Build a hypothetical 3500HD.

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skylark

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I've looked at several different options for suspension and I'm concerned about custom links, constantly wearing out heim joints and I like simplicity. I'm seriously considering having a set of essentially 3/4 ton springs built for regular unloaded driving and doing a bag on leaf set up for the weight carrying capacity.

I wonder if I could have all 4 springs identical so I could have one extra spring just in case I break one and have 4 identical air bags for the same reason. A single compressor, check valves and 4 circuits for the bags and I should be able to handle the weight while having adjustability on all 4 corners.

Any thoughts on this idea?
 

GMC Burbalade

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I've serviced a lot of the 05+ Super Duty trucks over the past few years, many of which were beat to death in the oil fields before going to auction. Cab mounts are a major issue on those trucks and I've done a handful of TREs, but I've yet to see any major wear or failures on the radius arms or bushings. If sticking with radius arms or 4 link you should be able to maintain that same system axle side, but it's up to you what to do frame side.

As for leaf springs, that might prove difficult with the F-550 axles. The 05+ 10 lug axles are setup for coils and radius arms from the factory and there's a lot of offset on the diff. The 99-04 leaf sprung 450/550 with the large 8 lug pattern was 37.5" center pin to center pin. IIRC the C3500HD is around 32", so even sticking with leaf springs you might end up having to build your own outboard hangers for the front leafs.
What do you think you'd be looking at for front/rear weight distribution when loaded? If using four identical leaf packs I don't know that you could get a decent ride out of the front and still have the rear stiff enough to not be an issue in case of an air bag failure.

Could maybe stick with factory F-250/350 coils up front and just do bags over leaf in the rear? Would save a lot of labor on fab and some money on the bags as well as being a smoother ride than you started with.
 

skylark

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I'm really getting tired of being ghosted by farcebook marketplace sellers. We're going to San Francisco tomorrow for a nice weekend and the plan was to drag a 3500hd home with us. All messages were through marketplace until I sent them my phone number on Monday. Absolutely no communication since. The ad is still up so I don't think that it is sold.

There is another one about 3 hours north of us that is also still listed for sale but they never responded to multiple attempts to make contact. It is also still listed.
 

OutlawDrifter

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Marketplace is full of garbage these days. It's either overpriced if being sold, or they want it for free and delivered if they're buying. I miss the old craigslist!
 

BNielsen

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Marketplace is full of garbage these days. It's either overpriced if being sold, or they want it for free and delivered if they're buying. I miss the old craigslist!
Here here.
Marketplace is the only reason I still have FB even.

Skylark if it makes you feel better, there was a crew cab 3500HD with a dump bed for sale here, ready to go for 10K.
 

skylark

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Here here.
Marketplace is the only reason I still have FB even.

Skylark if it makes you feel better, there was a crew cab 3500HD with a dump bed for sale here, ready to go for 10K.
I use my wife's farcebook because marketplace is the only reason for me to look at it. I was looking at $1k because we plan to swap Pearl's body and engine/Bruce Jenner/tcase into the hd chassis. With the modifications we plan to make it doesn't make financial sense to pay for a nice one although I would pay more for a crew cab simply because it would save me a lot of work.
 

BNielsen

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I use my wife's farcebook because marketplace is the only reason for me to look at it. I was looking at $1k because we plan to swap Pearl's body and engine/Bruce Jenner/tcase into the hd chassis. With the modifications we plan to make it doesn't make financial sense to pay for a nice one although I would pay more for a crew cab simply because it would save me a lot of work.
I knew you were gonna steal Pearl's guts for this project but it doesn't make the heartache any easier.

That being said, want to trade a set of Alcoas and MTs for a slightly used kidney and a perfect liver?
 

skylark

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I knew you were gonna steal Pearl's guts for this project but it doesn't make the heartache any easier.

That being said, want to trade a set of Alcoas and MTs for a slightly used kidney and a perfect liver?
Once we no longer need them to roll the chassis around we'll definitely sell them. I've seen several sets of 05+ F550 axles for sale around the $1500 range. I'm hoping to part out the rest of Pearl's chassis to fund the 4wd conversion.
 

skylark

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I talked to a local welder that I've used for oddball jobs for years. I asked him about the cost to cut and extend the frame for us. He said 6-8 hours @ $90hr but I need to come up with a section of frame for the extension. For that price it just makes it too easy to have it done.
 

Supercharged111

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I talked to a local welder that I've used for oddball jobs for years. I asked him about the cost to cut and extend the frame for us. He said 6-8 hours @ $90hr but I need to come up with a section of frame for the extension. For that price it just makes it too easy to have it done.

Since it's a Workhorse frame, it seems you could just lop a section out of a motorhome if you could find a donor
 
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