Posted by Clint Dixon on Thursday, November 25, 2004 at 11:22AM :
In Reply to: Improve ride and articulation on FFPW posted by Jim Chance on Thursday, November 25, 2004 at 10:35AM :
I, for one, appreciate your efforts. I thought you would get more response too. I believe what you are planning could be of benefit too many trucks based upon the kind of use that the majority of them see. With that in mind, I would like to step forward and answer your questions as they pertain to how I use my trucks:
"... does the idea of decreasing load capacity bother folks?" - That would be a problem for me. I don't use my trucks to carry heavy loads every day. But, my WDX and B1PW are the only trucks I own, so when I need to carry a load, they are the tools I use. I believe the heaviest load I have carried was just short of 3-ton of gravel in my WDX. This truck has the lightest spring rating ever offered on the POWER-WAGON. There is about 8-inches of suspension travel before the rear axle contacts the frame mounted bump pads. The stock springs do a good job for my purposes. All of this available wheel travel is nearly used up when the truck is fully loaded.
"...If you could choose springs for any load, how big would the load be?" - Based on the loads I have carried in the past, I would want at least 3-ton capacity.
"...Is better ride important?" - No. I find that roughly 33% of my driving time is spent carrying loads heavy enough to weight the suspension sufficiently to make my POWER-WAGONS ride fairly well. The majority of the other 66% of the time is spent on the way to pick up a heavy load. The remainder is spent out driving just for the joy of it, not being in a hurry, so ride is not particularly important.
"... Is better articulation important?" - I find that my POWER-WAGONS have more than adequate wheel travel. The combination of the stock light weight springs and locking differential in my WDX tends work very well for me in the off-road conditions I normally encounter, especially when the truck is loaded with as little as 500 lbs.
Additionally, I guess I could be regarded as a purist. I like knowing that my trucks will do what I ask of them while still using as many of Dodge engineered parts as possible. I am not above installing locking differentials and 4.89:1 gearing to enhance performance and drivability, but I get a certain amount of satisfaction in knowing that my stock springs are still doing the job after 50+ years.
I have seen trucks where the owners have stacked additional leaves in the springpacks so that they are 1-1/2 to 2 times their original thickness in order to get more fender to tire clearance. This is fine. It is their truck and that is what they want or need. My eye is drawn immediately to an alteration like that. As long as they still perform to my expectations, I like my trucks to retain the stock components. Something about knowing that the numbers stamped into those bottom spring leaves on my trucks are still matching those found in the parts manuals, and are still working as designed to boot, appeals to me. That is a small part of defining my interest in POWER-WAGONS and is given as my two wheat pennies worth.
I hope other people provide their input. I think you have an idea that could appeal to many owners.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Clint
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