Most 450/550 sized service trucks with cranes lean forward the crane aside of the truck bed. Most of them also "wallow" pretty bad on curvy roads. I've had three different trucks like this and we've leveled them out, and settled a good bit of the excessive wallow by adding air bag suspension helpers. Most of the no drill kits are around $400 , and don't take much more than an hour or two to install. So it's not a major item, and really makes a difference in driving the truck. I know I'm not the only one working out of a smaller truck so I'm thinking someone might find this helpful.
Yeah, when I saw this title, I was going to suggest air bags. I drove an old C30 for 12 yrs, I usually kept it under it's 10,000 gvwr by about 1000, but the way I set it up, it was heavier on one side than the other. I would just adjust the bags to keep it level and it drove better. Took very little air in my case, and when I needed to carry something heavy a few times a year, I'd air 'em up.
Likewise here guys. Airlift or Firestone airbag kits are a great addition to most "smaller" trucks that carry weight for a living. Mr1911, I'm guessing you are speaking of later model 450/550's. 2wd or 4wd? From the limited ones I've seen, the 4wd don't seem to lean as bad as the 2wd models. My curent ride w/service body is a 05 hd2500 Chebbie, so a small truck for sure. Mitch, seems like all the heavy bits and tools are on my drivers side and parts and pieces are on the pass side. Small crane (really small crane) on the pass side too, but it sits fairly level with the distribution of weight. I still need to run the right rear bag with about 8psi+ more than the left. Road camber? Don"t know for sure but it works and steers straight. Since its only a 9200lbs GVRW truck,any suspension help I can get is welcomed. It hits the scales at 8300 with me in it and a a bit of fuel in the tank. With out the bags in the back, it would be a wallowing lowrider for sure!
Yeah I run about 8_10 psi more in the passenger side, which is my crane side. I'm running a 02 f550 2wd, so I still have a 7.3l!!!! 11foot IMT bed and crane, miller welder, hydraulic air compressor, and lube oil, hyd oil, waste oil, fuel tank box, 25 gallons each. Gvwr is 19.5k, I'm at like 18200# with a full load of oil and fuel. Likely will be moving over to a f750 sooner than later , as the crew trucks are supposed to start phasing over to f650 s.
I'm running a 92 Fsuperduty 16,000 gvwr, so I still have a PRECOMPUTER 7.3!!!!
mitch i had one just like that i turned the pump up and put a banks sidewinder on it it sat at idle with 1lb of boost it wasnt fast but it had some low end and it was the donut maker in my intersection for years
I liked the old natural aspirate 7.3s, tough motors! They weren't speed demons by any means, but they were almost impossible to kill! We've got my 7.3 regular cab, and 2 7.3l crew can 550s. Have 2 6.0 , and a 6.4, and a new 6.7 f550 s. The three old 7.3s give less trouble than any one of the newer trucks! Although all the 550s go thru brakes in no time at all, that and all the engine troubles with the newer Ford diesels is one of the reasons the owner wants to move upto 650_750s as we start to replace trucks.
I just sold my 2000 f-550 with a 7.3. didn't have any trouble with the engine but I had the 8 bolt rims. I was told that the wheels would loosen up and egg shape the rims and ruin the studs. sure enough it happened. I guess it was a problem until ford went to 10 bolt rims.
Absolutely a problem , I have ranted on here about my 2008 sterling bullet (550) being to small and super soft in the backend bad enough I sold it after 37,000 miles, to small very scary I never got used to it the rest of the truck was awesome I now have a 26,000 gvw truck it almost drives itself and fuel consumption is about the same....TIO
i never understood why they were 8 bolt in 99-04 and the previous f superduty were 10
I use the timbren springs, they work like air bags but without all the added BS of having to run airbags.