Truck springs

Egon · Dec 11, 2004

Since new I have always felt our Dodge 2500 series truck was to soft in the front end.

Recently I place some rubber inserts that extend for one coil of the spring. This has really stiffened uo the front. For some it may be too rough but suits my purpose and use of truck.

Any comments bad/good would be appreciate as I have never seen this item before.

Egon

Boondox · Dec 11, 2004

Egon -- I've never seen that, but I put timbrens on the front of my Chevy to handle the extra weight of my plow. Timbrens are replacements for the OE rubber stops, only shaped like a hockey puck and just about as hard. Without them, the front of my pickup dropped two inches with the plow raised; now it only drops about half an inch. As for the ride, I don't notice any difference.

Pete

Egon · Dec 11, 2004

Pete:

I looked at timberens. Told they would not help me by the dealer.

What I have seems to work but am willing to look at alternatives as I'm confused by most things mechanical.

Egon

fishman · Dec 12, 2004

Egon,

While I can't help you with that problem, it does remind me of a '76 Dodge pickup I once owned that had a lot more pulling power than bed capacity. The rear leaf springs were really weak, so I bought a set of coil helper springs that just u-bolted on. They didn't quite touch the frame when installed, so the nice soft ride wasn't changed. However, when loading it up with a bed-full of wood, the situation was a lot better. Best part was that they were only about $25.

So if you could find something like that designed for the front, I think it would help.

Boondox · Dec 12, 2004

Do those additional rear leaf springs (helper springs?) change the ride in a big way? Seems like you'd get a much stiffer ride unloaded that might make driving down dirt roads an adventure!

Pete

Egon · Dec 12, 2004

Coil springs on the front. I'm sure they could be replaced by ones that would meet my needs but beyond my means.

Egon

RobertN · Dec 12, 2004

I had issues with the front end on my old('89 F250 4x4) Ford. I too had a large 11.5' cabover camper. The back handled it fine, but I wanted a little more in the front.

The springs were sagging to begin with('80-90's Ford F250/350 IFS has issues with this). When I switched out my IFS for a real straight axle, I took the front springs to a spring shop.

They were able to rearch the springs to get rid of the sag problem. Then, they added an additional leaf. The extra leaf worked progressively, so what little ride comfort I had in a 3/4-ton 4x4 stayed, but when the weight of the camper was added, the extra spring came into play and really helped.

Now, my example is with a leaf spring suspension. But, the spring place here also worked on and/or custom made coil springs too.

My Dodge is fine in front, for my tastes. But, I have not had a camper loaded on it('80's Lance camper I had on the Ford would not fit in the newer style Dodge bed, so I sold it but have not replaced it yet).
Anyways, my expierience was good with the spring shop. I would recomend looking in to that.

RobertN · Dec 12, 2004

I had adda-leafs on my old Ford. They could be easily adjusted. They could also be set up that they did not come in to play till the truck was loaded up a bit, so the stock ride stayed(as good as a stock ride could be in an '80's 3/4 ton 4x4).

Egon · Dec 12, 2004

Thanks Robert.

Egon

fishman · Dec 13, 2004

Boondox,

No, in my case the helper springs weren't long enough to contact the frame. I actually had 1-2" of travel before they engaged. So regular driving was unchanged. When a load was added, the springs engaged and the truck rode a lot more level.

If there hadn't been sufficient room to put the helper springs in, I don't know that I would have done it that way. The other option was adding a leaf spring or two, and that would have been a lot more work.

I highly recommend coil helper springs to anyone with a saggy rear end. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Just make sure not to exceed the gvwr or bed capacity.