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Full air ride modification

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
Ok friends, this is a project that I have been looking forward to for a few months now.
Took delivery on the 2018 F550 in August of 2018 and have been using it for a daily driver since then. It was too late to go to the coast fishing so wife and I went to Kalispell for a weekend just to stretch the legs out and see how it handled. As we ordered it with a heavier suspension it was not a surprise to feel every bump and crack in the roads, the Okanagan weights in around 7000 lbs loaded up so we thought it would squash it down a bit, this came out to be a 2โ€ difference from loaded to empty.
Still a pretty rough ride with the camper on, shook thinks up a little.
After shopping around for a while we pulled the trigger on a Kelderman 4 link air ride suspension package for the rear and the front kit that replace the front coil springs. We had them ship the kits to Sweet Grass MT (At the Border Storage) as the charge to get it across the border and up to my house in Canada was way too much. We are going South tomorrow to pick it up.



Pulled the body off the other day to clean up the frame and get the truck ready for the project, much to my surprise I found some cracks between the front boxes and the structure of the deck.





So out came the welder and another project began.
Ground out the cracks and welded them up. (Aluminium that has been powder coated is a real B*&^h to weld(difficult to clean properly). Purchased a ยผโ€ sheet of Aluminium and welded it to the front all the way around both boxes and the frame for more strength.



Now how to make all the burnt paint look good again? Raptor makes an excellent bed liner/rocker guard that is tint able. So after 6 hours of prep work and 2 coats it looks great! I recommend this stuff for any job like this.



So off to the border we go. Pictures of the progress will soon come.
38 REPLIES 38

Good job. All around nice setup.

jimh406
Explorer III
Explorer III
Congrats for getting it done.

'10 Ford F-450, 6.4, 4.30, 4x4, 14,500 GVWR, '06 Host Rainer 950 DS, Torklift Talon tiedowns, Glow Steps, and Fastguns. Bilstein 4600s, Firestone Bags, Toyo M655 Gs, Curt front hitch, Energy Suspension bump stops.

NRA Life Member, CCA Life Member

d3500ram
Explorer III
Explorer III
Well done!

I nominate this thread to be a permanent entry into the the TCU!

(editted for speeling koreckshun)
Sold the TC, previous owner of 2 NorthStar pop-ups & 2 Northstar Arrows...still have the truck:

2005 Dodge 3500 SRW, Qcab long bed, NV-6500, diesel, 4WD, Helwig, 9000XL,
Nitto 285/70/17 Terra Grapplers, Honda eu3000Is, custom overload spring perch spacers.

Well done.. I second air ride, obviously.

I have a new Link Ultraride sitting on a pallet for our '16 waiting to go on. We have had fantastic service and ride out of the one on the '07, hence picking up another for this truck.

The Kelderman looks good. Happy travels with your dentures intact...
'16 F550 CC, 4x4 with Link Ultraride air suspension, '18 AF 1150. Just so we can play with our snowmobiles, dirt bikes and fishing boat. And new 20' tag along...kayaks, bikes, mc's and extra water and food!!

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
Well itโ€™s all done!!! Had to do some minor adjustment to the trailing arms as it was โ€œDog Trackingโ€ during the test drive, she goes straight as an arrow now. The ride empty is way better than I expected, yes you can still feel the bumps but they are not bone rattling like they were before, just a mild bump. The ride loaded with the camper is a considerable amount better too, stability while cornering is way better due to the sizable torsion bar they use, no sway at all even with a crosswind. Only sits down ยฝ to ยพ inch when loaded. (That may be tire squash) All in all I am perfectly happy with the cost and the amount of work involved. Not a job for someone that has no mechanical background and should be younger than 62 years old torqueing down all those bolts wore me out LOL. So far (Only have a couple hundred KM on the truck) I would highly recommend the Kelderman brand for fit and finish.







Donโ€™t have the wheel covers on yet, still have to re-torque wheels.
Hope this helps anyone trying to decide weather to go this way, I recommend it if you want to spend the time and money,

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
HMS Beagle wrote:
SoonDockin wrote:
Wow, so you have to remove the original suspension mounts for the Kellerman bits to work? Looks like quite a project.


That is the reason I went with the Autoflex rather than the Kelderman. The Kelderman install instructions show pictures of cutting torches and air chisels. The Autoflex is strictly bolt on, and can be returned to stock at any time. Also the Autoflex feeds the load into the frame at the same points as the springs (where Ford designed them to be) while the Kelderman does not. Not sure they make a Autoflex for a 550, but it works well on my 350.


I have to say you are wrong there!!! Ford pop riveted the top stoppers for the overload springs to the frame, I just used a zip cut to cut the tops off the rivets at the bracket and punched them out through the frame, no torches needed to cut any holes or anything like that! Also wrong about the use of existing holes, the Kelderman system utilised all the existing spring hanger bracket holes for this system (Where Ford designed them to be) I Had to drill a few extra to bolt on a strut bracket. Yes it may be a bigger job to install but there is no question in my mind about the structural integrity of the system that is why I went Kelderman. The way I see it, they are the leaders in the market for air ride systems. You have to understand that the 550 has a 12,000 lb. payload capacity and a 30,000 lb. trailer capacity, I am sure that it is engineered for a safety factor built in to those numbers.

HMS_Beagle
Explorer
Explorer
SoonDockin wrote:
Wow, so you have to remove the original suspension mounts for the Kellerman bits to work? Looks like quite a project.


That is the reason I went with the Autoflex rather than the Kelderman. The Kelderman install instructions show pictures of cutting torches and air chisels. The Autoflex is strictly bolt on, and can be returned to stock at any time. Also the Autoflex feeds the load into the frame at the same points as the springs (where Ford designed them to be) while the Kelderman does not. Not sure they make a Autoflex for a 550, but it works well on my 350.
Bigfoot 10.4E, 2015 F350 6.7L DRW 2WD, Autoflex Ultra Air Ride rear suspension, Hellwig Bigwig sway bars front and rear

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
Grit dog wrote:
"OK so got my shop all cleaned up to do this job and what happens? All of a sudden with a clean shop my boy wants to bring his boat in to get it ready for summer. How many of us have to knuckle under and help out the kids?"

Haha, I kinda wish my kids were like me and did all that mechanicin' stuff, but on the upside, they're doing cool things that I didn't get to do when I was their age.
However, oldest kid is 16, found him a super low miles never driven in the rain grampa owned car. BUT I spent over half of the weekend pulling full maintenance and tune up on his car so that it'll be good to go for a long time with only oil changes.


Ya its nice being able to work on these things together with them, the engine in the boat is a carbureted 350 that weโ€™ve rebuilt from the crank up. The new vehicles are a different story though, if you donโ€™t own the right computer all you can do is oil changes. I looked under the hood on this 550 and just shook my head, how they do anything under there is beyond me. Had an oil leak on my old 2008 and they lifted the whole cab off to fix it. Just crazy!!!





Good thing it was warrantee work.
How many guys you know have a hoist like that in their garage?

Grit_dog
Nomad III
Nomad III
"OK so got my shop all cleaned up to do this job and what happens? All of a sudden with a clean shop my boy wants to bring his boat in to get it ready for summer. How many of us have to knuckle under and help out the kids?"

Haha, I kinda wish my kids were like me and did all that mechanicin' stuff, but on the upside, they're doing cool things that I didn't get to do when I was their age.
However, oldest kid is 16, found him a super low miles never driven in the rain grampa owned car. BUT I spent over half of the weekend pulling full maintenance and tune up on his car so that it'll be good to go for a long time with only oil changes.
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5โ€ turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
OK so front end was more work than I anticipated, got her all done by Sunday night. Going to mount the deck back on today and hook up the compressor. The box supplied is too big to mount between the frame and service body so I am going to take all the stuff out and mount it in one of the rear bins. All the hose connections are good (did the soap test) so no leaks, ordered a couple air gauges so I can monitor pressure in the rear bags.








More to come.

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
Hi again, so during the week, stuff doesnโ€™t get done as quickly as I would like with work and yard maintenance to deal with. Last night was an exception to this. Mounted the air tank got the air lines installed, mounted the leveling valves and set ride height, all in one evening, was late but happy with what got done.





Going to spray the soap to check for leaks, install protective cover on air lines and mount the deck back on today. Forecast is rain and miserable all weekend so I will probably get the front end done by Sunday.

d3500ram
Explorer III
Explorer III
SoonDockin wrote:
Wow, so you have to remove the original suspension mounts for the Kellerman bits to work? ....


I believe that to be the case. I have neighbor who did it to his F450 pick up but he did it with the bed still attached.
Sold the TC, previous owner of 2 NorthStar pop-ups & 2 Northstar Arrows...still have the truck:

2005 Dodge 3500 SRW, Qcab long bed, NV-6500, diesel, 4WD, Helwig, 9000XL,
Nitto 285/70/17 Terra Grapplers, Honda eu3000Is, custom overload spring perch spacers.

burningman
Explorer
Explorer
I donโ€™t see how replacing the front springs with air bags can make any components wear out faster.
The coil springs donโ€™t hold anything in place.
On Class 8 trucks the front end is leaf springs which do locate the axle, so thatโ€™s not a valid comparison.

I have a Kelderman 2-stage rear air ride kit on my one-ton Dodge dually.
It rides a lot nicer empty than most duallies.

I can tell you that on big trucks, air is WAY nicer than leafs.
2017 Northern Lite 10-2 EX CD SE
99 Ram 4x4 Dually Cummins
A whole lot more fuel, a whole lot more boost.
4.10 gears, Gear Vendors overdrive, exhaust brake
Built auto, triple disc, billet shafts.
Kelderman Air Ride, Helwig sway bar.

markowwes
Explorer
Explorer
Went hard all weekend! 10 hours on Saturday and 9 on Sunday, Saturday was just getting everything together with bolts loose, Sunday was torquing everything down and putting all the other components in that had to be moved (some exhaust pipe and emergence cables) Just need to adjust the arms for pinion angle and wheel base.





Next is the front end and mount the air system.
The air system has an air dryer so there should be no freezing or contamination.