Sumo Springs

[okiejoe]

Just installed Sumo Springs on the front of our 2015 E450 Class C Thor Chateau 31W. It seems to done what I was hoping for, although it did raise it by about an inch and a half, our coach also has Helwig anti sway bars front and rear plus Bilstein shocks and Safety plus Steering control.
What I am wondering is if I add Sumos to the rear according to Sumo Tech support it will raise the rear also just a little which I don’t have a problem with but for those who have done this does your coach seem to ride stiffer in the rear after adding the sumos to the rear.

[okiejoe]

UPDATE, well I installed Sumo springs to the rear as well and then took coach in to get alignment checked and it did change much. Technician made the slight adjustment and I’m good to go. I’ll have to say that the addition of the Sumo springs was well worth it. Coach runs down the interstate solid as a rock, of course I’ve installed hellwig sway bars front and rear and Bilsteins and the Safety Plus Steering control. Other than adding a Trac Bar I think there isn’t much more to do because it handles so great now.

[FunTwoDrv]

Jim,
We have the -54's. They made a significant impact on "porpoising"... those along with a full set of Bilstiens really firmed the ride up and reduced roll as well.
I put the stock bump stops back in and the ride is much smoother but at the expense of a tad more porpoising. I suspect we'll order a set of the -47's as a compromise.

[CC38EL]

I see now that I missed the SSF-204-54s. They are rated 2500lbs. We'll watch the tires for sure.

I wonder, since I installed the rears as well, that the height rise I got (which isn't much) may offset the bouncing that causes the cupping. Will have to see.

[CC38EL]

I put in the SSF-204-47s. Did not know there were two different 'firmness' parts.

Thanks for the tip on the cupping.

[FunTwoDrv]

Jim, I put the Sumos on the front of our Chevy 4500 and had about the same results. They did impact camber a tad but, not enough to warrant the effort to try to adjust. However, I did experience pretty severe cupping in the center of the two front tires. I could not get a definitive answer from either the tire mfg or the alignment shops on just what caused this. I just replaced all the tires and took the Sumos out just in case? Sumo lists two part numbers for the 4500. They advised me to use the firmer version but are now saying the softer one will work just fine. Do you recall the part number you installed?

[CC38EL]

I installed, by myself, a set of Sumo Springs Bump stop replacements on my Chevy Express 4500 based Freelander front and rear. As you noted, it did increase the ride height in the front...for me about 1/2 to 3/4".

The rears were not as noticeably higher...they just sat on the axle at about the same height as before. On the Chevy, the factory rear bump stops did not touch. The Chevy factory fronts did touch all the time although not compressed.

What a difference..right out of the box. Not sure I need another alignment but the next short trip should tell.

Not hard to install if you have a capable jack and jack stands....or a mechanic friend who lives next door like I do. 🙂

[deewhite0612]

What was the cost to get them installed?

[carringb]

I wouldn't worry about it. It's not so much "lifting" it, as much as it is restoring lost ride height from the added coach weight. But...on radius arm suspensions, adding front ride height case reduce caster, so an alignment is a good idea.

[okiejoe]

Yea, that’s my next move, get the alignment checked. I just love how sumo doesn’t mention that it’s going to raise the front of coach.

[Dakzuki]

It will be stiffer. How stiff depends on the rate of springs installed. I have them on the rear of my Sprinter based RV and it's stiffer,

After lifting the front that much I would be inclined to get the wheel alignment checked. The E series has a lot of geometry change with vertical wheel movement due to the swing axle suspension and you just moved the static position 1 1/2 inches.