Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Truck Campers: AF990 on F350 CC SRW

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Topic: AF990 on F350 CC SRW

Posted By: emcvay on 02/06/18 01:15pm

Bedlam wrote:

The DRW F350 had the 11k lb Dana 80 rear axle while the SRW's had the 9750 lb Visteon Sterling 10.5" axle. Things recently changed with F350 SRW getting a Dana 275 axle which has the same or better rating as the Visteon and the F350 DRW getting the Dana 300 which is an update of the Dana 80.

I've lost the link but recently read that the 2010 F350 SRW's until march of 2010 had the Dana80 in the rear also, then were switched to the Sterling (which is actually where they are made, not really a model).

Either way, 9750lbs is more than enough for what I need. My weak links is starting to look like springs, tires, wheels and shocks.

If I'm right, and it doesn't act funny with that heavy TC than I might be just a happy camper [emoticon]

Honestly, i'm bored, dying to go do some camping (though I do plan a trip to the cabin this weekend at least) and have nothing better to do than work (lol) and research my truck [emoticon]

2019 F350 Lariat FX4 DRW PS6.7
2019 AF990

Posted By: Bedlam on 02/06/18 01:19pm

I went with 245/75R19.5 tires that were the same height as my 275/70R18 tires I had previously so I could use one old tire as a spare. I chose the LRH PR16 version of the tire to get the stiffest sidewall even if I didn't need all the capacity. You have a choice of three 19.5" rim manufacturers: Rickson steel rims rated at 5000 lbs each, Vision aluminum rims rated at 4500 lbs each and American Force aluminum rims rated at 6000 lbs each. Any one of these will handle the job, so style and price can dictate your choice.

Chevy Sonic 1.8-Honda Passport C70B-Host Mammoth 11.5-Interstate Car Carrier 20-Joyner SandViper 250-Kawasaki Concours ZG1000-Paros 8' flatbed-Pelican Decker DLX 8.75-Ram 5500 HD

Posted By: Bedlam on 02/06/18 01:33pm

The Visteon plant in Sterling, MI made the SRW axles. Although I saw posts about the Dana 80 being used in a SRW, I never found any parts books that proved that to be true.

[image]

This was my 2012 Arctic Fox 811 on my 2005 F250 with Camper package. The truck had the rear stabilizer bar and upper overload springs. With the previous 18" wheels, it could carry the camper within the wheel ratings but still needed upper and lower StableLoad's to address rear sag which put rear axle weight around 7000 lbs. Adding the trailer took it closer to 8000 lbs which required Firestone airbags, Rancho RS9000XL shocks, Vision Heavy Hauler 81 rims and Dynatrac D890 245/70R19.5 PR16 LRH tires.

Posted By: jimh406 on 02/06/18 02:26pm

Fwiw, my SRW was close to the same as Bedlams with a long bed and longer camper. Also, with essentially the same mods. I didn’t pull a trailer though. The SC helps get the weight closer to the front wheels.

'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

Posted By: emcvay on 02/06/18 02:45pm

and now I just learned that the 6.4l 2010 F350 SD has an exhaust brake built in! I had no idea and after a bunch of reading (and help elsewhere) I learned that when in Tow/Haul mode you just tap the brake when descending a hill or slowing down and it will engage the exhaust brake by closing off the variable vanes of the turbos!

Here I thought I needed to spend another $650 to get one [emoticon]

I'm happy about that one!

Posted By: jaycocreek on 02/06/18 02:52pm

Bedlam.. That was a nice looking setup you had. How was the sway(side to side) with the 811 on your modified F-250?. I'm always reading horror stories of the AF 811 and how heavy it acts on the truck.

Lance 9.6
400 watts solar mounted/200 watts portable
500ah Lifep04

Posted By: Bedlam on 02/06/18 02:54pm

Even the previous 6.0 PSD had exhaust braking through the turbo. The new ones and aftermarket models are more effective than these, but they do work. As you found, they only engage in tow/haul which also locks more gears in the transmission, increases the line pressure to the torque convertor and changes the shift points between gears.

Posted By: Bedlam on 02/06/18 03:42pm

The trick with any of these setups is to have sufficient spring capacity and shock dampening along with stiff tires and a front and rear stabilizer bars. I also think people rely too much on the air bags to address say which unloads their mechanical springs and makes them wallow on air cushions.

I took a progressive approach to my truck since this was my first time carrying a camper even though I had towed plenty of heavy trailers. Before I bought the camper, I had already upgraded the OEM 17" wheels to Ford's 18" (great deals if you can find new take-offs on Craigslist or at a dealer) and swapped to metal valve stems. Once I had the camper, I saw that the upper overloads were not making contact with the pads and added taller Energy Suspension bump stops. These engaged the springs but compressed too much resulting in sag on my F250 (if I had the taller axle blocks of the F350, it would not have been a problem). I upgraded the Energy Suspension stops to Torklift's upper StableLoads which fixed the sag but gave harsher ride when unloaded because the pad was within an inch of the overload spring. I mixed the ES and SL stops so each side one of each rather than trimming down the SL stops, but this gave me too much sag with the camper filled with water and I went back to using only the upper Stableloads. Once added the tongue weight of the trailer, the suspension again needed help - I added Firestone air bags at this point. I was able to level out but need about 90 PSI and the ride was bouncy. I added the lower StableLoads which helped with sag but also got rid of much of my sway and allowed me to run 50 PSI in my bags. At this point I was able to load heavy items forward in the camper and rear in the trailer to keep under my 18" tire limits, but it was an effort to do so and I started looking at other tire options. This is when I went up to 19.5's and shortly afterwards replaced my old OEM shocks with the heavier Rancho's. This progression was about the the first six months of owning the camper and then I had the setup configured tight with good handling and no sway.

When I upgraded trucks, it was because I knew we were buying our current Host. The new truck handled the camper with no upgrades or modifications, but the F250 was actually a more comfortable ride - I had too much truck for the weight I was carrying.

Posted By: emcvay on 02/06/18 05:47pm

OK, looking at the tires, which have some minor cracking in them now (they may be 4 or 5 years old but have little wear on the tread and the truck wasn't driven much before I bought it) they show on Cooper's site as actually 3640lbs. So they need to go.
[image]

Spring pack appears to be the 4/1 spring pack
[image]

And diff does appear to be the Sterling (bolt pattern appears to be the same as the standard 10.5) so 9750lbs.

Posted By: jimh406 on 02/06/18 05:57pm

How old are the tires?

[image]

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