Are my leaf springs bad?

[bluecollar]

My truck unloaded rides like I've got wood wheels on the rear. There is no give in the suspension at all and a rough road will rattle your teeth. The thing is when I hook my 28 ft camper to it truck will bounce and you can feel evey movent of the trailer tires. This camper shouldn't be heavy enough to drop the rear this much. Even adjusting the weight distribution doesn't help. Pulling the camper is about to get unbearable driving down the road on uneven highways. I can't even be at 1000 lbs on the tongue weight with my set-up here. Shocks do need to be replaced but do you think that is the problem?

 

[69oiler]

if the springs were bad they would have cracked/broken/missing leaves. shocks may help but these trucks ride hard to begin with.

 

[jtate]

the springs on these trucks are supposed to be tight, its so they can handle the weight. on mine when the truck is empty and you hit a bump the back wheels will actualy bounce over to which ever way the road leans.

 

[bluecollar]

I see what you're saying but should I be all the way down on the overloads with this amount of weight?

 

[creighta]

These trucks have springs

I've had two and the way they rode I thought the axle was just bolted straight to the frame!!

 

[Russ]

With my 5er hooked to my 350 I'm just touching the overloads.(1200 lb pin) over the axle. A good set of shocks will help some, but remember you're driving a one ton dually, not a town car

 

[bluecollar]

Ok, with my camper hooked up i'm diggin into the rubber stoppers real good. I stood on the bumper today while hooked up and I couldn't jump and get the truck to move any.

 

[zigg]

Well, you can have the best of both worlds.

If you look, all the weight is held by the 2 eyes at the end of the main spring leaf. So, if you remove all but 2 or three of the springs, and replace them with airbags, then with the air removed, you get a real nice soft ride, and when you need to load up with weight, you just pressurize the bags, and you can carry as much as your tires can handle. I use a portable tank, but you can either stop at a gas station, or even pump 'em up with a bike pump. They don't carry much volume.

Mine are a set of Ride-rite by firestone. There's others out there. They are rated for 500lbs load for every 10psi, so at 100psi max, they are rated for 5,000lbs. More than I ever carry in my truck. I have had the back filled with about 2 yards of sand, and the tires were virtually flat(not on the hwy) and the bags handled it quite nicely.

Just another thought...

Zigg

 

[bluecollar]

I think you're missing what I'm asking. I don't mind the rough ride of the truck. Pulling a camper with 800lb tongue weight behind an f350 dually shouldn't make you sound like you're stuttering while driving down the highway. I'll let the shop close to work check it out and see what they think.

 

[reklund]

bluecollar-

post up some pictures of the spring to bumpstop clearance, both loaded and unloadedl. It sounds like you've got something wrong, but as they say, a picture says a thousand words. Maybe if we see what the thing looks like, we can make a better judgement on what's going on...

Ryan