I need a little more rear suspension on my '97 F250 PSD. I am torn between getting progressive helper springs or air bags. What's your preference? Thanks

 

I looked at both. If you are going to haul heavy loads in the bed 5-7 days a week, you may want the springs. They are a sure bet on performance with almost no chance of failure. They do make the unloaded ride harsher if they are engaged even just a little bit. I went with air bags as I haul a camper at sporadic intervals. The air bags are infinitely adjustable and can each carry different pressures to adjust to the load. They also can be "deflated" to 5 psi to give you a "stock" ride. They can fail (its rare) and they aren't very expensive.

Just evaluate your needs and decide.

 

I would look at timbren rubber springs they are alot more durable than air bags and are less work to install true overload springs and I mean true springs with the frame mounted stops and the springs are held with the axles U bolts. I wouldn't buy those cheapo brand springs that bolt to the top of your springs and the ends are pulled down with the main spring pack with U bolts. These are made by companies like Helwig they are not worth the money they don't help much.

Try this www.timbren.com and you can see which rubber spring will suit your purpose.

 

I prefer my Firestone air bags over anything else I have had in the past. They work really well and I can adjust them to the load.


Justin

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2002 F-350 SC LB 4X4 6SPD PSD. 3.73 gears. 2.5" leviling kit. K&N air filter. Rhino lined Bed. Prodigy trailer brake controler. 35x12.5x16.5 BFG A/T. 16.5x10 ultra wheels. pop up gooseneck hitch and firestone airbag spring helpers. Delta toolbox

 

Oh Hi,

I just put on the Roadmaster Active Suspension on my F250SD. I posted a while back that I put it on a Ranger and was impressed enough to use them on my F250. I have used Airlift previously also. I went with RoadMaster is it has the added benefit of reducing wheel hop.

So about the Road Master,

Installation was pretty straight forward. You need to remove the stock helper spring. I left the helper spring riser block inplace and put the RoadMaster on top of it. Make sure you have a deep deep socket for the u-bolts if you take the riser block out. Also, according to my shop manual, the U-bolt nuts need to be torqued to 185ftlbs! In retrospect, one might just want to add a thicker riser block to make the stock helper spring engage sooner.

With the pre-load set as per the instructions by back-end is about an inch higher...which I didn't expect...The Ranger height didn't change. So I backed off the pre-load. Oddly it din't lower it that much...I wanted to keep some pre-load. (Very easy to adjust, one could claim this is an adjustable suspension)

I have not loaded the truck up yet (550 lb tongue weight trailer, and 600lbs of stuff in the bed). I'm hoping not to need the equilizer hitch.

Unloaded ride didn't change noticably, so that's nice. Wheel hop is reduced, but I really need to go play in the sand where I really notice the wheel hop. (when towing the trailer)

Also I greased the drive shaft spline. Totally amazing...no more thump on start-off. My truck had the thump from day one...thought it was normal. Thanks to this group for the fix!

The way things are going at work , I may not really test the RoadMaster until the end of November (annual desert dirtbike trip)

-Glen