Are SAS Suspensions This Bad?

[grampadirt]

A friend recently bought a '96 Ford F250 4x4,ECSB.We took it to the hills to have a little fun with it.From the get-go we found the ride to be extremely harsh.We had to crawl to the point of almost killing the engine(granny low in 2wd.) so we wouldn't get slammed against the roof and our kidneys being ruptured.The leaf springs under the front axle are very stiff,are 3/4t Chevy SASs like this? I always wanted to do a SAS but if the ride is like that Ford no thanks.

 

[BowtieBrody]

My experience with Ford springs has been pretty forgiving, the negative arch on them provided a smoother ride. But this has also been on only two trucks I'd been around for long periods of time, a 96 ECLB 7.3, and my friends 03 ECLB 7.3. Both had firm, but not super stiff rides.
Maybe the leafs up front are just shot?

 

[grampadirt]

Might be shot,don't know,just a little over 100k miles on the truck though.It has a 460 with a 5sp. trans.It's a very nice truck,too bad it rides like this on really bumpy,rutty dirt roads.

 

[JSC63BH8]

How a solid swap truck rides is all in the initial set up and knowing what springs to use. I've ridden in lifted 2wds that rode like a box car and solid swap trucks that rode like a cadillac

 

[Jrgunn5150]

An F250 in 1996 was IFS

 

[skylark]

An F250 in 1996 was IFS

Unless it was the heavy duty version. Those have leafs.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Unless it was the heavy duty version. Those have leafs.

Leaf's yes, but on the same TTB as the rest of the light duty line. Only the F350 had a solid axle in that time frame

 

[BowtieBrody]

An F250 in 1996 was IFS

They didn't do the ugly ass bubble-body F250s until half-way through 97 I believe.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

They didn't do the ugly ass bubble-body F250s until half-way through 97 I believe.

The 97 model year started the bubble body, which had a torsions bar IFS on F150 and light duty F250 models.

In 1996, ALL F250's, whether wearing leafs or coils, had a TTB independent front suspension.

 

[BowtieBrody]

The 97 model year started the bubble body, which had a torsions bar IFS on F150 and light duty F250 models.

In 1996, ALL F250's, whether wearing leafs or coils, had a TTB independent front suspension.

I forgot about what they considered the TTB on these trucks.
An 03 F250 would have one right? Friend thinks it's a Dana 60 underneath another friend's truck.