2011-2014 Ford Truck Owners - How much does your truck squat?

[jbeletti]

Curious as to how much the rear of your 2011-2014 Ford truck squats under the load of your 5th wheel.

I have a 2012 F450 with a Classy Chassis RV hauler bed. I estimate that I'm running maybe 1000 pounds heavier on the truck than if I had the OEM bed (additional weight of hauler bed, weight of tools and other items in cabinets, 60 gallon aux tank with some fuel in it and a 300 pound 5th wheel hitch).

Even without the RV hooked up, I feel the unloaded weight of my truck makes the rear of my truck squat a bit more than stock, and under the load of the RV, with the AirLift system at 55 psi (my sweet spot for the best trailering ride), the RV is not level front to back. It's slightly nose low.

I have an AirLift air bag system on my truck. I generally run about 55 psi in them when towing the RV. More than that and the ride becomes too harsh to bear. Using the bottom of my low-mounted rear bumper as a rear reference point and a spot on my front license plate bracket as a reference point, I made a series of measurements, then plotted them in an Excel spreadsheet (image below). I also took a few pictures of my truck leaf springs, loaded and unloaded.

1. Squat when loaded and 5 psi in bags: 3"
2. Squat when loaded and 55 psi in bags: 3.75"
3. Under no load (no RV), I can achieve 1.75" of vertical lift from the AirLift system moving from 5 to 55 psi
4. Under the load of the RV, I can achieve 1" of vertical lift from the AirLift system moving from 5 to 55 psi

So, with the minimal amount of lift I'm getting from the AirLift system, I have two questions:

1. Is the system undersized for my use case?
2. Could my truck possibly benefit from the use of SuperSprings?

​
All images below are with55 psi in air bags.

 

[MTPockets]

Jim, my truck GVWR is 14,000 lbs with 50 gal aux tank, tool box, plus two smaller boxes on each side of hitch. My pin weight is 3400 lbs. I have my hitch set up so the 5vr is level, but I do get some truck squat, and I believe that's the way Ford DRW's are set up. When not hitched, my rear bumper is not much higher than the front. My truck was ordered with the heavy duty front suspension for snow plow or other heavy front attachments, although I will never use it, I went for the capacity. Bottom line, I feel Fords are designed for some rear squat under load. Rams seem to sit higher at the rear when when unloaded. Not an answer to your question, but an FYI input.

 

[porthole]

Before I did any work my truck would drop 3"+. Enough so that the headlights were shooting high.
It would drop until it hit the overloads. Once on the overloads it didn't really matter how much additional weight was added, it pretty much stayed at the same height.

This picture is the truck stock with no weight and whatever the Cyclone had for pin when I took the picture. I don't remember, but the garage was probably empty, adding about 400 pounds to the pin.

The 2011 and up model year had redesigned rear springs, supposedly to allow a softer unloaded ride. Mine has held everything I could put on the bed and the squat is about the same.
The SRW's have the same issue - but, the spring blocks are 2" taller, so sitting static the SRW's sit about 2" higher.

That might be something for you to consider, especially since you already have the additional 1000 #'s of Classy stuff. SRW spring blocks and new U-bolts. Should you go that route, I highly recommend you pay someone to do it. It is a fairly simple job but labor intensive, especially working on the ground.

 

[jbeletti]

Terry and Duane, thank you for your feedback.

Duane, in talking with Tom at Classy Chassis, adding 2" blocks is one idea he has. His concern with it though is what effect it may have on my unloaded ride. That's why I sort of favor the SuperSprings. They need to have some tension in order to sit right when static, but if setup right, should not add much harshness to my unloaded ride. I'm guessing about $750 installed for the SuperSprings. Likely much less for 2" blocks.

 

[porthole]

Jim, all the blocks do is raise the body.
Take any 2011+ F-350 DRW and SRW and put them side by side. The height difference is the blocks. So there should be no difference in ride. Literally all you would be doing is raising the body over the rear axle 2".

That is why so many DRW's have high headlights and the "lighter duty" SRW's look to sit closer to level.

My truck before redoing the suspension.

Once on the overloads, the height didn't change no matter how the truck or trailer were loaded.
The problem with that is once on the overloads with the minimum weight required to hit them, the ride really sucked. Adding more weight made for a better ride at that point.

I had to replace the rubber pads several times, got in the habit of keeping spares in the truck.

Tom at Classy Chassis, adding 2" blocks is one idea he has. His concern with it though is what effect it may have on my unloaded ride.

Since the bed adds 900-1000 pounds of static weight to the DRW, maybe he should consider adding the blocks as part of the bed upgrade.
Better yet - "no charge to you experiment".

Another bit of maybe useless info.
When I was deciding between the big 3 DRW's, the Ford got the extra points because it was 2-4" lower at the tailgate then the Dodge and GM's

 

[jdamude]

Hi Jim, I have a 2014 F450 and tow a 3650RL BC. The truck settles approximately 2.5 inches with the trailer on. I installed the firestone air ride system and with 55 PSI, I can regain my un loaded ride height. I don't know what will happen after a couple of years. If your springs are starting to weaken, I would suggest having a spring shop re-arc them to regain your factory ride height. I have done this to many trucks at our shop. You can easly pick up 1.5-2.0 inches. Cost for the job is approximately 400-500 complete. By doing this you will retain the ride your used to when running un loaded.

 

[mobilcastle]

I wander if Timbrens would help. My chevy drops to the overloads and rids well. You appear to be off the overloads - strange I would have thought you would have an excellent ride?

 

[driver311]

kelderman

 

[jbeletti]

kelderman

Edgar - you have to be the king of one word answers

I'd love an air ride system, just don't want to shell out thousands for one.

 

[porthole]

Kelderman has lowered the price on the kits. The 4 link for the 11+ Fords was just over 4K when I did the r4 stuff. Now it is $3400, about $1200 more then I paid for the r4. The difference would have been more then made up for with the aggravation of the firestone stuff.

https://kelderman.com/ford_super_duty_4_link_rear_air_suspension

Kelderman also has a hybrid system. Although, after my experience with my hybrid system I think I would bypass any "in between" air rides.

$1800
https://kelderman.com/ford_super_duty_f450_air_suspension_2_stage_rear


See what trailer they use in the add for the trailer air ride?
https://kelderman.com/leaf_spring_trailer_air_suspension

 

[driver311]

i have kelderman on my truck. it rides better than most cars. my truck was the proto tip for there kit for 2014 2500 dodge. i wont have another truck without air ride. dodge air ride comes from the factory now .