my back hurts after more than an hour of riding in my ole pig.the most I will ever haul is a 4k lb car.the cheapest way I can think of(if it would work)to get a smoother ride would be get some leaf spring for the rear out of a 150 from the local junk yard.is the distance from spring mounts the same? what do ya'll think?maybe could ad some airbags if needed.my truck is a 2wd extended cab.

 

my truck rode VERY hard when I bought it

solid front axle, big mudder tires, shocks were kaput and it had 10-12 leaves in the springs on each corner

not much I could do about the Dana, but I put new shocks in and changed the tires out to conventional Dunlop winter radials in the recommended size

the ride of these trucks can be greatly improved by loading the bed with weight

I've got a big toolbox, stuffed full, and hundreds of pound of heavy chain in plastic buckets in my bed. I also carry four 8 x 12 ramps that I use to get power equipment into the bed (of course the chains have to come out for that)

 

I researched air bags stuff. I want to go with air on all four corners, when the budget allows!
Air bags can make the ride harsh, if done wrong. Large diameter bags can carry the load with less pressure, thus provide a softer ride. The easiest route to both soft ride and load capacity is bags on the original leaf springs. Rather changing your springs, take out the load spring (thick one at the bottom), then add bags to restore load capacity.
On my '08, the load spring is 3/4" thick. I could throw 2 tons of gravel in the bed and hardly compress the suspension. The ride was great.
Empty, she had a ride like a pogo stick. I took out the load spring and the ride is quite tolerable.

 

I have the kelderman airide on the back it has 8 inch bags on it and rides like a dream.

 

add some weight in the bed

 

the only way to make the ride better is deaver springs or link suspension

i have 6" skyjackers and took two leafs out ...rides better then stock and still terrible

 

Yea, I rode around for a while with 800 lbs of quickrete in the bed,what are deaver springs?how much is the kelderman setup? I found the web site but no prices.I had also looked in the full fbss air-ride from airbagit,a-bit too much $$$ for me.So the 150 leaf spring wont work? Thanks

 

Kelderman is twice as much as "Airbagit.com". $5250 for the rear plus $1375 for the front.
Airbagit.com is $3695 for a 4 corner kit.

Both of these kits are complete, that is the leaf springs are gone, replaced by a 4 bar/panhard bar set-up.

You can buy a 2 bag kit designed to bolt onto the existng leaf springs from Firestone for about $260.

 

I weigh in with take the load springs out and add the firestone air bags. Tremendous improvement in ride. Did this on all four corners on my mid 70's 4x4 ford 1 ton. Took out most of the spring pack, left just enough to keep the axles located safely. Added bags to it. If the ride is still too stiff you can add a small expansion tank between sides. The added capacity gives the bags more room for movement before full compression. I have these on my 350 4x4 and will be adding the two inch spring/shackle lift with custom spring brackets for the bags on the front when time allows.

 

Anyone have part numbers or $$$ for the firestone air bag kits, front and back?

 

deavers are a brand and thats the route to go if your not too mechanically inclined.


if you are ambitious

do a 64" leaf swap with shackle reversal and air bags with a traction bar or trangulated 4 link with coils and air bags. would make these trucks ride like a desert racer
i did it in my chevy and it rod like a car...but you get HUGE axle wrap without a traction bar

 

well I couldn't stand it any longer.I removed the load spring.zero dollars,and it made a big difference.like temberwolf said it's quite tolerable now.I'm sure other people ideas would also work.but I don't think you can beat the price

 

Bigger tires (load range D instead of E) Jack up the front end. Mine was hitting the stops.

 

Can you sketch this out?

 

Hi,

my springs are worn pretty bad in the front,

I was going to get them resprung to lift the truck 4".

then I decided to check out air bags. I will have Onboard air on the truck. I was wondering if I respring the leafs and add air bags would I be able to adjust my ride height any at all with the bags?

Also i had a buddy say that the air bags really bounce when you sled pull,

Anybody have any experience with this?


Thank you very much,