Hello, I am ready to buy a new truck and test drove an f350 srw powerstroke and a chevy 3500 srw duramax. I notice the chevy seemed to have much beefier leaf springs with more leafs. Do fords sag a lot more than the chevy does or does ford just have a different design? I do not want to have to modify the truck with airbags or anything. If a 65k dollar truck needs mods brand new then it is not the right truck in my mind. Thank you!

It depends on the weight ratings and load. If you watch a few Fords and Chevys/GMCs (F350 or 3500s) going down the road with TT and or 5th wheels some sag and some don't.I'm guessing if you were able to find a Ford and GM with identical weight capacities and towed the same trailer with both (an apples to apples comparison) both would sag equally or not sag.Your best bet is to determine what load you will be carrying and then get a truck that has more than enough capacitiy for the load. The worst truck you can get is one that is at (or over) maximum capacity when loaded.

Hooked up my trailer the other day and it didn't sag enough to hit the overload spring.

Different spring rates for the two vehicles will dictate to number of leaves per side. Since your comparing different manufacturers unless you can find the design specs for each brands spring packs there is really no way to compare by just looking

The F350 SRW can be configured with a 4 or 5 leaf rear spring pack. I never understood it, but both spring packs are rated the same. I had the larger spring pack on my F250 (same as on F350) and it was very capable.https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/topics/2015/15_SD_Pickups_SB_Updates.pdfI always felt the GM's had the best unloaded ride, but I do not know the deflection of the suspension loaded.

Leaf count is meaningless. My 12 Ram 2500 has 5, a 3500 has 4. Like mentioned above, spring rate is the only way to tell which will sag less.

F350 srw vs chevy 3500 srw rear sag? | Good Sam Community

donn0128
Explorer II
Feb 06, 2015
Different spring rates for the two vehicles will dictate to number of leaves per side. Since your comparing different manufacturers unless you can find the design specs for each brands spring packs there is really no way to compare by just looking
coolbreeze01
Explorer
Feb 06, 2015
Hooked up my trailer the other day and it didn't sag enough to hit the overload spring.
the_bear_II
Explorer
Feb 06, 2015
It depends on the weight ratings and load. If you watch a few Fords and Chevys/GMCs (F350 or 3500s) going down the road with TT and or 5th wheels some sag and some don't.

I'm guessing if you were able to find a Ford and GM with identical weight capacities and towed the same trailer with both (an apples to apples comparison) both would sag equally or not sag.

Your best bet is to determine what load you will be carrying and then get a truck that has more than enough capacitiy for the load. The worst truck you can get is one that is at (or over) maximum capacity when loaded.

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F350 srw vs chevy 3500 srw rear sag?

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