Kelderman Air Suspension on my F450 PU

[Freqz]

So I did it. Dropped the coin on Kelderman air springs and their branded Raptor shocks on all four corners of my F450. There’s not many reviews of this system online, so I thought I’d share my impressions and experience so far.

$8800 in parts quoted $2500 in labor to install. (More on that later) mechanical auto leveling with an onboard compressor and air dryer.

The Good: this thing now rides *amazing*. It’s still obviously a 9500 pound truck but ALL of the harshness and— more importantly, axle hop is gone. Towing is smoother and the truck rides like a half ton off road. That’s important because I work off road so I do that A LOT. Again, it’s still obviously a large truck but just a joy to drive now.

The Bad: the support from Kelderman to my installer and the QC on the packaging was atrocious. Parts and hardware were missing, the instructions were incomplete and poorly ordered, and support was difficult to contact. This cost me and extra two DAYS of shop time. We had two guys on it for 4 days and three on it the fifth day trying to get it to me so I could head to work.

Overall, I’m happy with the kit now that it’s on but I’d be careful doing it again to head those QC problems off at the pass. With the price of the kit, it’s my thinking the support and documentation should be stellar.

[Freqz]

Pictures, because what good is it otherwise?

[tuffr2]

Those parts look beefy.

Good for you - that is a good looking truck.

[powerboatr]

you may want to go put some anti chafe stuff on those air lines that are zip tied to the old spring overload perch and front spring tower. I see a hole real quick in the lines.


a few pieces of rubber hose put on the touch areas


that is one heck of a system,

[Freqz]

Originally Posted by powerboatr

you may want to go put some anti chafe stuff on those air lines that are zip tied to the old spring overload perch and front spring tower. I see a hole real quick in the lines.


a few pieces of rubber hose put on the touch areas


that is one heck of a system,

That’s an excellent observation, thanks! I do intend to keep a length of air line tucked away as a spare.

[powerboatr]

Originally Posted by Freqz

That’s an excellent observation, thanks! I do intend to keep a length of air line tucked away as a spare.

as an aircraft technician, stuff like that JUMPS out at me


I bet i spent days putting rubber hose or grommets on my air and hyd lines that they just wrapped across sharp things


get a few push on unions as well




have you tried adjusting the shocks to take some of the choppy out of the ride empty?


it makes you wonder why ford does not do this as a factory option.
thats a sizable investment. lots going on under there. do they do a re- torque in a few hundred miles to let every thing settle in on all that new stuff.
looks awesome

[Freqz]

Really the shocks aren’t choppy at all empty— there are expansion tanks on the rear bags to give a little more volume at low pressures.

35-40k miles/year...sizable investment for sure but it’s worth it to me!

[powerboatr]

Originally Posted by Freqz

Really the shocks aren’t choppy at all empty— there are expansion tanks on the rear bags to give a little more volume at low pressures.

35-40k miles/year...sizable investment for sure but it’s worth it to me!

yep, the squeeze will surely pay back in RIDE comfort.



i put bags on my f250 back in 1998, night and day when pulling the fiver. took a few weeks getting the engineering right but she sure did ride so much better on choppy concrete and waving highways

[Freqz]

Originally Posted by powerboatr

yep, the squeeze will surely pay back in RIDE comfort.



i put bags on my f250 back in 1998, night and day when pulling the fiver. took a few weeks getting the engineering right but she sure did ride so much better on choppy concrete and waving highways

The rear is completely new with this kit...the leaf springs are gone and a 4-link with airbags is in its place. That’s why it’s so expensive...shocks only work when the springs allow some movement!

[Freqz]

I have close to 20,000 miles on the suspension now, so probably time for an update.

The bad:
I’ve blown 4 bags— both rears and the passenger front twice. The rears seem to have been infant mortality and the fronts were installation error from the shop I used. Those guys left the factory bump stops on and installed that side too far inboard at minimum ride height which caused the bags to rub. Getting this thing lined out has been an adventure. FWIW, Kelderman has been pretty great to work with despite the troubles my shop had dealing with them. (Im beginning to think those guys are knuckleheads and don’t really think things through too much…). Changing the bags can be a bit interesting the first time but manageable in a driveway— you’ll need a torque adapter for box end wrenches because there’s no way you’re getting a torque wrench in there. If I were to do it again, I’d have the truck shipped through Kelderman for the install.

It’s somewhat maintenance intensive— I’ve replaced a fitting here and there and a bit of airline here and there and spend a bit of time checking things out with a squirt bottle filled with soapy water. I do keep spare fittings/line and whatnot along with a backup viair compressor in the truck. I think the compressor ran one or two times in the last two weeks I was out so everything is pretty tight at the moment.

The good:
When it’s working it is *awesome*. Towing is great and empty ride is so, so much nicer. But there is always that worry about a bag going out 500 miles from the house in the middle of rural Far West Texas…

[keymastr]

Thanks for the update. I have been curious how it was to live with. I am getting close to ordering a 450 so this has been on my mind. Not sure it will be worth doing for me since I likely will not be putting anywhere near the mileage you do per year.

For the cost of the system I had hoped you would have had better reliability. Do you think it would have been more reliable if Kelderman had done the install and do you know what they charge for that?

[Freqz]

Originally Posted by keymastr

Thanks for the update. I have been curious how it was to live with. I am getting close to ordering a 450 so this has been on my mind. Not sure it will be worth doing for me since I likely will not be putting anywhere near the mileage you do per year.

For the cost of the system I had hoped you would have had better reliability. Do you think it would have been more reliable if Kelderman had done the install and do you know what they charge for that?

I do not know what they charge but from what I understand it’s pretty normal shop rates— I certainly wouldn’t have had the issues on the front if I had shipped it through IA. If I did it again, I might consider doing rears only which would cut the cost considerably. I *do* like the auto leveling though…