Almost 80,000 Miles on a set of tires.
I just put a new set of skins on my dually in preparation for a trip through the mountain passes to Alberta from Vancouver. I just have to say how well pleased I am on the service life of the old t...
Forum Discussion
I do not know of any death wobble on any solid axle leaf sprung Fords pre-98, Dodges pre-94, or GMs pre-88/92. If there was a problem with death wobble on Fords from 99-'04, then Ford fkkd up the design when they came out with the new trucks in '99, because they had it right before that.
Ford eliminated leaf springs in the front in '05 and went to coil springs and radius arms with solid axle (which they had already used for many years in the 60's and 70's on 4wd F150's and Broncos). Dodge went to coil springs and 4-links with solid axle in '94 on the then-new 4wd Ram trucks. GM went to 4wd IFS in '88 ('92 for crew cabs, blazer/jimmys and suburbans), which they had already been using for many decades in their 2wd trucks.
Many, many, many commercial trucks, class 4 through 8, all over the world, many different makes and models, have used solid axle, leaf sprung front ends, for many, many decades. It is pretty much the standard of front ends in heavy trucking, the world over, though many OTR trucks also do use coil spring, a-arm front ends as well, successfully. Solid axle with leaf springs is a very simple and solid design principal that is difficult to get wrong, since it's been done successfully for so many years, in so many applications.
A primary reason most passenger cars and light-use, non-commercial trucks/vans/suvs use IFS, usually either with coil springs or torsion bars, which is pretty much the standard in passenger cars and class 1 trucks, is the softer ride, which feels good and sells cars on the lot, and the better high speed cornering handling (not many race cars using solid axles and leaf springs up front!), along with the fact that these light vehicles don't need such a heavy duty front end to carry such light weights. :)
Ford eliminated leaf springs in the front in '05 and went to coil springs and radius arms with solid axle (which they had already used for many years in the 60's and 70's on 4wd F150's and Broncos). Dodge went to coil springs and 4-links with solid axle in '94 on the then-new 4wd Ram trucks. GM went to 4wd IFS in '88 ('92 for crew cabs, blazer/jimmys and suburbans), which they had already been using for many decades in their 2wd trucks.
Many, many, many commercial trucks, class 4 through 8, all over the world, many different makes and models, have used solid axle, leaf sprung front ends, for many, many decades. It is pretty much the standard of front ends in heavy trucking, the world over, though many OTR trucks also do use coil spring, a-arm front ends as well, successfully. Solid axle with leaf springs is a very simple and solid design principal that is difficult to get wrong, since it's been done successfully for so many years, in so many applications.
A primary reason most passenger cars and light-use, non-commercial trucks/vans/suvs use IFS, usually either with coil springs or torsion bars, which is pretty much the standard in passenger cars and class 1 trucks, is the softer ride, which feels good and sells cars on the lot, and the better high speed cornering handling (not many race cars using solid axles and leaf springs up front!), along with the fact that these light vehicles don't need such a heavy duty front end to carry such light weights. :)
