Sorry it took so long to get an update on this. After reading this post, Torklift reached out to me and helped me get set up with some lower stableloads. I drilled half of one of the holes and then shelved the project for last year's ski season. With this year's ski season rapidly approaching and every little trip in the truck reminding me how much the suspension sucks, I figure I better get on this.
I've read lots of opinions on drilling the new 2017+ leaf springs (not sure if they're any different than previous generations), but none of them have really laid it out as plainly as I'm about to:
1. No lubrication or cutting fluid is needed.
2. Slow speed + high pressure (thinking I was about 300-500RPMs with the 7/16th bit)
3. I didn't rent torklift's tool, but probably should have. Instead, I used a DeWalt trigger clamp, which worked surprisingly well once I stopped trying to pause every 5-10 seconds and relubricate as the instructions suggested.
4. Having a bench grinder on hand was very useful for re-profiling and resharpening the drill bits. My last spring only took me 15 minutes and I used the same bit for the last 3 springs.
As for the ride? It's better, for sure, but not what I would consider "night and day." I want to be VERY clear about something though... I took some time to do a side by side comparison between the stock suspension and only the UPPER stableloads, and to my surprise, the upper stableloads were a big improvement. All of the bounciness I was complaining about was a factor of the crappy stock suspension which is 110% absolutely not up to the job of hauling around a 3500lb camper (fully loaded, 2630lb dry weight).
The counterpoint there is that I drove up and down the mountain all winter with just the upper stableloads and never felt unsafe or out of control. It just didn't feel right. It felt even less right when I took the stableloads off. It feels another degree better with the lower stableloads. Sway is noticeably reduced in the corners and my fully loaded ride height is now perfectly level whereas I was maybe 0.5" low in the back with upper stableloads only and maybe 1.25" with the stock suspension. The ride is a bit firmer, as would be expected, but not in a bad way.
The persistent problem is the porpoising, bounciness, etc. while traveling in a straight line over uneven surfaces. RV.net and other resources have me convinced this is a factor of the stock F-350 shocks. This is logical considering it wouldn't make sense for F-350s to be mass produced with shocks designed for the specific benefit of truck campers.
While the sway control is nice, I feel that it could be even better (Caveat: I haven't tried to adjust the number of plates in the stableload yet. Tweaking those may offer some additional benefit. I also haven't removed the upper stableloads yet, and might try that as well.) I plan to augment this with the Big Wig sway bar that's been sitting in my garage for however long it's been (I really wanted to just do one thing at a time).
Since the sway bar will obviously not have any bearing on the bouncy bouncy issues, I also plan on upgrading at least to rancho 9000xl adjustables, but might get a little crazy and spring for the Fox adjustables. Then again, I might also sell the Northern Lite/SRW F-350 combo and go DRW + Host. Don't get me wrong, the NL/SRW has been amazing, and even my wife doesn't mind the space with all 3 of us camped out on the mountain, but I personally wouldn't mind spreading out a bit more with a Mammoth or Cascade. It's all about the recliner!
