The new monobeam, coil-spring front suspension on F-250 and F-350 4x4 trucks dramatically reduces the turning circle, while offering superior ride and comfort.

“Going from a leaf spring to a link-coil front suspension gives us several advantages, including increased roll stiffness and the ability to fine-tune the ride,” said Pete Reyes, F-Series Super Duty vehicle engineering manager. “We can handle a load better, and that’s very important for our customers.”

The front radius arms on 4x4 vehicles also act as “anti-windup” bars, improving traction and reducing the chance of wheel-hop under hard acceleration. The front suspension on two-wheel-drive pickups is unchanged.

Does anyone know if this statment above means that the 2X4 front suspension is still a leak spring and not a coil spring. I want to buy a 4X4 but always though the ride would be much rougher than the 2X4 and that I would be giving up too much in turning radius as well. Please let me know what you think as would not hesitate to buy the 4x4 if it was even remotely close in ride and turning radius to the 2X4.

Thanks,
Ed

Hi Ed, the 4x2 has been coil spring for decades. Ford kept the twin-I-beam from the eighties on the 2-wheel drives which have coil springs. The only Fords with front leaf springs were the 4x4's. So the 2005 4x4 Super Duties where the ones changed from leaf spring to coil. The 4x2 were already coil springs on the front. Dodge has had front coil springs on 4x4 and 4x2's since 1994. The Ford 2005 F250/350 are still independent twin-I-beam coil spring on 4x2's. Twin-I-beam has long arms that connect to the opposite frame and go to the wheel with a coil between the I-beam and the frame. The 4x4's 97 and older had Traction-Beam which was an axle housing on the twin-I-beam. This ended with the all new Super Duty as the 99 model with a solid front axle in the 4x4 called a mono-beam.

But I'm not sure if the 4x2 will turn tighter than the new 4x4 coil spring suspension. Because the twin-I-beam is independent suspension, like GM it should be a better ride logicly, but the sold axle (monobeam) is very good. I thought the leaf springs from 99-2004 rode fine though.

Thanks for your time, So if I go with the 4X4 I will not be getting as smooth of a ride as I would with the 4X2. The other question pretaining to turning radius sounds like it is to close to worry about.

Thanks,
Ed

Ed you need to test drive both. I'm amazed at how smooth new 3/4 ton trucks ride. You may not notice a difference in the ride. Diesel sound levels are like that too. Duramax started it in 2001 with a diesel as quite as a gas engine. Dodge was the loudest, so in 2003 when they went to pilot injection, it was such a dramatic improvement in noise levels that you think it's quieter than Duramax. Ford was getting quieter in 2003 when they used pilot injection but then took it out and is louder in 2005. From the inside going down the highway, Ford is quieter each year, just that idle cackle that makes it seem the loudest of the three.