Truck Suspension Hopefully.....Finally.....Addressed
In a previous post I had decided to install some high end FOX 2.5 adjustable shocks on my truck. Here is the post: FOX Shocks Post
I drove my truck 90 min to Off Road Warehouse in El Cajon, CA. The lad (Jason) I was to do business with tunes the suspensions on the heavy Baja Calif race support vehicles, so I was interested in his evaluation.
After some poking around, he suggested that I first get some suspension work done one the rear leaf pack before he suggested shocks.
My truck had the lower Torklift Stabiloads engaged at the time.
He directed me to Deaver Spring Co in Santa Ana, CA, a business I know well as I have had several trucks and one 5th wheel worked on there. Deaver has been in their same location for 110 years.....that is not a typo. Check out there website as they are quite famous now and do excellent work. Deaver Spring
I brought the truck up to Deaver and spoke to Jeff who carefully looked at the camper and truck and took some measurements. He said that he does a lot of this kind of work on much more overloaded truck/camper set ups (what a surprise), but he said my current configuration was pretty good BUT suggested the following:
Adding one leaf in the main spring pack and then adding a larger spacer between the main spring pack and the upper overload springs (which I have two of) so the upper's would contact sooner, kinda like what the upper Torklift's do. He promised that the upper overloads would not make contact with the truck when the camper was off.
Two hours later and $612 poorer the job is done. I drive back home and the ride is amazing. Hardly any sway at all and a nice compliant ride.
Jeff said that they routinely remove stop gap measures such as Torklifts and SuperSprings before doing such work.
I had noticed that when I engaged the lower overloads with the Torklifts that it introduced a lot of bounce to the suspension which is also mentioned in a Truck Camper Magazine article when the authors installed the same units on their truck.
Now with them removed, the lower overload is still engaged but not at such a previous extreme.
The next day I drive BACK down to El Cajon. Over the 90 minute drive over good and bad freeway I notice that the truck is riding really really great.
This was substantiated by Jason at Off Road Warehouse who after inspecting the truck after the spring mod's decided that I would not see any substantial improvement with the expensive shocks. He said that the Bilsteins that I had were an excellent choice.
He did however say that if I had Rancho's or KYB's on then he WOULD have recommended a shock change. The Bilsteins were a better choice for the heavy load.
So instead of possibly spending over $3,000 on shocks, I spent $612 plus some diesel on getting the suspension evaluated and properly set up.
IF you have such a shop within a days drive I strongly suggest you exploit their expertise before purchasing any stop gap measures.
Anyone want to buy a set of gently used Torklift Lower Stabiloads? LOL
I drove my truck 90 min to Off Road Warehouse in El Cajon, CA. The lad (Jason) I was to do business with tunes the suspensions on the heavy Baja Calif race support vehicles, so I was interested in his evaluation.
After some poking around, he suggested that I first get some suspension work done one the rear leaf pack before he suggested shocks.
My truck had the lower Torklift Stabiloads engaged at the time.
He directed me to Deaver Spring Co in Santa Ana, CA, a business I know well as I have had several trucks and one 5th wheel worked on there. Deaver has been in their same location for 110 years.....that is not a typo. Check out there website as they are quite famous now and do excellent work. Deaver Spring
I brought the truck up to Deaver and spoke to Jeff who carefully looked at the camper and truck and took some measurements. He said that he does a lot of this kind of work on much more overloaded truck/camper set ups (what a surprise), but he said my current configuration was pretty good BUT suggested the following:
Adding one leaf in the main spring pack and then adding a larger spacer between the main spring pack and the upper overload springs (which I have two of) so the upper's would contact sooner, kinda like what the upper Torklift's do. He promised that the upper overloads would not make contact with the truck when the camper was off.
Two hours later and $612 poorer the job is done. I drive back home and the ride is amazing. Hardly any sway at all and a nice compliant ride.
Jeff said that they routinely remove stop gap measures such as Torklifts and SuperSprings before doing such work.
I had noticed that when I engaged the lower overloads with the Torklifts that it introduced a lot of bounce to the suspension which is also mentioned in a Truck Camper Magazine article when the authors installed the same units on their truck.
Now with them removed, the lower overload is still engaged but not at such a previous extreme.
The next day I drive BACK down to El Cajon. Over the 90 minute drive over good and bad freeway I notice that the truck is riding really really great.
This was substantiated by Jason at Off Road Warehouse who after inspecting the truck after the spring mod's decided that I would not see any substantial improvement with the expensive shocks. He said that the Bilsteins that I had were an excellent choice.
He did however say that if I had Rancho's or KYB's on then he WOULD have recommended a shock change. The Bilsteins were a better choice for the heavy load.
So instead of possibly spending over $3,000 on shocks, I spent $612 plus some diesel on getting the suspension evaluated and properly set up.
IF you have such a shop within a days drive I strongly suggest you exploit their expertise before purchasing any stop gap measures.
Anyone want to buy a set of gently used Torklift Lower Stabiloads? LOL
