Rear Suspension Upgrade for a Ford F-150 with tons of gear...Should I invest in 2.5" shocks?

[Bravo1782]

Hey everyone! Trying to get some input on my suspension. The rig is a 2011 Ford F-150 XLT Crew Cab 4x4 Truck. Currently I've got a Halo Lift Coilover and Total Chaos UCA on the front which I'm pretty happy with. I've got some Dobinson HD Rear Leaf Springs on the back right now that I have mixed feelings about but are generally ok...they give me about 1.8" of lift over stock, which is about right with the coilovers I've got. The biggest issue are the shocks; I had some Dobinson Shocks on the truck for about 2 years and they're clapped out. If it matters, the current tires are 285\70\17 duratracks.

So what's in the back?
Currently, I have a set of Decked Drawers and a Crappy Fiberglass topper on the back, but I've got a Go Fast Camper on order...with the drawers and the GFC, I'll have 500lbs on the back basically all the time. Plus gear when going camping. Sometimes a Kayak. Eventually, if I'm lucky, I'll end up towing a boat. Maybe, just maybe, if I get crazy, I'll build a swingout tire carrier.

What sorts of roads am I on?
I don't go out looking for trouble, but trouble finds me. I see a lot of gravel roads, dirt roads, washboard, etc. Rough roads, but not hardcore off-road necessarily. Every now and then I find a little trail action, but I'm usually not looking for it...it's usually incidental on the way to something else. I definitely want to be ready for whatever nonsense I come across. That being said, I live in the midwest, so everything is 5 hours away...so good highway manners is a MUST.

So what should I do? (What do I need?)
I'm worried if I go with something like the Boss\Halo Lift Rear shocks, or a similar 2.0 smooth body shock, I won't have enough shock for what I do. I'm also trying really hard to save money for that sweet, sexy GFC and that possible future boat, so I don't want to burn $1000 bucks on a pair of rear shocks if I don't need it. If it's really the best tool for the job, fine, but if not, if I could get away with, say, a pair of Icon 2.0 Shocks with External resis, I might do that. What do you think? What do I need for this application? Or do I just need to say screw it, and break bad and get some 2.5 piggybacks with adjusters?

 

[Grassland]

I went with i think was 5165 rear resi bilstiens. Mind you im mostly on road. I put them on because I have Decked, a topper, and was running 1000lbs of weight outside the drawer and topper every day for years while my truck was my dedicated work truck. (guess who planned to write off the "repairs" so his truck was convertible to over land travel once it left work duty?)
I have an add a leaf rather than dobinsons mind you.
Other than you need an insert for the upper eyelet because it is larger than the stock bolt, and the factory worm gear clamps shear off in the winter and snow sometimes, I am happy with them. I think i paid $280 USD maybe?
Again, mostly on road, and gravel road. Nothing high speed off road.

 

[Betarocker]

The shocks need to be valved for the springs. Everything becomes easier if the weight remains constant. Complications arise when the supported weight changes, and then a compromise needs to be made. Leaf springs need heavy rebound damping due the nature of the design. Think of a stiff plastic ruler. Lay it on a table and hold down one end and start lifting the other end. You can easily control the rate the ruler flexes (spring compression) but it will always release with a SNAP (rebound) . Air bags react very similar in that they rebound with oomph.

First, establish the desired ride height with the correct spring. Deaver springs are the best riding due to their multiple thin leafs used to make up the pack, but capacity beyond initial design requires air bags.

Shocks can be valved for a specific requirement. A shock to deal with changing spring rates gets expensive, needing adjustable rebound AND compression damping. Many quality shocks with remove reservoirs have an option for compression adjustment via an external knob. Adjustments for rebound do not come cheap.

 

[Buliwyf]

Comp adjustments are very minor, just a very fine tune. If you need to dial the rears in alot. Go with a firmly damped King 3.0 triple bypass. Open up the bypass to lighten them up.

It's not rocket science to adjust the valve shims either. Any real damping adjustments require dumping the fluid and adding/removing shims. Adjusters have always been disappointing to me, except for bypass shocks.

It's just a shock. Get a plain olde 2.5 setup right, and you won't need to adjust it for weight swings. Err towards firm.

 

[plainjaneFJC]

OP part of the problem is you are asking others to spend your money. Regular 2.0s will overheat with your use it sounds like. 2.5 piggybacks would be my choice. I have Fox 2.0s and I run a camper shell and about 200pounds on average in the bed. But most of my traveling seems to occur in my dreams not my reality so I don't need bigger shocks, yet.

 

[FordGuy1]

The compression adjustment on the Icon shocks are really good. As some stated, compression adjusters can be pretty minimal, but the Icon Vehicle dynamic shocks are really noticeable. Worth the money