Real Life Stories from the Road

FORD F-150: Tough Trucks & Tough Suspension

by Tom Bateman, Director of Marketing

There’s a whole host of reasons the Ford F-150 has been the best-selling truck in America for the past 45 years. From its payload capacity, to towing strength, comfort for a full family, and everything in between, the F-150 is just a tough truck and has a demand that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. With a truck that’s ‘Built Tough’, it’s a match made in heaven to add the most indestructible suspension enhancement in the industry.

To get a real idea of how good the SumoSprings are on the Ford F-150, we partnered with Tyler (@velocityblue_fx4 on IG). This is a real-life story from the roads of Northern California on Tyler’s 2019 F-150 FX4, highlighting the SSR-146-40 and CSS-1094 rear and front suspension solutions respectively.

Factory Bump Stop

SumoSprings SSR-146-40

Coil SumoSpring Installation

After the grueling 10-minute install of the SumoSprings front and rear, Tyler was ready to take his truck out for a spin and see what the micro-cellular polyurethane could actually do for his ride control and comfort. Living in Northern California, there’s plenty of opportunity to finding winding country roads, some potholes, and of course some dirt roads and overlanding simulation. For full disclosure, Tyler was not paid for his feedback and offers his feedback and experience of his own accord!

On his way to test out some dirt roads, Tyler drove along familiar roads, many of them with a 25mph speed limit thanks to constant the winding through the golden hills. Like anyone trying to get some scientific data, driving at 40mph around a corner is the best way to see if the upgrade made any difference. The reality? Ask Tyler.

So that right there was one of the 25 mile-an-hour turns. We're going about 40, and I kind of exaggerated it a little bit to try and get the truck to roll. Kinda yank the turn wide and that… it felt like I was driving in a car right there. The front end feels solid.

“You can jam along the road just like you're in a car. The truck is not jarring. It's not jumping. The steering wheel isn't shaking in your hand. Again, everything is just smoother.”

That’s a big part of the engineering. Alternative suspension solutions that address rear-end sagging, load support, and ride control offen negatively affect unloaded ride. It’s important to us that we improve the ride at all stages – unloaded, overlanding, towing, loaded and so on.

Everything feels as it does from factory, which for just driving down the road is a good feeling for sure. That's definitely a positive of having this system installed.

Test one – completed and success l. So, what about on a dirt road? Something with potholes. A road that for sure you would expect to get some reaction from the back-end and some bounce. The kind of road that as your driving down, you’re gripping the wheel waiting for the truck beat you in the seat. Yep… got those. Tyler, tell us how the best-selling truck fairs with the SumoSprings installed…

The back end doesn't jump out, there's a lot less rattling.” Going over these rocks right there, not a lot of bouncing around in the rear end like you would normally get. So far, the SumoSprings system has helped extremely well.

So that's on road and dirt roads passed with flying colors - two for two. With a truck this capable it's only right to get it truly off-road - up some hills and see what it's like in a semi-simulated overland situation.

A common objection we hear is that the SumoSprings are going to limit the articulation and impede the overlanding capability. That might be true of some solutions that are connected at both sides - the axle and the frame, but not SumoSprings. Both of our solutions for the F-150 allow for full verticle travel. In the case of Tyler's set up with the Solo option, the SumoSpring is attached on the frame only. One connection point allows the truck to move up freely for travel and then so en and dampen the harsh rebound on impact.

It doesn't feel like you're losing any kind of articulation in the suspension even with everything installed. So that's definitely a bonus.

Three-for-three.

We’re confident in the SumoSprings. We’ve seen them battle tested. We saw the US Border Patrol add it to 3,000 off-road vehicles without a single return. But there’s nothing like a fresh voice on the experience of adding this USA made suspension solution. Making journeys better is our passion and purpose, so when we get this type of feedback, it validates our mission.

Tyler’s overall take on his new setup?

It's a very refined way that a SumoSprings suspension appears to work. If I had another vehicle that I could put another set of SumoSprings on, would I? Without a doubt. Definitely. I love them so far.