Background: I have been hauling a lot of bumper pull travel trailers here lately and noticed the ability of my truck to hold these loads stable has drastically decreased, and getting worst. Granted the trailers I am hauling have alot of tongue weight, but just two years ago I bought a 22ft bumper pull to haul my cab tractor around on and it pulled it nice and extremely stable, not to mention that was about 4K more pounds than I am pulling now.

My questions are this:

- Does anyone have any pictures of what a new factory leaf spring should look like from an arch standpoint installed? Mine right now appear to be inverted meaning what I would call an upside down arch.

- What are my options? Are there any outlets for new springs?

My truck rides ROUGH right now. I mean so rough any small bump causes the rear to bounce all over the road. I have a local friend with a 1st gen that was in the same boat as I and added airbags, but to me that does not seem to "fix" the problem, just patched it. However, his truck does ride A LOT smoother now. Also, my shocks in the rear are new.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

 

Airbags are just a different solution, not a band-aid. Even if you replaced the rear leaves with new ones, airbags would still probably be a good idea. As it is, if you installed airbags the worn out stock springs would basically just be doing the job of keeping the axle in place, and the airbags would be taking up all the load - which they're really good at!

 

Thats my buddies setup right now, and I have always heard the airbags are not designed to carry the load, they are designed to help stabalize. Educate me if I am wrong.

 

The springs should have a positive arch. Sounds like yours are mashed beyond flat.

 

Most over the road semi's run airbags with great sucess. I replaced my rear springs because I had a few broken leafs and I plan to put airbags on when I have the time. You won't be dissapointed with them but like wanna said it sounds like your springs are toast.

 

They'll help stabilize the truck by making the springs much less soft under load. If your stock rear springs get mashed down by the tongue of the trailer every time you go over a hump, the air bags would prevent that. But they're mostly just for carrying a load. Honestly I don't know why they don't just design new trucks with them.

 

I replaced my rear's last summer, they were shot, the thick bottom spring was permanently bent negative. I put on some 9 leaf's from stengel bros, rated at 4,000lbs. Horribly stiff, but the first owner of my truck had the forsight to put on a kelderman setup. Good man.

 

Couple years ago, I tore off my bed, sleeper and had the cab repainted. I then repainted the frame and took this picture... Maybe it will help.

I think your springs may be shot...

 

Here is what I did on my truck, I added a pair of Firestone Air Bags to the rear of my D-350, It rides a lot better than it did but in a few weeks I am going to pull the springs and rebuild the packs, I am also going to install liners between the leaves to quiet them down and this should improve the ride because as they flex they will more easily slide upon the adjoining leaf instead on digging in to the surface.
I think it will work.

I am wondering how much of the rough ride is coming from front springs that I replaced several years ago; they have a 4100 pound rating.

Jim


https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ofter+ride+gen

 

Funny you mention the front. I just rebuilt my whole front-end including the coils. I used the Ultra Heavy Duty Moog spring, but I don't recall the PN. I think my main problem is the spring are obviously shot, so I have to find some sort of replacement. I like th airbag system though. Might have to look into that option after i get the springs replaced.

 

My D350 had airbags on it when I bought it, they are awesome for towing the 5th wheel. with them deflated the hitch weight will put the truck almost on the overload springs, with 50-60 psi in the bags I'm back up to stock height, and they keep the truck from bottoming out when I go over bumps.

If I ever get another truck I'll put bags on it too...