I will let you know about the Ranchos in about a week. They arrive Friday, have a horse show Saturday, so they will be installed sometime on Sunday, unless golf calls me away from the garage!!

 

I went around on this subject before I ordered and I'm still not sure what I'm going to receive. I went with 350 King Ranch CCSB SRW 6.7L. For suspension I ordered Snow Plow prep 5th Wheel prep. I was told camper prep wouldn't get me anything. Going to be towing a fifth wheel and wanted to be set up with best suspension for it. Now I'm wondering if I should have ordered different to get extra rear leaf spring and sway bar. Please advise.

 

I carry a slide in camper and the high center of gravity dictates an anti sway bar. The sway bar transfers load when one side of the suspension is compressed to the frame on the opposite side of the compression thereby using the springs on the opposite side of the lean and helping to equalize the load. The heavier the bar and its' configuration the more is transferred. The ASB also transmits bumps and potholes to the opposite side so one will get a rougher ride. When I purchased my 2001 (a very young used vehicle almost exactly as I would have ordered) it did not have any anti sway bar so I negotiated a Ford Oem bar in the deal. After several years and hundreds of magazine/internet articles I installed a replacement "Hellwig Big Wig" and saw a huge improvement in stability, plus a somewhat rougher ride, mostly when empty. In ordering a new vehicle I will be ordering heavier springs and possibly dual wheels and probably a factory anti-sway. But once again I will be prepared to replace the anti sway with another Hellwig if I am not satisfied with the vehicle control. If my vehicle was already ordered without a factory bar I would not hesitate to install another Hellwig or equal anti sway bar. I almost wish there was a quick disconnect for the times when unloaded such as the various spring attachments to accommodate heavier loads. The Hellwig ASB is a simple install except for the driver side frame bolt which is behind the fuel tank. It can be done (at least on my '01) without moving the fuel tank out of the way as recommended, but with a few @@### and a little extra time it can be done. Also the Hellwig has 3 positions for the frame link which will increase the gain on the action of the bar. Happy Motoring!

 

Our engineer had this to say:

There is no difference in shock design or performance between 2013 to 2016 for F350 DRW. If there is no sign of leak or other indication of shock is weak, I would assume shock is functional. Without looking at vehicle it is very difficult to diagnose the issue based on verbiage alone as there are so many other variables which may affect condition described. Recommend visiting your local dealer with the vehicle in the fully loaded condition (7,000lb gooseneck trailer attached) for the service staff to evaluate.

Thanks for asking and good luck with the tank!

 

Hi drhack,
Unfortunately there is no direct way to find front spring rate from VIN no. Only way to do it is, find out the front GAWR of vehicle (label on door panel) and then locate the F-series Super Duty source book (dealer ship should have access to it) to get the spring rate. There is no direct way to know the spring rate from VIN.

Best of luck!

 

Thanks, I knew the information was out there somewhere. I'll call a dealer.


Regards,
Dan