From the pictures, it almost looks as if the new 450's have more of a rake than the current generation. Could be camera angle I guess. I wonder if they are starting out the DRW trucks with a rake like the SRW's so they are closer to level when loaded...

 

Our city has a couple of gas trucks in the mix, but they are just F-250 pickups used for miscellaneous and not for plowing. I'm not sure an F-550 with a 9.5' main plow and a 6' wing plow and a full-fledged sander unit in the rear would have enough power to push snow uphill with the gas V10 engine without being in 4x4 low.

The automatic headlamp leveling system is nothing new. In Europe, any car with H.I.D. headlights is required to have an auto leveling system to prevent dazzling other drivers "if the vehicle is heavily laden or towing." This applies to cars as well as trucks. All of these Audis, BMWs, Porsches, etc you have seen running around for 15+ years in the US with HID lights all have the leveling system. We had a '99 Audi A8 and a couple of Land Rovers with factory HID lights...they all had the leveling system and never had any issues.

I certainly agree the current gen of Super Duty trucks sag too much, and they have been bagged on in reviews for this. But that can be fixed without going to air suspension.

 

As long as it's through rake and not by compromising ride quality with stiffer spring rates... There's always the hard core dudes and bros that will say, "I want my truck to ride like a truck." Not me. I want it to perform like a truck and ride like as nice as possible. Being that I use mine for daily driving as well as long run RV trips, ride quality is very important to me. That's why I like the Ram's air ride. Smoother ride unloaded and level ride loaded. Best of both worlds. Remember, just because something was problematic in the past with other vehicle types, doesn't mean it can't be gotten right with new technology. The magnetic ride control that started out in the Cadillac CTS-V is now being offered in GM trucks. This is another great system. Ford needs something to compete.

 

Today's light duty air suspension parts would get you by for 4-5 years/100k miles or so reliably, based on what I see in service these days. Still going to be a bit salty when (which it will) it comes time though.

I'm in the air assist crowd personally. If I suffer an air system failure I can finish my trip and fix at my convenience, just have to live with the truck going down the road like a scolded dog....

 

I agree. Land Rover has a terrible reputation for quality and reliability, especially on electronics. Nevertheless, there have been many other "players" in the air suspension market: Audi Allroad, Audi A8, Mercedes S-Class, Lincoln Navigator, Ford Expedition, Ford Explorer, and probably several others I'm not thinking of. Virtually all of these have had poor reliability. A co-worker just had to replace all four air bags on his 2006 Navigator. It was quite expensive. There are aftermarket companies like Arnott that specialize in making aftermarket airbags as well as "coil spring" conversions for vehicles with air bag suspension.

Certainly technology improves and hopefully lessons are learned. But no one is going to disagree that there are far more failure points on an air suspension system than a coil / leaf system.

Delphi developed the magnetorheological dampers first used by Cadillac. Subsequently, they have migrated across a range of GM cars and a few luxury trucks. It is considered a licensed product, but a couple of other automakers have used the technology such as Ferrari and Audi. Interestingly, even Ford has licensed it on the Mustang GT350.

Interestingly, Ford has developed a new electronically controlled damper used on the 2015 Expedition and possibly some Lincolns. Reviews state that it is excellent.

 

Right - but that is an "assist" system. We are talking about going to a fully-integrated "air only" system, a la RAM 1500. In this case, if the air fails, you won't be continuing your trip with any kind of a load.

 

My '89 T-Bird Supercoupe had electronic control of shock dampening. It had three switch positions the driver could select by way of a switch on the console. "Sport", "Soft" or "Auto". In auto, it would automatically firm the dampening when it sensed heavy acceleration, deceleration or evasive steering. The top of each shock had an electric actuator sitting on the valve.

 

Actually, I was more referring to the air assist like the current Ram 3500. It has a split spring pack with a monoleaf spring running front to back and a shortened half pack from the axle forward to help with axle wrap. If the air failed, the truck would still be drive-able. The 2500 series also has air but at all 4 corners with coils all around. Also still drive-able in the event of a failure. However, unless it is a mechanical defect, it likely wouldn't effect folks that don't keep their trucks long term like myself. I personally don't work about longevity issues as my vehicles stick around 3-5 years and usually have only 50k on them or so when they go.

 

I could be wrong, but it looks like the RAM 2500 gives the option of rear coils or rear air shocks, not both. The 3500 does indeed have the single leaf you mention plus the airbag. However, that single leaf would never support the weight of anything other than an empty truck if the air bag failed. I wouldn't be pleased to be out on the road with a 5th wheel and have a rear air spring fail.

I will say that the 3500 setup looks much more like the typical Firestone aftermarket air bags which tend to be reasonably reliable. The 2500 setup looks just like what the Range Rovers had. Air springs themselves aside, I'd be wary of the other components.

I do like the axle location method in the RAM better than "just leafs" as the Ford / GM trucks use...I would think axle wrap would be all but eliminated. I wonder how much suspension travel these air systems would have, though. The 3500 appears it would have very little. Most people don't care, but in rough terrain it is a necessity.

 

The Ram 3500 suspension is a very close copy to what I have on my truck. And the truck is drivable with an air component failure.
Check this video out. My dogs were not to pleased having to do 65 miles with no rear suspension.


Won't get an argument from me, I've changed the bags several times already, but that was the only part failure. So far no issues with the hoses and valves.


The single leaf is not for "spring" work, rather it is there to position the axle and hold the components. The short arm going forward is to control axle wrap. With no air, the frame sits on whatever stops are used to limit travel.

 

Duane, Ram got rid of the traction bar and used a multileaf setup from the axle forward on the production vehicles. The initial press release showed the traction bar but it was replaced before production began. Both designs are to combat axle wrap.

 

So Ram changed from this picture?

What I have is in this video, at about 2:30 you can see the front leaf used for axle wrap.

 

Correct. That version was never released.

Here are some pics of an actual as built Ram with factory air suspension:

 

Here's a F350 at a car show and at 2:45 you can see this truck has a different rear end. Also it appears Ford added another leaf spring to the F350 too.

 

Holy crap. Forward camera, blind spot, two rear cameras? It has the cameras in side mirrors too for the 360 view. There is a curser now for the touch screen so you can scroll through aps from steering wheel, LEDs all around. I like it. The sun roof is insane!