I have a 200 lb rear bumper that squats my truck a bit. Also not a fan of how the truck squats with a trailer on it. My question is, should I go with a AAL kit or new HD rear springs? I've never done a AAL before but am not really looking for a lift because I really just want to stiffen up the rear springs a bit. Any suggestions?

 

I put on a set of load helpers - extra leaf that bolts on top of the existing leaf pack - cheap-quick-easy-works.

Hellwig is the brand - just remembered.

 

Airbag helper kits are awesome and you'll love them. I would recommend them over the add-a-leaf kits due to the fact it will ride better when there is no load in the truck.

They are easy to install and you can just have two valves at the bumper to add air with weight. Both are great options and it sounds like you need either.

 

Not too keen on air bags. If I was putting bags in I'd want to tear out the entire suspension, run a triangulated 4 link, and use commercial bags as the springs. I also don't have the money for helper bags and don't see it worth putting the money into a 4.2 F150.

 

helper springs are easiest/cheapest, i just put 1000-1500 pound overloads on mine, only took about 20 min. rides alot better now and you can adjust if it helps with 1000 or 1500 pounds. the price is around 50 bucks for them.

the brand i used was superor automotive. i got mine from Shucks/O'reillys but Knecks also sells them.

 

Or you could buy a the adjustable air bags to make it an air ride suspension. My dad did this on his f250 to pull our 18,000 pound fithwheel camper. To fill his with air all you had to do was take your basic air compressor to the mounts on the license plate.

 

Johnyluv5, sorry to pick you out of the crowd, but that's an air assist suspension. Air ride suspension basically has air bags in place of the spring shackles. Instead of leafs, you'd use straight arms hooked up like the standard spring which the bags would sit on the end where your swing shackle would be. Air assist isn't really a great option because I rarely pull, the extra weight of the bumpers just drags my rear end down a bit.

 

just get an aal, i got one and my back rarely sags unless im pulling a real heavy loaded trailer, with total dead weight of trailer and toy equaling around 1000 pounds which is what i normally pull, my rear dont drop at all