Well, like over in the audio section, I have been pretty vocal about certain ideas, issues, concepts & theories. I get a lot of PM's about suspenion set-ups, my opinions, & recommendations,like I am sure many fo you do. So I was re-reading the Suspension forum these last few weeks, & also doing some research. I am not 100% on the part #'s yet, but the research is interesting.


Everyone benchmark's the HD's handling against the Lightning Bretheren. So I started digging into trucks on the dealer lots, reading posts n various boards etc... I am going to the Ford dealer to do some parts searching today.

1.) the shocks on the HD, for everything I can find are just plain old std F150 shocks. They are 1/2" longer than the stock L shock up front, & about the same overall length in the rear, but of course they are not bilsteins & aren't anything special at all. THIS IS THE #1 issue wth the handling differences of ouor HD's versus the L brethern.


2.) There is NO REAR BAR.. duh we knew this.. but it is the #2 reason our trucks don't work like L's in the corners

3.) the Front sway bar is, again as near as I can tell, a std/heavy duty {??} but off the shelf S-Crew bar. Different from a std or ext-cab, YES, but not different from a off the line S-crew. That is by visual & good 'ol open end wrench (in this case a cresent wrench) measuring of the bar. The Screw bar is larger, but that doesn't equate to stiffer.

4.) Rear leaf springs: ok.. lots of debate.. I am working on exact part #'s from Ford.(Headed to the dealer after I post this) The rear leaf's are different from the '01-'02 HD's & the '03's that is for SURE. The '03 L & HD rear leafs are uncertain if the same or different part #'s. But the bottom line right now is that the '03 L & HD had a spec change for more payload capacity & do indeed, on average sit 3/4" higher in the rear. I am nearly certain that the rear leaf's for all the S-crews are different then the L's mainly from a vehicle weight stand point. I will edit this later when I confirm.

5.) Overall vehicle weight, the HD weighs somewhere between 500-700lbs more than a L. someone may have the exact #... if so post it up please.

So there are 5 key reasons why an HD doesn't handle like an L... 4 of which can be over come with GOOD sway bars & the L-Spec Bilstiens. The weight.. put YOU &/or the truck on a diet.


So hopefully maybe Shanker can make this a sticky. I will post up Ford #'s later today or tomorrow. I hope.

Rob W.