Spring Options

[SixSpeed]

Hey Guys,

This came up while I was over at Vinny-Socoms1's house looking at his M109 trailer. He used some Freighliner springs on it and mentioned it has a lot of flex.

Now I was thinking, I plan on bobbing my truck (M817), so what does anyone think about running some similar springs F&R on the truck? Stock springs are pretty solid. Other springs would allow for a lot more flex offroad, but would they be too soft for the road? I mean semi's use them, and all they do it on-road, right?

Any opinions out there?

 

[98taco3]

semis also use airbags in the system usually. The weight on them would be less though on a 5 ton. Might be worth a shot!

 

[Ruppster]

I guess the big question is what do you plan on doing with it? Is the truck going to be used only on the road and you want as soft a ride as possible? Or will it be used off road a lot and you want as much flex as possible?

As far as using springs off a commercial type truck the trick is finding out what the spring rate is. A lot of front spring packs are set for around a 12,000 pound load (per pair) while a single axle rear spring setup can be anywhere from 14,000 to 24,000 pounds, depending on axle. I know of one semi junk yard in Clearwater but they recently held a big auction and sold off almost all their stuff. There's another junk yard in Tampa that also deals in semis. They place ads on Craigslist all the time. There are more semi junkyards out there, I just haven't found them yet. You might want to check with them to see what they have.

But I think your best bet might be to check with a shop that makes custom spring packs. Maybe ask them if they can do anything with your current springs by removing some of the springs.

On another note if you need some help with the work let me know as I'm just down the road from you.

Ruppster

 

[SixSpeed]

Thanks for the input. The truck will be seeing a lot of drive time, both on and off-road. But I would say the reason for looking into different springs was the gained flex, rather than a better ride. I would be looking at doing the spring swap towards the end of summer, by which the truck will be bobbed with a 5.9 Cummins, so it will be light. Relatively speaking.

I would be REALLY curious to find out what a 5-Ton front spring pack is rated for, though I don't even know where to begin for hunting down that information. I think that is the next step in finding springs. If anyone knows what the rates are, or might be able to point me in the right direction for finding out that would be great.

I (THINK) know that a lot of commercial springs are 4" wide, wheres these trucks use 3" wide packs. What about running deuce front springs all around on a 5-Ton? Might be better suited weight wise for my project and what I am looking for. Just something to think about I guess.

 

[vinny-socom1]

air bag it!!!

Vinny