Suspension Dilema

[kfanta]

I have been doing a lot of reading on the site about springs, bags and all kinds of items for beefing up the suspension. Here is my story I tow a 35' TT with a WD setup. Plus a 4 horse trailer again with a WD setup altough it is harder to get the WD setup with horses because sometimes I will have one horse and sometimes I will have 3 horses in it. I have a WD system for the horse trailer because I know the hitch weight is over 500lbs. My biggest problem is sway from the travel trailer. Even with a sway system I still have it. In my reading it has to do with the weak springs in the rear of the excursion. I know I can upgrade the springs to U or V..but that will give me a rougher ride when I am not towing. Airbags will level the truck out and futher assist with the WD system. There is also the option for www.supersprings.com which will basically help out only when there is a load. I believe it will also help with axle wrap. And there is the option for www.activesuspension.com which will do the same. Plus you have the radius rods with will help with the axle wrap, but I don't thing they will do much for the suspension. So here are my questions.

Will airbags help with the axle wrap...my guess is no because of how they attach to the system.

What system would you recommend for what I am doing?

Also do I need to be concerned about doing anything for the front end my guess is not really because I am not really adding any weight to the front end. I do plan on replacing the bump stops on my 2000 PSD with 2003 bump stops.

Why and when would I want to add air bags or change the springs or do helper springs for the front end?

Also with any modification to the rear is it possible that I would not need a WD system for the horse trailer? The GVW on the horse trailer is 8000lbs. I am probably pushing 6000 to 6500 if I have all three of our horses in it?

Any opinons or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I am currently leaning towrads the the superspring solution. But I would love to hear why something else would be better for my application. I want to reduce the axle wrap and add capacity to the rear. Not sure if I really need to do anything to the front???

Thanks,

Ken

[02ex]

For the load and sway I'd suggest the airbags. I have used airlift ones on my 02 Ex for the last 3 years, with no problems. it is very handy to be able to adjust the amount of assistance with air pressure going from loaded to unloaded.

The rear sway bar is also a good idea to help the stabilize the rig as well.

[989171]

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I know I can upgrade the springs to U or V..but that will give me a rougher ride when I am not towing.

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Ill tackle this one. The X has the lowest spring capacity than any of the others in the SD lineup but, it has the highest spring rate. Many report a better ride after switching.
Also, my TT has about an 1100 lb tongue weight. When I cinch up the WD bars the front lowers just over 1/2", it only has 3/4" to start before it hits the bumps. I'm left with just under 1/4" of clearance and thats with nobody in the X. I'm sure when everyone piles in I'm resting on the bumps. I think this contributes to any wander I might have.

[Bruce1954]

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[ QUOTE ]
I know I can upgrade the springs to U or V..but that will give me a rougher ride when I am not towing.

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Ill tackle this one. The X has the lowest spring capacity than any of the others in the SD lineup but, it has the highest spring rate. Many report a better ride after switching.
Also, my TT has about an 1100 lb tongue weight. When I cinch up the WD bars the front lowers just over 1/2", it only has 3/4" to start before it hits the bumps. I'm left with just under 1/4" of clearance and thats with nobody in the X. I'm sure when everyone piles in I'm resting on the bumps. I think this contributes to any wander I might have.

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First Us and Vs are fronts As and Bs are rears From the SD line up.

These are just my thoughts but if you do a search under my name you will see I have been at this a while, I put Vs on the front of my X Early 02


Get a rear sway bar Ford 30mm or Helwig

You need to do somthing to the front with a WD hitch you are on or close to the stops.

For the rears Bs or bags, you may want to look at my set up for NOT changing the ride with bags.

If you don't have new shocks you need them, lots of info and debate here on that. Rancho and Bilsteins seem to be the most common.

Again these are just my opinions but I did haul 13k with no WD no sway control and no problems for over 400 miles once and that was prior to air bags, but with all other listed items. I was just about on the rear stops so I know I have about 1000 on the hitch. Drove fine. I just got tired of the nose in the air look when loaded and added bags. Also I am on my second set of front RSXs they went on for Free [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] with the new 9000s rears.

Bruce AKA the Spring Guy

[boatpuller]

I pull more weight in boat trailers than I want to admit online, but my little boat trailer is 31' long, and the big one is quite a bit more. Plus, it's my daily driver. I have helwig, airbags, Ranco 9000's, and radius rods installed. The rods were a recent addition. I need to talk with the manufacturer on them, for they firmed up my ride significatly. Might be I installed them wrong. So far the mfg has been impressive to work with, and the quality of the product is top notch. But, the rods allow the truck to corner flatter than I thought it could. Almost NO sway at all. If they do this on their own, or simply allow the helweig to do it's job, I don't know. They provide a surer-footedness just driving down the road that the truck never had before. I used to have a mid-size MBz sport sedan, and it had a unique ride. You could hit RR tracks or big bumps and hardly feel them, but tar strips on the highway jolted you. But, at 100+mph, it rode real good. The truck with the rods installed reminds me of that car, though I've not taken it 100+. No one else ever mentioned the firming up, so I may have installed them wrong. The way airbags mount on our trucks, you have to keep more PSI in them than you should just to prevent them from bottoming out. Bruce did one solution to offset that, but I'm toying with removing the wing on the block and mounting the bags to the axle instead. Actually, doing both may be the best solution for nice ride. You are right the bags do not correct axle wrap.

[kfanta]

What would it do to the ride if I added an Add-a-leaf kit say from tuff country....would that help out the front end....or is my best option just to replace the front springs. Because you are right the front end just does not feel right and unloaded I have maybe 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch clearance to the bump stops. So I know I have to be hitting them a lot which is not good. You mentioned high spring rate, but low capacity springs...can you go into more detail....is that why V code or U code springs on the front end will give a better ride? Lower spring rate and slightly higher capacity?

[MotionMan]

The bags and sway bar are the answer. Hense the word "sway" bar.

[Hoowasat]

[ QUOTE ]
I have helwig, airbags, Ranco 9000's, and radius rods installed. The rods were a recent addition. I need to talk with the manufacturer on them, for they firmed up my ride significatly. Might be I installed them wrong. So far the mfg has been impressive to work with, and the quality of the product is top notch. But, the rods allow the truck to corner flatter than I thought it could. Almost NO sway at all. If they do this on their own, or simply allow the helweig to do it's job, I don't know. They provide a surer-footedness just driving down the road that the truck never had before. I used to have a mid-size MBz sport sedan, and it had a unique ride. You could hit RR tracks or big bumps and hardly feel them, but tar strips on the highway jolted you. But, at 100+mph, it rode real good. The truck with the rods installed reminds me of that car, though I've not taken it 100+. No one else ever mentioned the firming up, so I may have installed them wrong. Actually, doing both may be the best solution for nice ride. You are right the bags do not correct axle wrap.

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The "feel" may seem more firm with the radius-rods, but it's more a matter of the axle wrap having been eliminated ... which soaked up a lot of axle motion. The radius-rods do not reduce body-roll (sway), but probably allows you to feel what the anti-swaybar can really do ... again, because the axle wrap is gone.

[boatpuller]

[ QUOTE ]
I have helwig, airbags, Ranco 9000's, and radius rods installed. The rods were a recent addition. I need to talk with the manufacturer on them, for they firmed up my ride significatly. Might be I installed them wrong. So far the mfg has been impressive to work with, and the quality of the product is top notch. But, the rods allow the truck to corner flatter than I thought it could. Almost NO sway at all. If they do this on their own, or simply allow the helweig to do it's job, I don't know. They provide a surer-footedness just driving down the road that the truck never had before. I used to have a mid-size MBz sport sedan, and it had a unique ride. You could hit RR tracks or big bumps and hardly feel them, but tar strips on the highway jolted you. But, at 100+mph, it rode real good. The truck with the rods installed reminds me of that car, though I've not taken it 100+. No one else ever mentioned the firming up, so I may have installed them wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hate to go public with this, but I'm eating a huge piece of humble pie right now. The rods not only let the anti-sway bar do it's job, but they also allow the Rancho 9000's to do their job. Where the shocks needed to be set on 5 before the rods, now they can be set on 1 or 2. In fact, leaving them at 5 is pretty much a jarring ride! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

So, once operator error is corrected, I have no grips whatsoever with the radius rods. They are a nice improvement to my Excursion.

[EBX]

I didn't see where you mentioned what type of Weight distr. set-up you were running. The problem may not be in how the truck is set up. I would suggest getting a Hensley Arrow setup.

My 40' TT pulls perfectly with what I have. (See sig).