I have a basically stock 2012 F350 KR.. I love most aspects of the truck, had it for two years and have 56,000Kms on it.

I've been working in an area with crap roads for the last while and it's made me even more aware of one of my perceived shortcomings of the truck. The suspension. I'm not sayings it's not good suspension, I'm saying that for my application it's overkill.

I've bought F350's since the 7.3L because I've always had a very large camper/rv to pull. Long story short, we've sold our rv and now I need to either downsize trucks or make my F350 (which I am a big fan of otherwise) a little more user friendly.

I'm wanting the truck to be smoother, quieter, and less clunky when I'm driving on a rough road, over a pothole, over train tracks, etc. As it is it's somewhat obnoxious and uncomfortable to me going over anything even remotely rough.

I don't want to lift my truck at all. My last F350 had a lift on it and I wasn't a fan of it because it served me no practical purpose.

My truck is basically stock, aside from a canopy and a Titan tank.

90% of my driving is on the highway with 10% being on gravel roads and rougher lease roads.

What does the aftermarket offer as far as something that will make my truck smoother over rough roads? I'm guessing that with the F350 suspension and no longer pulling a load, it's just too aggressive? I know next to nothing about suspension so I'm hoping people with more knowledge can help get me pointed in the right direction.

Thanks,
Kevin.

 

Most people on here including myself who don't lift their trucks at least upgrade to Bilstein 5100 series shocks which provide a drastic improvement over the stock ones. It will improve your ride and handling on rough roads, won't make it ride like a Lincoln, but you will like the improvement. At the same time it's a good idea to upgrade your steering stabilizer, Bilstein makes a direct replacement for this as well.

 

Hi Kevin,

I hate to say it, there's no good option here. Many people have reported ride improvements with better shocks, but in my experience it'll still be pretty rough. Unsprung weight is the enemy when it comes to ride smoothness and handling, and these trucks have a LOT of it with a heavy axle up front.

Softer springs would lower your ride height, but in return you would hit your bump stops more frequently, and that's not conducive to a good ride either. Some report a smoother ride with a lift kit because of all the suspension travel that you gain, but that can do some scary things to handling and braking in the event of an emergency maneuver.

In summary: I think you need a smaller truck.

 

Kevin, it won't cost you that much, to replace/upgrade your shocks, as perhaps a "last ditch effort" before down-sizing. The Bilstein 5100's or the Rancho RS9000's are apparently a drastic improvement over the stock shocks, and can be purchased for less than $400....

What they hey, give it a shot, if that still doesn't do it for you, then, yeah, maybe start looking at a "non-heavy duty" truck

 

Kevin, removing your overload spring (or stops) would make a big difference. When unloaded and hitting potholes or big bumps I can feel my overloads slapping the stops. This is very jarring. You will still have a firm ride without them, but you will loose one big aspect of your rough ride.

 

I'm in the same boat. 90% of my driving is on road unloaded. I dealt with this issue piece by piece with my '05 Dodge and at the end I had not lifted it but had basically replaced everything under the truck with a bolt on "better than OEM" replacement. I finally rode in a truck with a small lift that was built from the ground up to work together with spring and shock pairings that increased travel and at the same time kept that truck off of its bump stops. I bought that kit my buddy had showed my and it changed the truck with minimal lift. Its small enough some guys don't change tire size(not me). Anyway if you are banging around hitting your head and launching the contents of your center console you have to address that with a suspension system or replace some stuff and slow way down...I don't like to slow down especially off of the road.

 

While all of the above suggestions are good.

Lowering your tire pressures makes a dramatic difference to the ride of your truck off-road, going down from 65psi to 30-40psi (depending on terrain) makes the ride of the truck substantially better.
In terms of limiting noise, look at Epic's door seal modification.

 

I did all four doors as soon as I got the truck. I'm going to check/lower tire pressure and go from there. It seems to be the cheapest and easiest option. I suspect that if I end up staying in the F350, I'll end up with something more substantial as far as suspension components go...

Thanks to everyone for some really great suggestions. I appreciate the help.

Kevin.

 

You will have to have your dealer adjust your TPMS alert threshold or your dash will be yelling at your for the low pressure.

 

Ok, if you have already done that, check that the door strikers/latches are aligned as well, if not, it can allow the doors to move substantially.

Also, I know its stupid, check everything is tied down in the cabin. I had a weird thumping noise off-road from what sounded like the rear passenger side door. I disassemble half my truck on that side trying to find it, and realize that it was my Hydraulic Jack that wasn't tied down.

 

Thanks for the heads up, I wouldn't have considered that.

 

Haha, I've been there.

I should clarify, the only noise I meant was the suspension clunking over rough patches.

 

Kevin, the clunking is almost def your overload springs smacking the stops.

 

Even without towing anything and next to nothing in the back?

 

EXACTLY! When your towing something or have a load in the back the overloads are already engaged and can't slap. Empty, they are an inch or so away and when you hit a bump the main springs compress and the overloads come up and slap the stops. When loaded they can't slap because they are always touching. Mine do this all the time when empty. Even with my tires aired down for the winter. If I didn't tow a very heavy RV in the summer I wouldn't have them there anymore. The stops are only a couple of bolts to remove. Pull them off and you'll see an immediate improvement.