leveling a truck apprecaite any help! thanks

[bgott]

You need to drive it down a couple of rough roads and see how easy it is to bottom it out. Then you can decide if you need some air bags or Timbrens. My understanding of Timbrens is that they are used to prevent bottoming out more than to restore ride height, but I might be wrong. I wouldn't worry about an inch and a half. Do you have just the box in the truck or do you have it loaded out? I think you'll find that it is going to gain weight over a period of time. People who work out of their trucks tend to accumulate stuff. Air bags would make life easier, you can go out and measure the ride height every couple of months and add air to compensate. When the rear tires start to pooch out with an extra 10 PSI in them it's time to move up to a 3/4 ton. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Boondox]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( You need to drive it down a couple of rough roads and see how easy it is to bottom it out. Then you can decide if you need some air bags or Timbrens. My understanding of Timbrens is that they are used to prevent bottoming out more than to restore ride height, but I might be wrong. I wouldn't worry about an inch and a half. Do you have just the box in the truck or do you have it loaded out? I think you'll find that it is going to gain weight over a period of time. People who work out of their trucks tend to accumulate stuff. Air bags would make life easier, you can go out and measure the ride height every couple of months and add air to compensate. When the rear tires start to pooch out with an extra 10 PSI in them it's time to move up to a 3/4 ton. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )</font>

Clint said he was moving to PA in a couple of months and that's why I felt air bags or adjustable shocks were not the best idea. Face it, air bags and wild temp fluctuations aren't the best combination, and an adjustable shock that requires a simple turn of a dial in Texas is a nightmare of heat lamps and thawing snow up here in Vermont. Helper leaf springs are great if he's going to be carrying a lot of weight on a regular basis, but I don't get that feeling from his post. Besides, an add-a-leaf will change the ride quite a bit, especially on dirt roads. Timbrens are cheap, won't rust or be impacted at all by bad weather, won't lift the truck at all, and won't even be noticed except under heavy loads or if he bottoms out on a rough road. If you like the way your truck drives, using Timbrens won't change that.

Pete

 

[bgott]

Most OTR trucks, at least down here in the south, have air ride suspension. Are the air bags giving the truckers problems up north? I'm asking because I don't know. My trucking experience in cold weather was back in the days when you hardly saw any trucks with air ride, that was a luxury. I've installed air bags in the front springs of diesel trucks and vans that I would not trust in cold weather but I've been noticing that the newer light duty air bags seem to be as good a quality as the heavy duty bags. The air bags on Lincolns go at least 4 or 5 years before needing replaced, /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif, but that happens everywhere.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Usually there is no problem in a good air system/ a well maintained one. On trucks that donthaveanevaporator Ill take the intakeline off the compressor and wait for it to kick on. THey have an airbrake and system deicer,antirust,antifreeze we put in them ill put about a quart in them. On most airbag systems i think there is a fiol hole in them to introduce aliquid like the deicer in them but im not 100 percent sure.

 

[cj7]

helper springs is my vote.. most economical

 

[dmp437]

I would recommend new spring packs and the rear sway bar from the camper package to enhance stability, especially during emergencies.
I would also service the transmission ASAP. Your transmission is an E40D and has been known to have issues especially as the milage adds up. Mine went at about 74k miles in my 1994 F150 5.8L 4x4.