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.
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.
Well it’s all done!!! Had to do some minor adjustment to the trailing arms as it was “Dog Tracking” during the test drive, she goes straight as an arrow now. The ride empty is way better than I expected, yes you can still feel the bumps but they are not bone rattling like they were before, just a mild bump. The ride loaded with the camper is a considerable amount better too, stability while cornering is way better due to the sizable torsion bar they use, no sway at all even with a crosswind. Only sits down ½ to ¾ inch when loaded. (That may be tire squash) All in all I am perfectly happy with the cost and the amount of work involved. Not a job for someone that has no mechanical background and should be younger than 62 years old torqueing down all those bolts wore me out LOL. So far (Only have a couple hundred KM on the truck) I would highly recommend the Kelderman brand for fit and finish.
Don’t have the wheel covers on yet, still have to re-torque wheels.
Hope this helps anyone trying to decide weather to go this way, I recommend it if you want to spend the time and money,
Don’t have the wheel covers on yet, still have to re-torque wheels.
Hope this helps anyone trying to decide weather to go this way, I recommend it if you want to spend the time and money,
Grit dog wrote:
"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?"
Haha, I kinda wish my kids were like me and did all that mechanicin' stuff, but on the upside, they're doing cool things that I didn't get to do when I was their age.
However, oldest kid is 16, found him a super low miles never driven in the rain grampa owned car. BUT I spent over half of the weekend pulling full maintenance and tune up on his car so that it'll be good to go for a long time with only oil changes.
Ya its nice being able to work on these things together with them, the engine in the boat is a carbureted 350 that we’ve rebuilt from the crank up. The new vehicles are a different story though, if you don’t own the right computer all you can do is oil changes. I looked under the hood on this 550 and just shook my head, how they do anything under there is beyond me. Had an oil leak on my old 2008 and they lifted the whole cab off to fix it. Just crazy!!!
Good thing it was warrantee work.
How many guys you know have a hoist like that in their garage?
OK so front end was more work than I anticipated, got her all done by Sunday night. Going to mount the deck back on today and hook up the compressor. The box supplied is too big to mount between the frame and service body so I am going to take all the stuff out and mount it in one of the rear bins. All the hose connections are good (did the soap test) so no leaks, ordered a couple air gauges so I can monitor pressure in the rear bags.
More to come.
More to come.
Hi again, so during the week, stuff doesn’t get done as quickly as I would like with work and yard maintenance to deal with. Last night was an exception to this. Mounted the air tank got the air lines installed, mounted the leveling valves and set ride height, all in one evening, was late but happy with what got done.
Going to spray the soap to check for leaks, install protective cover on air lines and mount the deck back on today. Forecast is rain and miserable all weekend so I will probably get the front end done by Sunday.
Going to spray the soap to check for leaks, install protective cover on air lines and mount the deck back on today. Forecast is rain and miserable all weekend so I will probably get the front end done by Sunday.
Went hard all weekend! 10 hours on Saturday and 9 on Sunday, Saturday was just getting everything together with bolts loose, Sunday was torquing everything down and putting all the other components in that had to be moved (some exhaust pipe and emergence cables) Just need to adjust the arms for pinion angle and wheel base.
Next is the front end and mount the air system.
The air system has an air dryer so there should be no freezing or contamination.
Next is the front end and mount the air system.
The air system has an air dryer so there should be no freezing or contamination.
