Ride quality for the 06 f-450 with truck bed!

[1247]

Hi, guys new to the site. I'm getting ready to put my order in for the f-450 lariat package 4x4 dually with a truck bed to haul my truck camper. My only concern is this truck will be a daily driver most of the time unloaded. My question is what is the ride quality like unloaded? Is it simler to the f-350. Thanks for any help.

[05superdutyTJ]

From personal experience, NO.

Ever ridden in an unloaded cement truck?

In the truck's defense, I have not ridden in a new 05 4x4 F450. The new front suspension may be much smoother.

Note: it's the rear that kiss your a$$ on the road, though. (shaky shaky)

[DEBramwell]

I have a 2005 F450 CC 2wheel drive and with a hauler bed on it, the truck weighs in at 10,000 pounds unloaded. I use it for my daily driver, and it rides rough unloaded. But hey it's a truck, and it's a truck that pulls my 28,000 pound horse trailer on the weekends like a champ.

[05superdutyTJ]

A hauler bed, service body, or even combo/contractor body weighs more than the ford sheet metal bed. This would help ride quality.

[ghmanpsd]

Are you sure you need a 450? My '05 DRW F350 is rated at 13000lbs GVWR and weights 8200 wet w/driver, that leaves more than 4K lbs for a camper [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Also, I do not have to worry about getting a bed added or finding a place for a spare tire and I have a 38 gallon fuel tank [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[1247]

I figured my 11ft slide out camper loaded is right around 5,000lb plus I tow a 20ft bass boat. It's right at the limits of a f-350 dually. But after finding out today that my Z plan won't work on the f-450 I need to figure out something! Air bags etc. With the Z plan the f-350 4x4 lariat loaded dually is 42,000 and that f-450 loaded is 54,000 with out the plan. Just a tad out of my price range.

[dzltech]

go with the 450,in situations like this there is no such thing as overkill,a 350 hauls alot less than the salesman tells you,no reason to ride at the upper limits.
As for the ride,the front suspension is softer but the rear is the same as any other year-so it is a rough ride,but like said before-its a truck.

[ghmanpsd]

I have an 1150 Artic Fox, which I thought was about the heaviest camper out there. With all our stuff(kids, dog, a weeks worth of junk) and a 19' jet boat(and 2 quads loaded on top with a special rack I built) in tow, I am right at 13K GVWR +/-50lbs depending on how much fuel is in the truck tank.

Total GWR is about 18K, I am still 500 lbs less than the rear axle rating and no where near the the front axle rating. With the new 17" tires I still have 3000+ lbs of margin in the rear end(about 500lbs more than 2004 model tires).

It seems to do well. Add a pair of airbags or timbrens and I think you will never have any problems weight related.

Last time I checked, the extra weight of the F450+ the add-ons necessary to use it for a camper rig put you just as close to the GVWR limit, so unless you go F550 your in the same situation.

Just my 2 cents,

BTW, my Truck has every option except dual alternators that comes in the Lariet Luxury package. It listed at 51,730.00 I paid 41,200.00 that was with a 2500 rebate.

Good luck, they are great trucks [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif[/img]

[rmarshall]

I have the truck you are discussing (see sig). It does not ride like a Town Car, but comfort is relative. The coil front suspension rides and steers beautifully on my truck. The rear is firm, but not harsh on anything but really nasty surfaces. I must admit that as a motorcyclist for the past 50 years I am rather accustomed to short travel rear suspension. The truck is new (only 1000 miles so far) and since this is my first Superduty I am not qualified to compare it to an F350 for suspension compliance. However, I am happy to tell you that I run it on very ordinary roads and could not be happier with what I have.

As far as carrying a camper is concerned, I have a Lance 1181, a very heavy camper. The Lance dealer installed air bags, and though I have little mileage, I have experimented with settings from 20 pounds to 70 pounds pressure, and see little difference. The 450 handles as well with the camper as without, and gives no sway in turns.

I am one happy dude!