Thanks, I'll give that a shot once I air down the tires and test that out for a few days. I might get out of this yet, without spending a pile of money!

 

I just went out and looked at mine. The rears are closer to start with so I'm guessing I'd start with them before removing the fronts. I did lie though. 4 bolts on each stop...

 

To get a noticeably softer ride you would need to do a complete package of several things:
- lighter duty tires, range D or less, aired down. your fuel economy may suffer
- softer spring rate, for the front you could order OEM ford one with less lbs/in. For the rear you would likely need new packs, as the EOM ones don't have many leaves to start with.
- shocks valved for softer springs, not going to find any thing off the shelf so an adjustable shock like the rancho 9000 would work.
- smaller sway bars. don't think one exists for the front, remove the rear if you have one.

The improvement may not justify the cost of the above stuff ($2000+), and it may be a problem when you go to sell the truck. I would recommend spending that $ on a different truck.

 

I'm going to just try airing down the tires and removing the stops for now.

I'll take the advice to go ahead with a smaller truck into careful consideration prior to sinking a pile of money into an entire new suspension kit though.

One thing I do have to remember is that I will be taking a substantial hit on resale seeing as how I bought the truck new.

I'm not sure if it's actually fair to weigh that depreciation amount against the cost of upgrading my current suspension system, or if it's just the argument I've drummed up to convince my wife not to kill me if if/when I do upgrade..

 

Kevin, have you heard of Carli Suspension? HRT Offroad out of Okotoks, Alberta Sells that suspension brand. Carli is top notch and I am currently waiting on some shipping quotes back from HRT, which I should get on Monday and then I'll be ordering my kit. Yes the suspension is expensive but they are the best of the best for out of the box suspension systems, only down side is with a leveling kit you have two options, either the Starter kit which has Bilstein 5100s or the top of the line Pin-top kit which has King Pin-top shocks. Either kit is going to ride way better than stock in any situation and I would highly recommend them if you are driving on rough roads

 

I'm waiting on a quote from HRT as well, thanks for the advice.

 

A guy I work with has the full blown Carli kit with King shocks... Just have to tell you, I'm not all that impressed with it and neither is he. He said he'll never buy another one. Before I sank a ton of money into it..... I'd strongly suggest driving in one that has it ! JMO

 

I agree with RussB's recommendation about driving one before you buy anything. If you can't drive the roads you are getting bounced around on do your best to recreate them. Sounds like work cause it is. My'05 Dodge beat me to death as I mentioned earlier. I changed components one by one and when I was done I found I had not changed the core problem. I was checking out my buddy's lift on the the way home from a gym we used to go to and fell asleep in his truck because it was so smooth. That was 10 years ago when KORE was the new thing for dodges. They addressed the suspension with their kits as a whole. Wheel/tire combos running very low psi. Deaver springs that were sourced and ultimately made to their in house specs. Rear leaf packs that were specific to truck and eliminated overload springs and steering and...you get it. When I had my kit installed on the dodge it was a totally different truck. Then it was stolen (twice second time for good) and I bought an '07 and drove it from the dealership to the shop that installed my second KORE kit. Since I had burned myself doing it my way the first time I researched every kit and when I bought my KORE kits I did everything they recommended even though a lot of what they said was counter intuitive. I had a really hard time with the low air pressure they recommended but deferred to the experts and ended up with a 7500 lb Raptor stomper. Fast forward to the '13 in my sig. I talked with everyone I could find with the search bar and after countless emails and PM's and more than a few phone conversations with Dan at Carli found some common themes. One is that the wheel/tire/tire pressure combo is the weak link that people are not giving enough weight. I flat out asked Dan "hey if I get the commuter or the pin top (King Resi) 2.5 inch leveling kits and keep my oem wheels and then buy tires when it's time can I get the same kind of performance I had in the KORE (out of biz) on my dodges?" "No way" was his answer. He went on to say that the guys that want to keep a 20" wheel or heaven forbid 22" or 24" are told and should understand the ride off road will be bad. He said they have learned the only way to keep a good ride off road with a 20 is with aftermarket slightly wider 20's and a 37" tire that they only rec. on their 4.5 inch kits. I went to a local shop that does a lot of carli kits for dodges and drove a Ford like mine with a 4.5 inch kit with 2.5 Kings and 18x9's with 37x13.50 Toyo MTs and it drove better than my stock truck on road and the limited time I had off road behind the shop was exactly what I thought it would be...smoooooth. So I ordered a commuter 2.5 inch with fox shocks, 18x9 aftermarket wheels and a steering stabilizer. As soon as my tires (35x12.50 Toyos) come in ill post pics on here and a vid on my YouTube channel with the same name and y'all can decide for yourselves if a real suspension system makes a real diff. I asked Dan for permission to paraphrase our conversations to put info on here for the "use the search bar" guys on here so there it is. Last thing, I did not go full kings yet as I had to buy wheels and tires but may upgrade in the future and chose a 18x9 inch wheels as 37's are a little big for my lifestyle: Kids, car washes, and parking garages.

 

^^ well said. I agree. 20" rims or bigger look great but they don't allow enough side wall on the smaller sized tires. Side wall flex does wonder for your ride quality, which is why people notice a difference when they let the air pressure down.

 

I have 2 out of the box suggestions. #1 is put weight in the back if your not using it regularly and keep your fuel tank full. I installed a 50 gal transfer tank behind the cab and with it and my stock tank full, what a difference. Must be close to 800#s and rides much better.

#2...... don't hate on me guys....Trade it in on a Raptor. I hear it has a much better suspension and is made for off road.

 

I have a Titan tank, which is close to double the stock ones size. I also have three giant totes of work gear the are always in the box. I can't say that I've ever noticed an improvement in the ride aside from when I used to tow our 34' RV.

As for the Raptor, I'm wanting to downsize (if I do) to something that gets noticeably better fuel mileage but I still absolutely won't buy anything smaller than a crew cab. With the gear I haul to job-sites and the fact that I have two kids, I'd be lost without the full sized back seat. Having said that, none of the current offerings from any of the manufacturers really jump out at me as far as being a truck that I'd be glad to trade in on. This F350 really is the perfect truck for me aside from fuel mileage, ride on rough roads, and the overall size of the truck. The size is probably the smallest of my beefs and the suspension is probably my biggest one. I think that if I could get the ride dialed in I would be ok with driving it for a long time.

I've got it set up exactly how I want it and I'm having a hard time finding a new truck that has the same storage capacities and interior room.

My driving is probably 85% highway/10% gravel roads/5% rough lease roads. I don't commute daily for work, once I'm on a job-site I typically stay there until the project is done. The highway ride I can live with as the only time I notice the suspension is if I hit a pothole or a set of tracks. It's the other 15% on rougher gravel and particularly on recently made and usually rough lease roads that I really notice the ride quality.

I have a rough piece of road just on the edge of the city where I live. I think I'll drive it a couple times today and then start tinkering with tire pressure and possibly remove the stops out of the rear.

 

Also if there are any member here from Saskatoon who have upgraded their suspension and wouldn't mind taking me for a few quick rides up and down McCorrmond Road over by Wilson's Greenhouse so I could at least have a comparison, it would be much appreciated.

Kevin.

 

Randy_270, you may be aware of this now but thought I would mention Carli does have a third option for the 2.5 inch kits. They have the two you mentioned, 5100's all around and a shorter King 2.5 Resi "Pintop" and now a middle off the road "commuter" with Fox 2.0 shocks with SD specific specs.

 

This is what I'm looking for all the time.....Cadillac suspension, or the feel of it, when I drive down a dirt road! Remember one thing, you drive a truck! It will never happen. I think you can get close. My truck is a work in progress. That's my goal too LOL! And I've done a lot of experimenting. I think I have a ride that's about as soft as stock with just about the same capabilities if not more. (I can tell you it's night and day from my '05 that's for sure!!) Just remember this, when's the last time anybody put a few thousand pounds in the back of a Cadillac and flew down that rough road and not worried about it!?!? Good luck.

 

But what if you DON'T put a few thousand pounds in the back and fly down a back road? In that case wouldn't you prefer a Cadillac?