Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/285780
pro pickup | continued April 2014 | EquipmentWorld.com 60 S agging rear ends are a common malady in the world of heavy construc- tion. Just take a look around any big jobsite and you can see pickups, cab chassis service rigs, flatbeds, vans and utility trucks that are dragging tail. Rear suspensions subjected to the daily grind of carrying heavy loads or towing equipment trailers eventually begin to soften as the added weight takes its toll on the stock springs. That leads to poor ride and han- dling, and accelerated wear on other components such as shocks and tires; it's the domino effect in the service/maintenance cycle. If your work trucks are suffering from weakened or overburdened rear springs, or you just want them to ride on a more even keel front to rear, side to side, the solution is just a helper spring away. Helper springs, or, as some errone- ously call them, overload springs, are designed to supplement the factory rear suspension. (They are not de- signed to increase the truck's official load carrying capacity, a figure set by the truck maker that can't be changed once it leaves the assembly line.) Helper springs come in three basic types: steel, air or some varia- tion of urethane/rubber inserts or bump stops. Steel helpers are leafs used in conjunction with the factory spring pack; air versions are inflatable rubber bladder placed between the OE springs and the frame. Those made from urethane or rubber act as bump-stops, or are added between OE coils, that compress progressive- ly to help support added weight. Is one type better than the other? Depends on the application and how much you want to invest in the suspension upgrade. Bump-stop-style helpers, like those from SumoSprings, are the least expensive in both initial cost and installation time. They are maintenance-free and self-adjusting. Leaf-style helper springs usually cost a little more and take longer to install, depending on whether they are of single- or multi-leaf design. The usually need to be adjusted to the load and re-adjusted from time to time. Some are noisy when going over uneven terrain, some aren't. Air helper springs vary widely in price and installation time depend- ing on the sophistication of the air delivery system. Some can be manu- ally inflated and don't take much longer to install than some leaf spring kits. Those that can be adjusted from inside the cab and have a remote air compressor, like Firestone Industrial Products' Ride Rite system, can take several hours to install and are the most expensive. As with any system using compressed air, maintenance issues can arise if the installation isn't done properly. Air-helper springs are overall the best option for those who want to have total control over the truck's ride, handling and the amount of rear suspension lift as it varies from job to job. There's also one hybrid air suspen- sion kit for heavy-duty pickups and cab-chassis models that is consid- ered the best of both worlds by many, and that's the R4Tech sus- pension offered through Firestone Industrial Products. The kit utilizes a special combina- tion of leaf springs and air suspen- sion components to deliver a full air suspension with the axle control of leaf springs. It's costly, takes a day to install, but it has full suspension con- trol and "kneel-down" capabilities. Regardless of the direction you take in helper springs, upgrading your work trucks with them will pay off in the long haul. HELPER SPRINGS LOAD LEVELERS Rear spring upgrades can give your older pickup trucks a much needed rear-end lift; helper springs are the easy way to improve ride and handling