing load carrying capacity but rather ride height. So, if you occasionally carry a load and don’t like looking to the sky when driving, but are not quite ready to do air bags, then this product may be for you.

 

WOW, great write-up.

 

Great write up Herman. I actually got to see these in action on Tom's (Crazy001) F150 at the most recent Ohio meet. They worked pretty good from what I saw/felt while riding in it (engaged/disengaged). I believe Tom has a write up as well in the F150 forum if anyone's interested.

 

Nice write up Herman, I have a set on my Dually along with air bags. Straight road without a lot of turns pump up the air bags and the truck rides like a dream, get into the twisties, dump the air and the truck is very stable even with my 10' truck camper.

Cheers !!

 

Thanks Tim, I was wondering what it was like when you had both.

 

By the way, here is a link to their post offering discounts to FTE members: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...oad-first.html

 

I installed these a month ago.Works great... So much so I decided not to get bags...