Some of you guy's that haul and pull a lot of weight could answer this pretty easy I would guess. I have an F250 4x4 and would like to have a bit more suspension, I only have issues when I haul a heavy load (slide in camper mostly) and also when I have a heavy tounge weight that the rear of the truck eats up most of my suspension, what have you guy's done to upgrade yours, I know a lot of guy's like Dave S. hauls heavy loads daily, I would also like to level my truck up as I am doing some suspension upgrades, so give me some ideas and imputs please.
Thanks Rob

 

My truck has the rubber overload springs. They bolt in place of the old suspension stoppers, and work well. Other choices would be additional leaves, or air bags. I have been way heavy, and it keeps the suspension from dropping so far. Heaviest scale weight was with a gooseneck trailer at 24,500 pounds. I have had loads of scrap at 4500 to 5000 pounds on the truck alone. I know, Dave runs heavier regularly, but that is just the factory overloads and the rubber springs. The tires showed more squat than the truck did...

 

I changed the 2" F250 blocks on the rear axle to 4" F350 blocks.

Then I went to the local spring shop and purchased new rear main springs and added two leaves to make them 7 leaf packs.
I also purchased F350 overloads, three springs normally and added two leaves to them as well.

After that hauling weight was not an issue, but stopping it was.

Off to Ford for a hydroboost brake system from a 97 Super Duty.

I have about 600 in the spring upgrades, but that was several years ago.
I also have about 700 in the hydraboost, new power steering pump and hoses.

The empty ride quality went down with all the extra springs, but loaded it rides and handles like a dream.

The brake upgrade, well now I have brakes like I should have had originally.
I would say that with 4000 pounds in the back I can stop better now than I could with an empty truck and stock vacuum boost brakes.


All of the upgrades were bolt on swaps, no modifications required.
9700 pounds of rock is all that will lay on my 8 foot x 9 foot bed with 12" sideboards, that puts my gross weight over 17,000 pounds.

As I say this, most of my heavy loads are under 10 miles with 5 miles or less on the interstate.
Tire heat would be an issue with longer loaded trips or higher speeds.
If I have to go farther or drive more on the interstate, I load lighter.
Three tons is very comfortable and I would not be to concerned unless the air temp was very high.

 

I had Firestone air bags and 19.5" wheels/tires on my Dodge and with a heavy/long/tall camper on it it handeled almost like it was empty.
Stopping was a different story!
I had steel wheels and they were HEAVY and hard to stop. If I were to go back to 19.5s I would DEFINITELY get aluminum.
The tires would cary so much weight (14 ply) that empty the ride was pretty harsh.

Someday I'm going to do the hydro boost to the brakes on my '94 like Dave did. Might do an exhaust brake someday too.

I'm going to swap the Firestone bags onto the '94 also as it works best for me. They're completely unnoticeable until you need them.

 

I have Firestone Ride Rite air bags on the front axle for when I have my plow installed.

They work well in that application and would probably be great for occasional loads like a camper.

I haul much to often, so I just went with springs on the rear.

 

I agree with that.
Air bags are best for occasional heavy loads of probably up to 2500-3000 LBS. on a 1-ton or 3/4 ton.
If you're going to use it like it's a DUMP TRUCK you'd better get leaf springs. I'm talking to you Dave! LOL

 

Dump truck, plow vehicle, tool truck, tow vehicle, mud buggy, fuel truck and personal transport vehicle.

Why buy 7 vehicles when one can do it all?

 

I have looked at some aftermarket add a leafs, what do you guy's think about them. I don't haul a great deal of weight that often but when I do that's another thing. I would like to get my truck leveled as well so if I do something like the add ons what direction should I go to to get heaver spring in back and level in front.

 

I can't really understand wantin g a truck to set level, but I use mine as a truck constantly.

I can tell you trucks usually set higher in the rear and when you reach the rated capacity they will set about level.

The way the steering geometry has been set up, this works fine.

However, if the truck sets level when empty, when you add a capacity load, now the rear sets lower than the front.
If you have ever driven one loaded like that, you will be aware that the steering handling goes downhill fast.

I have also driven a couple trucks that the rear springs are shot on, the rear sets lower than the front when empty.
The slightest bump in a corner will set off a death wobble that will make you wonder if you are getting it under control before you hit the ditch.

In the years Ford used 2" blocks on the rear axle under the F250 and 4" blocks on the F350, the only thing that was different was the blocks.
The springs were the same on both trucks, but the F350 had a higher load rating.
The springs had to compress 2" more before the truck was level, so it could carry more weight.

In my opinion, if you are using a truck as a car, then leveling is fine since you are never going to carry enough weight to drop the rear anyway.
However if you do carry weight, having the rear set higher when the truck is empty is an advantage and makes it much better to drive when you have a load on it.

Remember when you change the angle of the frame to the ground, be it higher or lower, you also change the steering geometry and handling suffers.
It was that way back in the 60's when Skyjackers and big wide tires on the rear was the rage.
It is the same only the opposite when either raise the front or lower the rear to make a truck set level today.

Caster, camber and toe in are all changed when you change the stance of a vehicle.

I am not positive, but the IFS front axle under a 250 seems to be more sensitive to geometry changes than a straight axle under a 350 does, or at least it seemed that way to me when I did my straight axle swap.

I played around with my air bags on the front when I still had the IFS front axle under my truck when it was setting on an alignment rack.
If I had more than 20 PSI in the air bags which raised the front about 1/2", there was not enough adjustment to get the alignment back into spec.
So I always ran my air bags with no air in them unless I had the snow plow on the truck.

 

It could be that your factory front springs have sagged enough that an add-a-leaf in the front would bring it back to snuff.
I put an add-a-leaf in the front of my Dodge and it was one of the best things I ever did.
I also put a 1" taller block in the rear too.
Fords don't seem to get as close to the bump-stop as my Dodge did though. Everytime I hit a decent bump etc. at speed I would hit the bump stops. Made for a rough ride.
I plan to either put an F-350 spring pack or an add-a-leaf in the front of my '94 and '97.

 

Do some checking, F 250 and F 350 spring packs are the same thing.

Everyone looks at the negative arch front springs and think that they are sagging.

I replaced my original springs on my truck.
It sat exactly the same with new springs as it did with the originals.

I then added a leaf, raised the front about 1.5 inches.
The IFS axle was so far out of alignment it could not be adjusted back into alignment.
The next week I swapped in the straight axle and have been happy every since.
I originally ordered my new springs with two extra leaves, I am only running three leaves though.

 

Why do my F-350s sit higher in the front?
Just because of the difference in the mounting of the Dana 60?
I know my gassers sit higher because of the lighter engine but the '94 is still higher than the '97.
I was going to maybe put the front end and springs out of my '97 F-350 460 in my '97 Power Stroke.
Guess I won't waste my time with the springs.

 

Dave, would you by any chance still have a pair of these F250 2" blocks? My F350 sits level empty, and sags a bit when I hook up the big 30ft car hauler, I think these 2" blocks can cure the problem nicely...

 

Why have one truck when you can have 7?

 

I would have to search, they may have gone to the salvage yard last year when I was cleaning.