Thanks for all the real world advice on what you did to up the ante on your rear suspension.
My Northstar Laredo is in the lighter range of camper weight, by design, so even loaded up and wet I"m still about 800 pounds under the payload of the truck.The N* is only 84 inches (7 feet) wide.

My problem is I'm very close to the bull's eye on having the best ride possible with my camper's weight and height, but having almost no sway....almost. We leave the jacks at home, saving about 200 pounds of outriggers. We leave the tailgate and ramps at home. I have no rooftop air conditioner; no awnings; no oven; no microwave; no TV; only 2x160w solar panels on the roof; all heavy stuff down low; all light weight stuff up high; This with the stock F-350 rear springs with upper overload spring; deleted factory shocks, replaced by Rancho 9K's; Super Sway Stops; with no anti-sway bar.

The TC rides fairly level (see pic) without air bags or the like.

I just need a little more spring rate out back without adding a lot of weight.
jefe

 

Blind spitballing here, but could you add a spacer of some type to your Super swaystops? Maybe you could experiment with some 1/4" MDF "washers" as it's cheap. Have a few pairs. Mix and match til you get the sweet spot. Then fab a steel, or aluminum or Starboard spacer as the permanent fix.
But like I said, blind man, yakin' over coffee.

 

you could add sumo springs, they seem to work very well. I'd definitely add a sway bar, that was a big help on mine.

 

Your "King of the jacks off" nickname is hilarious!

 

YOU GET IT!

Please do not tell me you removed the Anti Sway bar to save some lbs.

Sway bar is your first line of lateral control, it is a torsion bar connected to both sides of your truck. Most of the time it is transparent in operation but if you ever find yourself in a bad situation where you need to swerve to miss something that just fell out of the truck in front of you you have now lost that ability and the outcome can range from minor to catastrophic. The sway bar is a critical component in your safety envelope.

 

Don,
I appreciate your missionary zeal when it comes to anti sway bars. If you are always on a smooth paved road, they are definitely the ticket.
No, i didn't remove the anti sway bar. None came with the 5-er package.
I'm a recovering hard core off roader/rock crawler and have seen what disconnecting one side of the anti sway can do to your suspension flexibility.
We spend a lot of time on dirt or rocks pushing the limit of flexibility with our TC.
I've done a lot of experimenting with truck suspensions, doing upgrades for clearance like SOA (springs over axle) conversions on a dozen vehicles (Jeeps and trucks).
This is one of my SOA jobs on my CJ-8 showing the maximum articulation and clearance with leaf springs and without the anti sway bar:
Yes, i did make it over this obstacle called the Little Sluice on the Rubicon. 4 really big guys were holding onto my strap. I told them if it was too much to just shout "NO" and let it go.

Of course, I'd never expect this from a pick up.


I would say most if not all factory installed anti sway bars do not look robust, and are not up to the task with a truck camper, but they basically cause no harm.
Aftermarket anti sway bars are much more robust.
Unfortunately, I ordered the monster anti sway bar and it did not fit the M275 Dana rear axle so I sent it back.
So, I'm at the point of just ordering another upper overload leaf spring to go with my current one.
It should give just enough extra spring rate to get me over the top on a just-right compromise of the suspension and not affect the MT ride of the truck.
jefe

 

So you do thing like that on purpose huh?

Steve

 

Steve,
Not any more. On another trip over the Rubicon, I rolled over hard about 100 feet in front of this pic and dislocated my shoulder. That roll haunted me with acute arthritis for 25 years until I finally had a total reverse shoulder replacement a couple years ago. With a ball and socket of titanium holding things together, I'm almost good as new.
Low speed rolls were a common result with the mob that I jeeped with. My count was about 12-14 rolls, with the worst one being a front end over (where the back of the jeep comes over your head) and 3 subsequent barrel rolls down a cliff near Telluride CO. But most were low speed layovers.
jefe

 

Its NOT missionary zeal, its engineering and I am an engineer been Jeeping since the early 60's. I will tell you that if came to my Offroad shop I would NOT do a SOA and would NOT remove a swaybar. In 1964 I installed my first upgraded sway bar, I was young and old timer came over to me in the pits and said: Son, you all the HP you need, your problem is you are not putting it on the track." Sir, what do you recommend I do? Upgrade you F/R swaybars, I did and found myself in the winner circle. Since then suspension has been my passion. I have wheeled all over the world, Latin America, Europe, Alaska to Fla, Maine to Hawaii, Moab so many times I lost count, Rubcon love it, easy trail and no one has to hold me down, strap me or anything else.

Like you I am an old man, 75, I will do it my way and you are welcome to do it yours...



drove down it, now gonna drive over it, no bypasses here

 

Jefe4x4, I have an 04 Laredo that I am putting on a 2021 Ford F250. Do happen to know how much of a riser I need to get 2'' of cab clearance ?

 

I have a 2015 Northstar Lerado and added this for clearance on my 2020 F350 short bed.

 

Gives me 3” of clearance.

 

Interesting thread. Given the wide variation in approaches, I'm surprised that someone hasn't posted something where the block was removed and replaced with a completely new spring pack that took up the difference. I suppose a spring pack like that would be for an off-road oriented rig, not a truck camper rig.

On my '91 Ranger I replaced the OEM springs with a Deaver spring pack after flipping the shackle mount. I was prompted to do the mod because, A) it sounded cool and, B) the truck was leaning like the springs on one side had weakened. I was surprised to find that the ride really wasn't that different from OEM. But good grief did it ever squat bad with weight in the bed.

 

Gaither,
4 inches of riser is plenty enough, but once I got it on it seems to be a bit too high with almost 2 inches of clearance over the antennas.
I used a 4 inch thick blue foam board riser, but it is starting to deform along the edge and settle down about 1/2 inch.
That's fine with me, as 3 inches of riser seems to clear the two block antennas at the rear of the cab, and the possible R-value of the foam board closing up the gaps in the camper floor underlayment.
If i were to do it again, i would make a sandwich of a 2x4 framed riser (laid down flat on the 1-1/2 inch side, not on end) with a 1/4 piece of plywood screwed on top like a cover; a 2 inch high non-compressibility foam board sheet on top of the plywood to spread the shear support and another 3/8 inch plywood on top of that wioth maybe a thin rubber mat.
What's the reason? The 2020 Ford frame is a LOT more rigid than frames of old with a lot less twisting.
jefe

 

Jefe4x4 , thanks for the info. I used some foam board once on a 8000 mile trip and when I gat home my clearance had gone way down due to compression along the way. Guess I used the wrong kind of board.