Sumo Springs on 2022 F350 SRW

[MNRon]

I installed 2800lb Sumo Springs (yellow) on my F350 a week or so ago. Have pulled our 5er ~1k miles with them and found one of them torn nearly in two, and the other one starting to have a banana bend. I noticed that they didn’t contact the bump stop directly in the middle when installing and suspect that’s the cause. I have an emai in to sumosprings but don’t expect an answer for a couple days given it’s the weekend.

Has anyone had this issue?
TIA

[blt2ski]

Soft Friday suspension......sounds like transit van I drive at work to a degree. I usually figured it was due to the LOOOOOONG rear overhang behind rear axle. Way softer than the sprinters we had. About literal usefull 2000 lbs less payload for same gvwr/25 series vans.

Marty

[Cummins12V98]

Me Again wrote:
I have said for a while now that every new Ford needs to be bagged if you intend to carry a load. The truck suspension appears to be designed more for ride quality than load carrying.

I thought they beefed up the current models? Back in 2016 every F450 hauling a DRV had to be bagged that I spoke to at the DRV repair facility. One guy had not done the bags yet and he was NOT happy with his ride.

[Me_Again]

I have said for a while now that every new Ford needs to be bagged if you intend to carry a load. The truck suspension appears to be designed more for ride quality than load carrying.

[rhagfo]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

rhagfo wrote:
Just find it interesting that a new truck for an existing 5er need extra spring help!

That tells me it's overloaded most likely.

Got to wonder, I figured that a Ram 3500 SRW with a 12,300 GVWRand about 4,200 payload our 2,700# pin, hitch, DW, myself and “stuff” in the in bed toolbox I would be at about 12,200#+.
Maybe part of the steering drift issue!

[Cummins12V98]

rhagfo wrote:
Just find it interesting that a new truck for an existing 5er need extra spring help!

That tells me it's overloaded most likely.

[rhagfo]

Just find it interesting that a new truck for an existing 5er need extra spring help!

[Thermoguy]

I'm impressed that you have driven 4K miles in just over a month...

[Huntindog]

I like the flexability of airbags. Not so much for the weight capacity, but being able to raise and lower the nose of the 5ver. My first trip out with it there was a small berm going into our campsite. The leveling jacks would not clear it. We ended up doing a lot of shovel work to get it done. With the airbags and on board bluetooth pump, we can easily get past such an obstacle without breaking a sweat.

[Grit_dog]

valhalla360 wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Why not add airbags and set to have the truck run level. Bilstien's are another good add along with proper tire pressure based on load.

They are a 3-4 times the upfront cost and they require maintenance and adjustment.

And before you say it...Installed incorrectly, they won't last long either.

A basic set of 5klb bags is around 10% more than a set of sumos. Giver take.
I suppose they do require adjustment. IE adding or removing air.
But you’re comparing 2 different products that perform a similar function.
I never have had airbag maintenance on any of my to do lists….Had one fail at 15+ years old. But I’ve never used sumos or Timbrens for 15 years to compare whether they last longer.
Bottom line, OP got too soft of Sumos, or relied on them too heavily or improper fit/install. Or combination thereof.

[TravelinDog]

Glad you got the issue resolved. Nice to see a company stand behind its product.

[fj12ryder]

Sounds like a stand up company.

[MNRon]

* FINAL UPDATE *

As mentioned, the Sumosprings customer service was fabulous! Not only did they send me new Sumosprings, but also sent landing platforms to ensure that I wouldn’t have the same issue as I initially experienced. Even more, because I’d mentioned that I noticed more ‘drift’ in the F350 steering as compared to my prior Duramax3500, they sent me some additional bump stops to engage the overload springs earlier to help with handling; FREE!

After installing everything (an hour and a half because I did it in campground) everything is working great. I’ve traveled ~2K miles in the Rockies and high plains (including a couple days in strong, gusty, cross winds) and the loaded handling is wonderful. Solved the squat issue, as well as significantly reduced the steering drift I’d noticed. Additionally, I’ve put on another 2K miles unloaded and am equally happy with unloaded performance. The unloaded gap means that unloaded performance is identical to pre-Sumosprings unless I hit larger bumps which then start to engage. I do notice large bumps can cause the overload stops to make a noise once in a while. Bottom line though, I’m happy to trade that for the superior loaded performance.

End result - very happy with Sumosprings, even happier with their customer service!!

[MNRon]

Interim Update

Spent a while on the phone with Sumo Tech Services Mgr - great guy, and fabulous support!

He commented that the Sumo (or bump stop etc) does not travel in a straight line relative to the lower perch stop, which is rounded and angled to intersect accounting for this. He took my installation specifics, weights, etc and believes that all is correct but that potentially a bump or something temporary ‘overloaded’ the Sumo causing it to swish sideways in attempt to relieve this and sliding off of the perch; once off it no longer functions properly and was tore apart with further bumps.

He wanted further specifics (which I sent tonight), but called me back to say that he’d already set replacement parts aside (including platforms to prevent a similar problem in the future) awaiting an address to intersect my travel. He also commented that leaving a little bit larger initial unloaded gap could also minimize this issue.

Can’t say enough good about Sumospring responsiveness so far!! Hope to get this resolved within the next few days and then a couple thousand miles traveling the Rockies over the next 4-5 weeks should give the resolution a good test. Thanks for all the replies and information. Hope to report back good news in a month 🙂

[Cummins12V98]

valhalla360 wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Why not add airbags and set to have the truck run level. Bilstien's are another good add along with proper tire pressure based on load.

They are a 3-4 times the upfront cost and they require maintenance and adjustment.

And before you say it...Installed incorrectly, they won't last long either.

HMMMMM, never had an issue and never heard of any maintenance on air bags.