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ROADMASTER or HELLWIG?

Ferm I've been up @ Starkville all weekend homecoming game there, just checking in, I can't say enough good things about the Roadmaster, they made all the difference I think in my "little" 6.5 pulling that dually of yours back to Ms from Fl/Ga, I hardly knew it was behind me. Same thing when I pull any trailer behind me.

At one time they had a 30 day trial guarantee, I don't know if still in force.
 
Just as some discussion I think the thing about tongue weight is that it helps compress the rear leafs. When you compress them more are engaged and makes the leaf stiffer and keeps the back end more rigid. Once compressed the rear leaf is not as bouncy as the spring rate is much greater. And with more leaves compressed the "span" seems to shorten kinda. When more leaves are engaged this strengthen the entire "span" by making the leaf more solid.

The roadmaster is kinda different it turns the back half of the top leaves into kinda-sorta like an I-beam and increased the spring rate. The roadmaster being the top of I-beam and the main leaves being the bottom of the I-beam. This I-beam really increases rear leaf spring rate and reduces shackle movement. This helps the top leaves become more rigid. The claim is that it does not harm the ride by making it harsh. I think it improves the spring rate of the top leaf with a nice quick acting dampening. It allows it to travel but not too quickly compress and rebound.

I feel a softer ride when I load the bed and get into the heavier leaves with a greater spring rate. The ride feels better because more weight dampens the top spring springyness too. So I am not so sure how the roadmaster does not affect the empty ride. It has too but I guess its not all that noticable or doesn't seem harsh.

I agree good leaves can hold the axle but when you are "bouncing / floating" on the top leaves with tired bushings its a looser hold on side to side movement. And I think that is where the wag and sway are coming from. I think the panhard bar helps in side to side wiggle/wag from wind but good points about bumps. Just from pictues henderson suspension products looks like a western company where side wind is much more a factor in handling.
 
The RM can be "set" for desired rate, when installing/setting rate the leafs are let "hang" at full extension then the RM spring is adjusted with a quarter or a dime inserted in the gaps between coils sort of as a feeler gauge & set depending on stiffness desired,

This setting tensions the RM springs to a "null" position with regard to the OEM leafs, then as weight is added to bed then is when the RM spring starts "working" as load tries to stretch the spring, if it isn't under load from a ride perspective it is in the null position where your springs do not move away from the standard leaf spring compression it sits with at rest, RM springs only become 'active" when a load is added that tries to go beyond the resting setpoint of your stock springs.

Also works to improve handling when empty as in a slalom like manouver/cornering the axles tendency for one to try to lead the other in the turn is dampened. hard to describe well, it has to be ridden as a before & after install to know the difference or be someone with a non RM rig vs one with same truck style to be attuned enough to the ride of each setup to get the "ahaa" I get it feeling.
 
Good point. Its really the restriction of the shackle moving that increases the leaf spring rate (much more than the I-beam form). It makes the leaf a more bound linkage and almost a statically indeterminate free body. ( If you wanted to calculate stress you couldn't with RM. With shackle movement you might be able to approximate it for a leaf spring.)

With body roll when the leaf flattens and compresses the rear axle alignment will move slightly as the geometry of the suspension changes (especially if body roll and other leaf arches more from that side body raising. This is why a double A arm rear suspension handles better than a solid rear axle during hard corning with some body roll. You have to have a "4 bar linkage" to keep movement linear and not an arc.

ActiveSuspesion's website video of the truck in the slalom is impressive. Its a worst case with alot of body roll from a high center of gravity load. You can see how the back end will want to scrub and slide from excessive sway/body roll.

I am not sure you will get that much improvement from a side wind shifting. But if rear axle is wiggling just a bit; alignment changes. And it probably doesn't take that much to snowball quick. Couple this with a worn steering idler linkage, some tire flex, plus bushing flex and I can see it getting squirrelly while towing but drive fine unloaded or even while loaded inside the burb.
 
schiker said:
I am not sure you will get that much improvement from a side wind shifting.
Click to expand...

My poor written communication. I meant not as dramatic improvement as the RM slalom video comparing for side wind shifting improvement. The video is a top heavy load at lower speed and hard cornering.

Yeah, I still think it will tighten up the rear some. At 60-65-70 mph dynamics are different small movement would make more of a difference than at low speed. I think the RM would do more than a sway bar towing is my opinion.
 
I'm going to call a local spring shop tommorrow as CARQUEST no longer carrys the RM kit's, so hopefully the spring shop has them as they are a listed dealer for them. I swapped out the shocks on it today, and glad I did. My Gabriels had less than 40K miles on the rear ones, and they had ZERO dampening left to them. One of them was so bad that it had no resistance left to it until it was 3 inches from full compression. The fronts were'nt much better and they only had 20K on them as I did them when I did the engine swap. I decided to step up and put BILSTEIN's on it this go round as only getting 2 years out of a set of shocks is for the birds. i haven't towed yet, but driving empty the BILSTEIN's made a HUGE differrence.
 
Got the ROADMASTER kit installed tonight as my local spring shop had one kit in stock for it. These suckers are pricey, so I hope they work. I'm not real happy with how much it raised the back end up with them set to the minumum setting, but hopefully they help out towing. Plan on trying em out here soon to see how much teh shocks and RAS kit helped out the handling. Without a trailer it drives like a sports car now, so of course I had to rurn the tune up some more to match it:hihi:.
 
Well got to do my first road trip with the trailer on the back. I didn't get out on interstate with it, but on 2 lane roads it handled night and day differrence with the BILSTEIN and ROADMASTER's installed. I also got my sway bar for teh trailer working properly so I can tighten it down. So far it pulls MUCH better though.
 
I still want to put wheel spacers in the back as I don't like the look of it where it is set in an inch and a half on each side. It isn't as noticeable in the trucks, but that wide BURB body makes it stand out like a sore thumb.
 
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