jtalerico

Overall/tldr :
Helps the ride on secondary roads. I haven't had a long ride to the coast yet with the Roadmaster, that will come next year. Overall, it "seems" to help, butt dyno pretty much. I wish I had the time to do more experiments.

Was it worth it?
Yeah - the ride on secondary roads was pretty bad even with the 5100s. This seemed help with the head-bob that would occur.


Truck :

• 2017 F150 King Ranch
• Bilstein 5100s

Trailer :
2017 Aerolite 29ft : 910lb tongue weight

No WDH, No Roadmaster:
No Trailer, rear height: 38.5"
Trailer, rear height: 36"

No WDH, w/ Roadmaster:
No Trailer, rear height: 40.25"
Trailer, rear height: 37.75 (measured front, it pretty much was level)

BarmanBean

iTrader: (1)

So the same exact amount of rear sag with the RAS installed? With the unloaded rear height increase of 1.75", I'm assuming you have the RAS set with the thicker disk? Kinda surprised you have the same amount of sag.

jtalerico

Yup, good point, this was using the black / largest disk.

Apples

While I've yet to hang any weight off the back of my truck... I have! installed the RAS, and because I wanted a *minimal* ride height increase, I called them to ask what their absolute minimum preload measurement was... looking for less preload than their 1mm disc (white). Your black disc is the 2mm coil space measure. They suggested going with no less than 0.65mm. Trouble is, there is an excess of either paint or powdercoating on these particular pair of coils, making accurate coil gap measurements difficult.

Regardless, no matter what I did the rear ride height seemed to increase well over 3/4"! Understand I had lowered the rear ride height of my truck the week after I bought it, using Max Trac 1" lowering shackles.

What I wound up doing - and this is not a recommendation; use at your own risk - was starting slack, then decreasing the amount of preload. I did this perhaps five frickin' times... finally adding just one full turn of the coil from full-droop slack as the preload. Final ride height increase is somewhere around 5/8" - 3/4"... it's either that, or nothing.

Since I'm using such little preload, I wanted to be sure the Roadmaster rig stayed attached; stayed hung over the leafsprings' rear eyelets. So far, so good. I've had my truck over some fairly wild paved-road whoops at handcuffs speed but when off road in some mild stuff I have not subjected it to full articulation... however the Roadmaster doesn't seem to make a sound, and it has stayed put.

I do not plan to tow as heavy as you are. 900 lbs of tongue weight is honkin'. I'm planning on towing light, and staying within the 500 lbs tongue/5000 lbs tug.

While I may not have helped you directly with your situation I wanted to post my experience with the ride heigh adjustments; with my attempts to achieve a minimum of ride height increase... agh. Since I've become somewhat proficient at their installation and adjustment, I may just remove them until it's time to tow. Still not sure what to do. They remain on the truck because I've about 250 lbs of camp gear in the bed that seems to have become it's permanent residence.

bo9roadking

Thanks for the info. I have a 2018 King Ranch 4x4 with a 2" level on it to accommodate slightly larger tires. The rear currently sets about 1.25" higher than the front after the level was installed.

After discovering that the rear will probably squat more than 1.25" when I connect my 7k flat bed utility trailer, I decided to buy the RAS last week to prevent driving with the truck's grill pointing toward the sky. I considered an AAL, but I didn't want a harsher ride.

If the RAS adds 1.75" to the rear ride height, I'll get the factory rake back and the entire truck will be about 2" taller than the factory ride height when everything is finished.

Going by the OP's height measurements, with the RAS installed using the larger disk spacing and the 7k trailer connected, the truck will ride almost level. It will have about a 0.5" to 1" rake.

BarmanBean

iTrader: (1)

I have a RAS sitting on the shelf awaiting install on my 4x4. My plan is to install the RAS and remove the rear lift blocks all at the same time. I think the rear blocks are 1.25" so hopefully overall ride height / rake should stay the same.

bo9roadking

That is a good idea that I've considered to keep the truck from getting too tall. I already have to work on getting things in and out of the bed with its current height, so removing the rear block would offset the RAS height increase.

The only problem I see with my setup is that removing the block when the RAS is installed would probably cause my truck to be a little nose high when the trailer is connected. I'll have to play with the adjustments to see what it looks like after I connect the loaded trailer.

I could remove the rear block and slightly lower the front 2" level to make the overall truck lower. That would make it easier to get things in and out of the truck bed, the truck would be level when towing, the slightly larger tires would still clear, and I might get a bump in mpg with the front of the truck setting a little lower to the ground. I guess it is a good thing the my 2" level is adjustable. With the RAS installed, I'll be able to adjust both ends of the truck to dial in the ride height.

jtalerico

Right, I plan on installing 5100s in the front, setting them at 2", to reduce the increased rake now.

jtalerico

It should if you set it to the black disk.

homank76

I've had it installed for over a year now and love it. Seems to have increase the ride quality as well.