I thank all of you for your replies. I'm going to go ahead and make a set instead of buying a set. I already have the metal, so the price is right and I like the idea of using the OEM pads.I'll be sure to use Lock-Tite or lock nuts.
Thanks again, Jon
I made my own. my overloads are on the bottom so I used wood door shims stacked and glued and wired in place. cost $8.00 and took 30 min. worked awesome.
85 real lite with home made tie downs
98 dodge ram 2500 sb 360 v8 With home made stable loads
2seat trail buggy and my daughters go kart
99 town and country (wife's)
97 grand caravan awd (mine, yes but at least it's 4wd)
Quote: ...has anybody made their own and then switched to Stable Loads?
A few years back (before StableLoads were available) I made a set of steel tube bump-stop extensions like the ones other folks have posted about. They were easy to make, practically free, and worked great when loaded. But when the truck was empty they slapped against the springs which was both loud and uncomfortable.
Next I tried the tall Energy Suspension bump-stops but the were too soft, and needed to compress a full inch before being effective. Finally I filled the holes in the Energy ones with some 20 ShoreA polyurethane and I've had them on my truck ever since... probably 50k miles so far.
If I ever need to replace mine, I'll be purchasing a set of StableLoads.
Farmerjon wrote: I thank all of you for your replies. I'm going to go ahead and make a set instead of buying a set. I already have the metal, so the price is right and I like the idea of using the OEM pads.I'll be sure to use Lock-Tite or lock nuts.
Thanks again, Jon
Good choice. I went with Stable Loads on my Dodge Ram 3500 and did not like them due to an irritating slapping effect. Torklift was good enough to redesign and supply me with a custom set of Stable Loads, and they were better, so I have decided to stay with them for now. However, if I had to do it all over again, I would definitely go the DIY route with square steel tubing & reusing the factory rubber jounce stop pads as others have successfully done.
I made my own using hockey pucks. I used two stacked together, drilled the appropriate sized hole and counter bored the bottom one for the bolt head. They seem to be working pretty well for me.
2002 Ford F350 SD PSD SRW Lariat CC LB 4X4
Vision's w/Hankook DH01 245/70R19.5, Firestone Airbags
kawa, do you notice that they are noisey? I made my first set out of some hard plastic but they made a lot of noise when in contact with the overload spring. Going back to the rubber pad made a big difference.
Truck: 2006 Dodge 3500 Dually
Camper: 2007 Eagle Cap 850
Boat: 2003 Jetcraft 2125 - Yamaha 150 HP & 8 HP Kicker
Super_Dave wrote: I made my first set out of some hard plastic but they made a lot of noise when in contact with the overload spring. Going back to the rubber pad made a big difference.
This was my main complaint with the polyurethane Stable Loads and the slapping effect I experienced with them. While polyurethane is clearly a tougher and longer lasting material, it is also far harder than rubber. Rubber has much superior shock absorbing & cushioning characteristics.
In my original post that disappears from this thread I mentioned that I hadn't noticed any noise that I could sense over the 7.3l and the 19.5's. They don't usually touch without the camper on. The pucks are quite hard but have a soft feel. Been happy so far.
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