Last November I put a full set of 19.5 Cooper Roadmasters on my 2011 F-250 crew cab long bed and Vision rims to replace a set of factory 17 inch bullet hole aluminum wheels and tires.The camper weighed 3680 dry and was starting to give me problems so I dumped it and we bought a 2016 leftover Camp Lite 9.2 this camper weighs 3360 with all of our stuff in it food generator linens and odds and ends.(empty tanks)The camper aside from looking really stupid on a 8 foot truck just doesn't feel right going down the road so I ordered a 2017 F-350 crew cab short bed SRW.The truck will be here around the end of the month and will have factory 18 inch wheels.I ordered a XL with a STX upgrade so it has some chrome and nicer wheels so do you think I should bother to put the visions on the new truck ?The Coopers have a annoying sing on the highway and at 70 mph the truck has noticeable quiver that I cant fix despite getting the tires balanced twice.I'm already dreading drilling holes in the springs so I can use my Stableloads(why Ford stopped putting those holes in the springs is beyond me) and I ordered a set and received new a set of Torklift tie downs and from what I read the ones on the front are PITA to install on the front of these new box frame trucks.I'm just trying to keep the aggravation down to a minimum and if I can get by with the factory wheels I would like too.

If you are not over payload why bother??

I think I'd try it first too. I was surprised to see the missing holes in the springs as well. I just plan to install the upper stable loads, I had both on the 2012 truck but prefer the uppers.The tiedown install I think is different on the short bed, I believe the biggest issue is you have to break loose the bolt on the spring perch... hopefully I'm not getting it mixed up. On the long bed it wasn't too bad except you had to use 4 bolt fishers at once to fish bolts into the frame. Getting them all lined up and not losing the bolts was a bit of trouble but I got them installed in under an hour. I found my Milwaukee cordless impact was helpful.

I was putting tie-downs on my 2017 F350 last March. The only problem was that the brackets were overflown with powder coating, what partly filled up holes. Bad moment to find that bolt is not fitting into the hole when you are under the truck, holding fished bolt with one hand and bracket with other. Inspect the tie-downs well before installation. My new dually is holding 6500lb camper without modifications, but you will have to see how your set up works.Did you order diesel truck? Even with 3.55 differential the beast can pull 14k-16k combos on 6% grades without dropping down from 6th gear, so I would not mind bigger wheels for fuel saving alone.

As everyone says here, the process is somewhat precarious, and anything you can do to prep things best as possible before you are laying on your back under the truck is time well spent. For me, given you have to line up four bolts/holes on several different planes without knocking the fished bolts back through the frame holes, my main suggestion would be to prep the one 2" x 2" spacer onto the tiedown beforehand by super gluing it to the tiedown bracket. If Torklift needs a spacer at that point, it should be tack welded to the bracket right out of the box. Wrestling with all the above while the spacer is sliding around on you (as I did when installing the first side) is yet another degree of freedom you don't need when trying to execute this task. Good luck with your outcome.

Kayteg1 wrote:Did you order diesel truck? Even with 3.55 differential the beast can pull 14k-16k combos on 6% grades without dropping down from 6th gear, so I would not mind bigger wheels for fuel saving alone.No ...I already own a 6.2 and have zero complaints ...I don't need the aggravation of the DEF fluid and everything else that goes with it ...I work for the state highway dept and I drove the road mechanics 2016 F550 service truck one afternoon ...I wasn't impressed .

Should I switch out the tires ??? | Good Sam Community

Powerdude
Explorer
Oct 08, 2017
Interesting that there are no holes in the bottom spring leaf for the bottom stableloads.

My 2016 Ford F250 has them.

Every year stuff has features removed in an effort to make stuff cheaper, but not necessarily better.

Less cereal in cereal boxes, less holes in springs. So the manufacturer can make more money and the customer can be more aggravated.

Seems like that's how life is these days.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Oct 08, 2017
In case of vehicles, they get cheaper, but load more stuff.
For example 2016 Ford had GPS for about $900.
In 2017 they add voice recognition and the price is $570
I also got Michelin tires, what I think is the most expensive brand on the market.
I can only wonder why older models had the hole in spring in the first place.
taycotrains
Explorer
Oct 09, 2017
burningman wrote:
When you say you weren't impressed when you drove the mechanic's F550, did you realize the 550 has a de-rated engine compared to the 250/350/450? The 550 doesn't have the 440 hp tune, it's set at 300 hp. You didn't drive the right truck!

Maybe so....but I know I ordered the right motor to fit my needs...
mkirsch
Nomad II
Oct 09, 2017
Powerdude wrote:
Interesting that there are no holes in the bottom spring leaf for the bottom stableloads.

My 2016 Ford F250 has them.

Every year stuff has features removed in an effort to make stuff cheaper, but not necessarily better.

Less cereal in cereal boxes, less holes in springs. So the manufacturer can make more money and the customer can be more aggravated.

Seems like that's how life is these days.

Those holes were not there for Stableloads in the first place. They were there for some factory purpose, and the Stableload designer decided to take advantage of them.

If the manufacturer has no need for the hole, it is wasted money to drill it. Then it's up to the Stableload designer to figure out a solution.

As an aside there is less cereal in the cereal boxes because the costs to produce it shot up. Electricity, natural gas, grain, sugar, cardboard, waxed paper... They had two options, either keep the package the same size and raise the price by 25%, or reduce the amount in the package by 20% and keep the price the same. They knew more people would raise holy hell and cry murder if the price went up, so they reduced the amount in the package. Most people did not notice, and they are actually doing our obese society a favor by encouraging us to limit portion sizes.

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Should I switch out the tires ???

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