Did a suspension mod that may be of interest to some... Background... suspension was shot so I rebuilt it with new ball joints shocks and swaybar bushings on the front end and new shocks and an RT swaybar in the rear. Seeing the Sumo springs being said to fit the Dak I went ahead and bought them. Unfortunately it turns out they do not fit. During the saga of trying to install them and having to understand where they were actually supposed to fit, I discovered the Jeep Wrangler JK & 2nd Gen Dodge Rams use a longer bump stop that fits right in the receiver. So I researched parts and settled on a Dorman bump stop for the Ram. Direct fit, once installed and on the ground the bump stop makes contact with the lower CA and provides some additional support. It improved the ride overall from my perspective. Front end is flater in the corners now. I did not take pics but can if anyone wants to see them installed.

Motivated by the rears I set out to get the rear some help. Having just gone thru the yards and looked at the rear stops I was motivated to get the Sumo Springs and mount them onto the bump stop brackets. As luck would have it a pair for a Ford F150 showed up for sale and was the style I was looking for (same as what is on the Ram) so I jumped on it. Got the install done today, pics below. Truck now drives more like a truck and should handle the heavier loads I have tossed in the bed much better (1/4 yard of rock and 800~900# of bricks).


OEM bup stop on rear


mounted on the truck sitting just above the axle


clearing the brake line


one spring mounted to the bracket.

 

1000+ lb load hauled today, took pics empty & loaded. added springs helped control the truck much better then the last time I had 1000# in the bed which was a scale verified load of rock. Now this truck can actually do the work I want it to with greater confidence the back end isnt going to break

unloaded


the load, 15 68# bricks


loaded

 

Wow, it really didn't squat that much. How is the ride when empty?

 

the ride empty is not bad, it is more like how you would expect a truck to ride and its my preference to have a solid connection to the road. Control is way better, I have a couple of expansion joints that are on curves that I hit daily heading to work. On those joints the truck felt loose at higher speeds. Now it is rock solid. Another turn on that route is mostly flat, it was one I always had to slow down for closer to the "recommended" speed on the caution sign. That is history, truck has a solid feel to it now in the corners.

 

Another update.. spoiled by the rear performance, planning to investigate swapping the upper for one that is similar to the front lower which will make constant contact with control arm like the lowers.

Dont get me wrong, the front is significantly better with the longer bump stops in there, it just lags the rear a bit, enough for me to investigate the other bump stop swap.

 

Another update... it appears the upper BS is a bolt in piece, found one that may work off the rear of an astro van that is longer and should bolt in. Have not been back to the yards since finding this info so it is still TBD as to if it fits. I expect I may have to trim the end down a tad bit.

Going to the yards soon to harvest 12 hole injectors for a swap and will determine if it fits then.