Ride Quality Advice

I ran the fox 2.0’s on all four corners for about four years. Was very happy with the ride. I was running a 2” lift. Also had Alcans on rear with a +300 lb constant load design. Smooth as silk with or without load.

 

Getting the front spring rate dialed in is the key. A lot of people run way too much spring.

 

you have to let new springs settle. I have a canopy on my bed which helps but what really helped was 280 lbs. of sandbags. the extra weight helped it stay planted and ride a lot better. After about 6000 miles or so of this they have settled and behave a lot better. I did buy OME Dakar pack with extra leaf and the nitro chargers and it's a night and day difference from a stock ride. 7 leaf pack meant for off-roading is gonna ride a lot better than a 3-4 pack of OEM style springs.

 

@Red_03Taco
Can I bother you to elaborate on the ride quality in your Alcans? Specifically when unloaded... I'm thinking about going that route but am concerned they'll be stiff, bouncy, etc. (compared to Genu. Toyota springs). I am looking for no lift, and 200lb fiberglass cap as constant load. Anything more you can add is very appreciated..

 

Sure thing. So the Alcan Pack I have, is made up of 8 individual leaf springs (these are much thinner than the 3 individual leafs in the OEM pack), and the Alcans have no overload spring on the bottom. This allows each individual leaf to flex more than the stock leafs and therefore be a much more comfortable ride, even with an empty bed/truck. Despite this design, they've also proven to handle a heavily loaded bed well too.



What I really liked about the Alcans most, was the fact that you fill out a detailed form providing information on the weight of your truck, desired ride height, any added accessory weight (topper, toolbox, bumpers, skids, rock rails, etc), and then they design a leaf pack to fit your desired use case. I said I wanted 3" of lift, with some added weight carrying capacity, good off-road articulation, while maintaining comfort for on-road driving, and I got exactly that.

 

Thanks @Red_03Taco much appreciate the summary and photos. I've got more than 2 inches of sag on my original leaves so need to do something. Truck is mostly daily driver with occasional hauling and light to moderate off road. Sounds like Alcans are a good way to go. Talked to Alcan recently but hard to get a good sense of daily driver performance. This helps -- thanks!

 

No problem! They're definitely not cheap, but they have been worth every penny in my experience thus far.

 

I agree with everything Red_03Taco said. But there are some subtleties and nuance to the story. When ordering from Alcan, you specify the weight over stock you want the leafs to support. Your ride will be smooth so long as your bed load is close to the leaf design load. The larger the difference between the bed and design loads, the either rougher or bouncier the ride will be. The other issue I recently experienced is that Lew Weldon, the new (to me) owner at Alcan (as opposed to Bill Ford, the previous owner), assumes the stock rear ride height is 1-1/2" higher than the front ride height. If you want the truck to ride level front to back, subtract 1-1/2" from your intended front lift when ordering leafs. This was my recent experience, and Lew's explanation for why I had more lift than I expected. It is definitely a point to clarify prior to ordering. I didn't think to ask, as that was not the case five years ago when I ordered my original Alcan leafs from Bill Ford.

 

Thanks @CA_Taco This is super helpful. Indeed, when I talked with Lew he indicated my truck will go to "factory rake" which is 1.5 inch higher than front. I asked how to make it level he said lift the front. I don't want to life anything and do want close to level so I'll have to ask if they can reduce the rear factory rake...

If you ordered springs for a design load, lets say 300lbs, and you ride empty, is the truck thus "lifted" higher without the load or just tightly sprung..?

thanks y'all very helpful!

 

@Pbfender15 The leafs will squat some when the design load is added. Lew may be able to tell you how much squat to expect. My first Alcans were designed for a 2-inch lift at +300 pounds over stock load. The lift did not include the 1-1/2" "factory rake". I ran this set for about four years with a 200-pound fiberglass shell as a constant load. When I removed the shell, the rear end lifted about a quarter inch. The ride was a little rougher without the shell, but still plenty comfortable. I would guess a similar squat under load for a +300-pound leaf with no lift in the design.

Another issue I experienced is that Alcan designs the distance from front eye bolt to center pin on leaf as 24.125”. I found this set the axle too far back on my truck. My current Alcans set the axle 3/4" forward of this "stock" location, or 23.375” front eye to center pin. This seems about right. Measure your current leafs and adjust accordingly in your order.

I still have the old Alcans with 2" lift at +300-pounds in the garage. You are welcome to them (free) if you can pick them up (south SF Bay Area). They have about 30k miles mostly offroad on them and are in fine shape. I only replaced them when mods increased truck weight.

 

Thanks @CA_Taco , super helpful. And very generous offer! I'm in New England so might not work, but I appreciate it nonetheless. I think I'll go with Alcans, but some good questions for Lew. Interesting on the axel adjustment...I'll ask about that as well. Thanks again!

 

Reading through the Alcan discussion here ...
Personal experience is a bit different overall

Good and bad experience after a year has passed
Traveled 800 miles to Grand junction to have the expert install done then 500 miles to Vegas for a vacay
Spent nearly 4000$ on a front and rear total suspension package that was supposed to be the best ride I could get on the broken roads
Truck sits way too high for my liking
Thought it would settle down a bit but it never has after more than 30k miles
Ripped 2 CV axle boots because front coilovers were set way too high by the Alcan install team
Major issues with alignment after replacing LCAs the next year
Never after a rainy Spell has the water drained out the back of the bed on a level surface like it does now, it has always looked up in the bedliner by the rear window and only drained backing down the driveway hill into the street

The good thing is though now it takes one Hell of a high speed bump in the highway to get the rear wheels airborne... I was having major issues with the old stock springs and the rear wheels going airborne and actually hopping lanes in fast paced Chicago traffic on some very roached roads of patchwork everywhere
but the increase in rear stability may have to do with the new rear shock reservoirs?


Almost forgot!
They at Alcan did a real shitty job cutting the extra longish new u bolts off flush like I wanted
Those look all different lengths protruding underneath there LoL

 

@Black97v6MT
Sorry to hear all the difficulty! Did you get an intended lift on the new set up? Or was it supposed to be stock height? Share a photo if you can.. Thanks for sharing--

(Sorry OP if I've high-jacked your thread....)

 

A bunch of az peps on this one. Op did you ever get your ride sorted? Sounds like you need to throw a fan kid in the back and hit some big speed bumps hard ,should help it to settle the back...if you don't have a spare fat kid I'm sure a couple of spare tires in the bed will help. My truckn when it was stock was always light in the bed and rode ruff . Going down a corrugated road it would step out to the side and then straighten out. Some extra weight in the back would make for a nice ride.. if your in the phx area hit me up I'll take you for a ride. Mine is stiff but pretty planted .I have a camper and alcan springs in the back.

 

For anyone complaining about ride, tire load range and brand should also be considered.

 

I have not got it sorted yet, I’ve just been driving it around and hitting speed bumps quickly and such, the ride hasn’t seemed to change at all. So once the month’s up I plan on reaching out to Fox support again to see what they can do. My main concern and reason I put a post on here is that the left rear rides totally different than the other 3 corners, even though all 4 are the same Fox 2.0IFP. I think it’s internally damaged or something, but I should get a clear answer from fox.
In regards to thread-jacking, it’s all good! It’s all helpful information about ride quality so I see no negative in discussing the leaf springs as well, there are tons of super helpful and knowledgeable people in this thread.
And in regards to tires, I work at Discount Tire so I was very particular when choosing my tires. They are passenger rated Falken Wildpeaks, I didn’t want the associated weight and stiffness of a Load range C or E tire.
Thank you all and I’ll update when I reach out to fox at the end of the month.

 

Generally lower spring rate and more travel is best approach to a 'cushy' ride.
running 5100 all the way around, a single AAl in the rear on stock leafs, and OME 880 coils in the front at it's smooth as butter!

 

Smooth as butter is what I want!

Still on the list to do for the pics
It definitely raised front and back but was not supposed to be more than 2" over stock height

 

Update November 2024
Sent both rear shocks in for service in october and received them/put them back on this past weekend. Support suggested I send both in so they can diagnose what’s good with the right one and what’s bad with the left one. Fox gave me no info as to what they found or what they did. No change in the ride quality, still stiff as a board and very displeased. It is so bad that driving over speed bumps, the g-force from the rear shocks cause my dashcam to emergency lock the video, as if I’ve been in an accident. This only happens once the rear shocks hit the bump, not the fronts. I’ve now sent them in twice ($68 in shipping) and swapped shocks too many times to count. I also haven’t been able to enjoy my new shocks since I got them in August. I would appreciate any suggestions as I am starting to get a little frustrated and really want to like these shocks.
Thank you,
Nathan

 

A lot can make a vehicle ride rough such as tire air pressure, empty bed or the tire itself. My T100 had a set of BFG that rode rough but after changing the tire brand to Michelin, it was a night and day difference.