Going back to a Full Size for my Overlanding
- Thread starter tjZ06
- Start date
Advocate I
Got the camper back on and took it and my RV to the Mint 400 for a shakedown (@orange01z28 for scale):
The top of the FWC popped up is nearly as high as the RV. I’m going to bring the front back down an inch or two, then set the rear air to match which will get the four link bars perfectly horizontal.
Overall it drives much better now, more stable and less sway.
-TJ
The top of the FWC popped up is nearly as high as the RV. I’m going to bring the front back down an inch or two, then set the rear air to match which will get the four link bars perfectly horizontal.
Overall it drives much better now, more stable and less sway.
-TJ
I drove it down there, and it drove just as easy as my Gladiator for being close to 5 digits of weight.
I passed a couple semis and was looking eye to eye at the driver
Advocate I
I drove the truck from Vegas to Palo Alto on Monday (with the FWC still on the back). Honestly I'm super impressed with how smooth and stable the ride is now with the whole new rear suspension. I'm sure it's some combination of flaws in the previous setup (factory leaf/Deaver pack starting to break down, no rear sway bar, pretty "basic" upgrade shock) and improvements in the new setup (Kelderman air-suspended 4-link with track bar, high-end 3-way adjustable shocks, sway bar) but it really was night and day. The 40"s run quiet and smooth too (we did use Centramatic balancers, I have them on my RV too and am a big fan). The truck cruised ~77 MPH very happily even in some pretty high winds and I did push 90+ a few times (for the sake of science, of course). I really can't believe how effin' good it is. The ~8.5hr drive went by like nothing, whereas before the truck was a bit tiring to drive that far (it felt like the rear was "loose" and any directional input would cause a feeling of the whole truck/camper moving over the axle before the suspension took a load, accompanied with a good lean). To be fair, it wasn't "bad" before and I had plenty of 8+ hr drives in it as it was before the rear change. Now it's just damn good. Overall, I'm very happy.
Of course, I still have some hiccups and things to work out:
Of course, I still have some hiccups and things to work out:
- need to do BCM programming to get rid of "Hyperflash" with the LED turn signals we put in
- the front left TPMS isn't working properly so I get dash warnings
- we have longer front limit-straps on order, so right now I'm not running limit straps (darn, no jumps ;) )
- we are going to order longer 12" stroke coil overs for the front (for now we used a longer lower "eye" or whatever you call it to get the height in the front)
- might need to go a bit further with the trimming at the front of the rear wheel openings, we cycled it with a forklift but things are always different "in the wild"
- once we have the right coil over I think we'll actually bring the front back down about 1", which will match the rear when I set it with the 4-link bars perfectly horizontal
- still need to actually mount/hardwire my radio
- full custom camper-friendly bed build? j/k... maybe
