Sumo springs vs air bags or overloads

I just installed Firestone Work Rite's on my ride and love them. Ive only put 400 miles on them but they solved problems I didn't know I had. Plus they were inexpensive.

No maintenance was my goal instead of airbags.

I would install Timbren's. Lifetime warranty and they work great.

Sumo Springs are warrantied for only 2 years so I would not use them. Air bags are tricky to get adjusted right and not needed unless one side of the camper is a lot heavier than the other. Overloads are going to work the best with the truck's factory suspension and I used the Supersprings on my truck. Took and hour to install them and then there is no maintenance and nothing to adjust or replace.

My suggestion for about 11,000 lbs with camper: 4x4 Dually F350, F450 or similar ;)

A friend had his spare tire stolen at a Safeway parking lot in San Francisco last year. His girlfriend who lives with him in the Marina district had her car stereo stole three times and then she put in a custom alarm system and the thieves stole the new stereo and the alarm system.

On a business trip where my flight was delayed overnight and I stayed inside the Chicago airport terminal a passenger was robbed in the men's restroom and lost his passport, credit cards, and all his cash. We chipped in to buy him dinner. You really don't need to go all the way to Italy to get robbed.

I talked to Superspring and they said that the sumo spring is not the correct application for the rear and probably won't be right even by cutting down the length in the front due to the distance from the frame to the spring with out the camper load. They recommended either a 3000 lb or modified to fit 5000lb superspring. I have to talk to Helwig about their 9703 overload spring as I like the additional frame contact points for sway control. The rig gets loaded with water and reweighed tomorrow. We'll figure it out from there.

From what I have read these trucks were built in Brazil until approx 2013 but apparently only in gas versions. Mine is diesel. Many of the International 7.3 motors were built in Canoas, Brasil but no mention if any were installed in the Ford SD trucks there. My spares will be motor oriented, but stuff happens and you just have to adapt to the situation. We had friends stuck I believe in Chile for 2 months waiting for a Duramax part. They just went back to Italy for their 3rd of 4th year, but got robbed in a grocery store parking lot and are not too happy at the moment. They got the last non ULSD Duramax that Tiger built and have been going ever since.

Sumosprings are warrantied for only 2 years so I would not put them on my truck for that reason alone.

Forget about an "approved dealership" for a Ford truck in Central and South America. Isuzu and Toyota and Mitsubishi and JMC are what you will find on the highways. The only American trucks and SUVs are the ones used by the car rental agencies.

I would take a spare water pump, fuel pump, hoses, belts, distributor, radiator stop leak, and other parts so you do not have to have them air shipped to you on your travels where the nearest airport may be a day's drive away.

X2 on both above post...Not to insult anybody but if I was palning a trip such as yours I would want the simplest and most reliable sytems that I could get and also expect it to be repaired in the most basic of shops or seviced by an approved dealership. JMO

Good Luck

Look at Super Springs.

If I had a trip to South America planned I would want my suspension to be as reliable as possible. IMO, the first thing I would do is go to a spring shop and talk to them about building a leaf spring for your truck and expected weight.

Having said that, I also have SuperSprings on my truck and they've worked great and were easy to install.