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Full air ride modification

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
Ok friends, this is a project that I have been looking forward to for a few months now.
Took delivery on the 2018 F550 in August of 2018 and have been using it for a daily driver since then. It was too late to go to the coast fishing so wife and I went to Kalispell for a weekend just to stretch the legs out and see how it handled. As we ordered it with a heavier suspension it was not a surprise to feel every bump and crack in the roads, the Okanagan weights in around 7000 lbs loaded up so we thought it would squash it down a bit, this came out to be a 2” difference from loaded to empty.
Still a pretty rough ride with the camper on, shook thinks up a little.
After shopping around for a while we pulled the trigger on a Kelderman 4 link air ride suspension package for the rear and the front kit that replace the front coil springs. We had them ship the kits to Sweet Grass MT (At the Border Storage) as the charge to get it across the border and up to my house in Canada was way too much. We are going South tomorrow to pick it up.



Pulled the body off the other day to clean up the frame and get the truck ready for the project, much to my surprise I found some cracks between the front boxes and the structure of the deck.





So out came the welder and another project began.
Ground out the cracks and welded them up. (Aluminium that has been powder coated is a real B*&^h to weld(difficult to clean properly). Purchased a ¼” sheet of Aluminium and welded it to the front all the way around both boxes and the frame for more strength.



Now how to make all the burnt paint look good again? Raptor makes an excellent bed liner/rocker guard that is tint able. So after 6 hours of prep work and 2 coats it looks great! I recommend this stuff for any job like this.



So off to the border we go. Pictures of the progress will soon come.
38 REPLIES 38

noteven
Explorer III
Explorer III
Lookin good.

www.heatline.com for 12v heat trace cable to stop annoying freezes between compressor and tank 1.

SoonDockin
Explorer II
Explorer II
Wow, so you have to remove the original suspension mounts for the Kellerman bits to work? Looks like quite a project.
2022 Ram Laramie 5500 60" CA New pic soon
2018 Arctic Fox 1140 Dry Bath
Sold 2019 Ford F450 King Ranch (was a very nice truck)

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
Went hard last night, had help from the son with the boat, tit for tat works well.
95% stripped down, just two overload brackets to grind off and the assembly starts.





Only work till noon today, lots will get done this afternoon.

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
OK so got my shop all cleaned up to do this job and what happens? All of a sudden with a clean shop my boy wants to bring his boat in to get it ready for summer. How many of us have to knuckle under and help out the kids?



O well, that’s what dads are for right? That out of the way and on with the modification, cleaned her all up, measured the pinion angle, now on with the tear down.





More to come.

noteven
Explorer III
Explorer III
A look at Ford’s upfitter guide dimensions section and all will be revealed...

ticki2
Explorer
Explorer
And here I thought 60" cab to axle was 60", who knew .
'68 Avion C-11
'02 GMC DRW D/A flatbed

Kayteg1
Explorer II
Explorer II
Supercharged111 wrote:
Kayteg1 wrote:
This is about 10' long bed, so the axle has to be at least 5 ft behind the cabin.
Those welds look poorly done from start. No penetration.
Will look for pictures on air ride.
I put sulastic hangers on mine dually and after restarting the season 2 days ago, drove some with empty truck as well. No big complains about ride on good roads.


I guess the proportions must be similar to a regular pickup then? I was thinking the axle would be farther rearward than it is, but still an improvement as the wheelbase is extended and you have more truck period.

Point is that F550 has rear axle about 1 foot farther to the rear than F450, or that is what I have seen in previous years. (C&C F350 has rear axle farther too)
This way when you slide-in heavy camper, you will have COG well in front of the axle, when on lighter trucks it comes behind the axle, what force owners to limit the loads.

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
noteven wrote:
Wes - those cracks may be from the aluminum body being rigid and the truck frame needing to rack - if the body is solid bolted at the front the frame racking stresses are transferred to the body. You could use a double L mounts with springs at the front.

Stop by a local bulk fuel delivery service and look at how their tank bodies are mounted to the truck frame.


I have seen that. You may have something there. I think the fact that they were just hanging by that weld with nothing else across the front may have something to do with it too. I plan on using that method to hold it down when I put it back on though.

Supercharged111
Explorer
Explorer
Kayteg1 wrote:
This is about 10' long bed, so the axle has to be at least 5 ft behind the cabin.
Those welds look poorly done from start. No penetration.
Will look for pictures on air ride.
I put sulastic hangers on mine dually and after restarting the season 2 days ago, drove some with empty truck as well. No big complains about ride on good roads.


I guess the proportions must be similar to a regular pickup then? I was thinking the axle would be farther rearward than it is, but still an improvement as the wheelbase is extended and you have more truck period.
2007 Lance 1131
1997 GMC K3500 crew cab supercharged dually

noteven
Explorer III
Explorer III
Wes - those cracks may be from the aluminum body being rigid and the truck frame needing to rack - if the body is solid bolted at the front the frame racking stresses are transferred to the body. You could use a double L mounts with springs at the front.

Stop by a local bulk fuel delivery service and look at how their tank bodies are mounted to the truck frame.

ticki2
Explorer
Explorer
Sidecarflip , it would seem a 1997 Ford is pretty close to a forever truck . LOL
'68 Avion C-11
'02 GMC DRW D/A flatbed

Fredetteb
Explorer
Explorer
SoonDockin wrote:
This looks like an interesting thread. Looking forward to hearing how you like the air ride update.


As a fellow F450 owner I am also curious how the upgrade goes.
Full-time RV'ers
2008 Ford F-450.
Custom rear seat platform for the dogs.
Tonneau cover. BullyDog GT. High Idle Mod.
B&W Turnoverball™ with a Companion 5th Wheel Hitch.
2018 Keystone Montana 381TH

SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Explorer III
Interesting. I would never install air ride on a front axle because of the articulation issues. Been there with Class 8 diesels and it always ends badly as the components wear and side slop kicks in. You wind up replacing components a lot.

I'd go for an air ride (like National Seating) front seat. Much cheaper alternative and no hacking up the under carriage and winding up withsomething you cannot sell down the road.

I guess if it's your forever truck, no problem but with me, there is no forever truck.
2015 Backpack SS1500
1997 Ford 7.3 OBS 4x4 CC LB

SoonDockin
Explorer II
Explorer II
Kayteg1 wrote:


They do. Not that dually will become a Cadillac, but noticeable improvement.
They suppose to improve loaded ride as well, but with my 5000 lb camper it gets soft anyway, so can't really tell the difference under the load.


My F450 unloaded is too rough for the DW to ride in comfortably. Its also a bit bigger than I want to drive to a few places we frequent. Still if the ride is improved some, I might give them a try. First mile and a half from my home is the worst. Bumps every few feet. Its the only pickup we have now, so its needed fairly often for hauling stuff.
2022 Ram Laramie 5500 60" CA New pic soon
2018 Arctic Fox 1140 Dry Bath
Sold 2019 Ford F450 King Ranch (was a very nice truck)

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
NRALIFR wrote:
What is the rated payload capacity of your truck, Wes?

:):)


12,730lbs. 19,500lbs gvwr
Max gcwr 40,000lbs

OMG. Long day today,,,6 hours to the border, 2 hours state side 3 hours to Calgary.
Having a Jack D. And hit the hay