How to make F150 ride better?

[Snakebitten]

I forgot about CCD. So many option boxes.

I really like my sport / single rear leaf ride for it's comfort but it doesn't handle even as well as a Chevy truck. You don't feel any increased harshness? I wouldn't mind better handling and taming that jiggle you get with the harsher roads and potholes we find in the northern states. I'm not willing to sacrifice ride quality though.

Nothing is more subjective than suspension/ride.

"Harshness" is what I am getting rid of. And I am getting really really close!

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[wolfman1]

Didn't even get to the road out front and I could feel the chassis-body language difference on my dirt road. I should have done this 6 months ago when the truck arrived. I KNEW better.

Very simple install. A 65 year old man without help did it in under an hour. I didn't even put it on the lift.

Likely a dumb question, but I've got a 22 PB 4x4, max tow, the onboard scales, and 20" sport package. Do you think this addition is worth it? And do you think someone like me, who's never installed something like this before could successfully do it?

 

[Snakebitten]

Likely a dumb question, but I've got a 22 PB 4x4, max tow, the onboard scales, and 20" sport package. Do you think this addition is worth it? And do you think someone like me, who's never installed something like this before could successfully do it?

Your truck pretty much is exactly the same truck.
And anyone can install this as long as they are healthy enough to get up off the ground. (I'm old. It's something I have to consider )

There's nothing complicated about it. I don't think it could be done wrong either.
My only suggestion is to have a rag handy to get the sticky grease off your fingers after you apply it to the bushings. (grease is supplied) If you don't carefully get it off your hands, you will get everything you touch afterwards sticky, including your ratchet and 2 17mm wrenches.

Also, now having put a couple of hundred miles on it, just start with the endlinks mounted to the center hole (medium stiffness) If you are installing for towing heavy, then perhaps the inboard (stiffest) setting?

I think I'm done with dialing this truck in. I have to be very critical to go any further. It's got a really nice balance between luxury ride on smooth surfaces, yet composure without harshness on rough bumpy surfaces. Very happy for a traditional leaf spring rear suspension truck.

 

[Buyer2021]

I think I'm done with dialing this truck in. I have to be very critical to go any further. It's got a really nice balance between luxury ride on smooth surfaces, yet composure without harshness on rough bumpy surfaces. Very happy for a traditional leaf spring rear suspension truck.

Congratulations!

Just for reference, can you post a summary of

• Your truck's baseline suspension-related specs (pertinent equipment / options as-delivered)
• Your after-delivery suspension / 'ride-related' mods

 

[Snakebitten]

Congratulations!

Just for reference, can you post a summary of

• Your truck's baseline suspension-related specs (pertinent equipment / options as-delivered)
• Your after-delivery suspension / 'ride-related' mods

???
I deserve that, don't I?

2022 157" KingRanch Powerboost with MaxTow CCD & Scales

Modifications:

1. RAS installed, but adjusted to ~.5 mm of coilspring pre-tension. (~50% of manufacturer's recommendation for lowest setting)

2. Steeda rear Antisway bar. Set to middle setting

3. Forscan edit of the VDM module AsBuilt value for vehicle unsprung weight at all 4 corners. Edited the hex value to increase the oem AsBuilt value by 20%. Basically lying to "the computer" in an attempt to influence the active damping logic. A poor man's approach to a product not available? (aftermarket VDM tuning)

 

[Buyer2021]

I deserve that, don't I?

IMO you deserve thanks for your considered and informative posts about your suspension saga!

Thanks for the summary of context and mods - your 'solution' may not be for everyone but IMO is a valuable batch of info for folks with similar situations and goals.

 

[Snakebitten]

Blush.

Thanks for the flattering words. They mean a lot to me.

But I gotta be completely honest and admit that it's ME that prospers from having someone (the virtual people of the internet) to share my ramblings with. I gotta tell SOMEBODY!

I'm surrounded daily by 2 daughters and 5 granddaughters. Think about that dilemma. ?

 

[Buyer2021]

I'm surrounded daily by 2 daughters and 5 granddaughters. Think about that dilemma. ?

Better thee than me!

 

[wolfman1]

Your truck pretty much is exactly the same truck.
And anyone can install this as long as they are healthy enough to get up off the ground. (I'm old. It's something I have to consider )

There's nothing complicated about it. I don't think it could be done wrong either.
My only suggestion is to have a rag handy to get the sticky grease off your fingers after you apply it to the bushings. (grease is supplied) If you don't carefully get it off your hands, you will get everything you touch afterwards sticky, including your ratchet and 2 17mm wrenches.

Also, now having put a couple of hundred miles on it, just start with the endlinks mounted to the center hole (medium stiffness) If you are installing for towing heavy, then perhaps the inboard (stiffest) setting?

I think I'm done with dialing this truck in. I have to be very critical to go any further. It's got a really nice balance between luxury ride on smooth surfaces, yet composure without harshness on rough bumpy surfaces. Very happy for a traditional leaf spring rear suspension truck.

I'm going to take your word for it and give it a try. Don't be surprised if I have a question in a couple of weeks when it gets delivered lol.

Do you have a front sway bar as well? Is there any value in adding that as well?

 

[Snakebitten]

I'm going to take your word for it and give it a try. Don't be surprised if I have a question in a couple of weeks when it gets delivered lol.

Do you have a front sway bar as well? Is there any value in adding that as well?

It only took 3 or 4 days to arrive. (surprising these days. Requires a signature, by the way)
There's an install video on the Steeda website. It's as easy as it looks.

Yes, the truck comes with a front Antisway bar from the factory. Pretty much required or the truck would fall over on its side when you turn into a parking lot at greater than 5mph. ?

If you compare the front Antisway of the Gen14 to the previous F150's, you'd think something is wrong. It's scrawny compared. But that's a bit misleading because Ford redesigned the front knuckle and the attachment position of the front Antisway and it increased the leverage considerably. Ford claims the new scrawny bar is equivalent in its influence. I personally feel it's about the same, but I'd have preferred a little bit more. Adding the rear masks the front's shortcoming though.

Having said all that, if the aftermarket front sway bar wasn't priced so ridiculously, I'd change it immediately. But I am going to play with a Forscan-VDM value for "Front wheel rate" first, just to see what it does.

It's an awesome "parameter" to have access to IF it does what it implies. And if it does, "tuning" the front dampers/strut will be a piece of cake. The oem AsBuilt value is 171lbs/inch, which is basically the front spring rate measured at the center of the front wheel. (rather than directly above the spring itself, which I believe is 650lbs/inch on the Powerboost)

Theory being, if I were to edit that "wheel rate" to greater/lesser by some %, the CCD logic will increase/decrease active damping at the front corners in correlation? If that's true it would be possible to get a perfect "balance" front/rear after all the modifications I did to the rear suspension.

I don't think it really needs much. I'm being very critical when I say that the modified rear suspension brought out the "soggyness" up front.

 

[stonefly]

Howdy,
I wish I'd had Snakebitten's experience with install of a Steeda 555-1027 specified as compatible with my 2022 Supercrew Platinum Powerboost 5.5' bed.
I ran into two issues with the installation:
1. Contact with a metal shield on exhaust pipe.
2. Bushing bracket holes are misaligned sufficiently to prevent attachment to u-bolts.

Steeda is not sure why there's a problem and are reluctant to just ship new bushing brackets and not address the metal shield clearance.
They expect to have similar F-150 in their shop for another project and have indicated they'll be able to advise a solution within a couple of weeks.

Has anyone else had similar experience?

 

[Snakebitten]

There's considerable adjustable "slop" with the bolt/nut that holds the endlink mounting bracket to the frame. That's a BIG hole in the frame and allowed me to manipulate the assembly for no interference.

I admit that the one endlink comes pretty close to that exhaust shield (Powerboost exhaust), but it's not touching.

I DID have to pretend to be a big strong stud to get that stout Ubolt into the bushing clamp, but it was long enough that it flexed just enough to NOT require me to put it in a vise to tweak it a bit.

I've installed a few of these in my previous trucks. They all were far more similar than different. And they all took a bit of technique, if you know what I mean. This Steeda wasn't any more difficult than the others, and since I assembled it loose/sloppy before tightening anything down, I was able to get all the clearances needed.

Each component/contact point that gets tightened decreases the adjustability of whole assembly. Those endlink frame mounted cradles were the key for me.

 

[Eskram]

Hmm.. I have one on order, though it hasn't shipped yet. Hoping I don't see the same issues.

For the bracket alignment issue, is it possible that the ends of the U-bolt somehow got squeezed a little so they're not the correct width? I suspect you could bend them a little bit to open the gap?

I got nothing for the metal shield clearance, other than a trusty ol' hammer. But not something I'd want to do on a new truck, for a part that should fit.

Interested to see what Steeda says on this.

 

[OnceAnEagle]

I put Bilstein 4600s front and rear. Steering tighter. No washboard bouncing. Handles county dirt and gravel county roads and RR crossings better than stock. Now considering rear anti-sway bar.

 

[Snakebitten]

I put Bilstein 4600s front and rear. Steering tighter. No washboard bouncing. Handles county dirt and gravel county roads and RR crossings better than stock. Now considering rear anti-sway bar.

World of difference, isn't it?
There should be some kind of option/package that Ford offers that includes shocks similar to those 4600's.
Heck, the FX4 should come with them. They're far superior to the FX4 shocks, which are barely distinguishable from the standard shocks.

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