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Why leaf springs rear suspension for 2021 F150?

Peter P

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I noticed in the spy pics that the 2021 Raptor will get five-link independent rear suspension and the article says that it "improved underbody clearance, articulation, and suspension travel relative to leaf springs. They also offer more in the way of ride and handling tuning, meaning the 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor could be even more comfortable"

With all those benefits, why is the regular F150 staying with leaf springs instead of switching to independent rear? Since the engineering/development is already being done for the Raptor, they can just tune it as appropriate for the regular models no?
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Striker Hawk

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I really hope the five-link makes it into the '21s. Couple that with a set of long-travel air-bags in the rear and the Raptor will provide almost everything needed to keep the serious driver happy. By almost, I'm thinking of a light-weight winch at the front end, just enough capacity and line length to ensure self extraction out in the middle of BFE. Carrying a manual come-along in the bed just doesn't cut it in this class <lol>.
 

Goose2

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I know my ram had coil springs in the rear and while they do ride smoother as soon as
you hook a trailer to it the back end sagged really bad
 

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Power Kid

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Too much sag with coils in regular f150. I read once more lbs too. Apples to apples. With raptor other considerations more important.
 

Bryan Simon

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Suspension TRAVEL is important on high performance off road vehicles.
The 6” to 8” of travel on most vehicles just won’t cut it out in the desert for speeds over 15 mph.
Tho the Raptor and others in its class can’t compete with vehicles specifically designed for this type of activity, they will get you back home after a day playing out in the wild.
Coils can get you over 18” of travel, and then on top of that about 8” of sidewall.
That’s a lot of give before hitting a hard stop and breaking something.
Rear leafs are not real good for this, or the individual wheel movement.
I still remember taking my dads 80 Bronco out in the boonies. Even with the rear leafs, that thing felt better off road than it did on the hiway.
The leaf spring Blazer or k10, pretty rough ride off road with very little front leaf travel.
 

IconicXLTsport

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The ram 2500 has coils in the rear and that is a 10k GVWR vehicle with 3k+ payload in gas trucks. Payload is not the reason. Coils can support plenty of payload for an F150/1500 class truck.

Cost is the reason. Maybe they are spreading out their development dollars. A 5 link suspension is much more expensive than leaf springs. 5 link obviously needs 5 links, where the leaf springs have zero, two coil springs and bushings for all of those parts. Also, a sway bar is standard on pretty much every 5 link, solid rear axle vehicle currently on the market, so that will need to be added.

With the lightning being fully independent and the raptor having a 5 link, it seems inevitable that the next f150 will do away with leaf springs and go one of those directions. And I welcome it. It is much easier to fine tune a coil spring with multiple rates within a single spring to handle well and be comfortable across the large range of payloads a truck will see from empty commuting to max GVWR
 
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Beef_Stew

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After seeing how poorly Rams with coil spring rear suspension squat when hauling/towing I’m happy with leafs lol
 

Jus Cruisin

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After seeing how poorly Rams with coil spring rear suspension squat when hauling/towing I’m happy with leafs lol
No squat with my old Ram (8500 lb boat). I miss the ride a bunch.
Ford F-150 Why leaf springs rear suspension for 2021 F150? 20200609_112254~2
 

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Mtnman1

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I noticed in the spy pics that the 2021 Raptor will get five-link independent rear suspension and the article says that it "improved underbody clearance, articulation, and suspension travel relative to leaf springs. They also offer more in the way of ride and handling tuning, meaning the 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor could be even more comfortable"

With all those benefits, why is the regular F150 staying with leaf springs instead of switching to independent rear? Since the engineering/development is already being done for the Raptor, they can just tune it as appropriate for the regular models no?
Because the Raptor is designed as an off road racer. The F150 is not.
 

Beef_Stew

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SportySpace

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Too much sag with coils in regular f150
The F150 Lightning has coils in the rear, and the few videos published so far of it towing shows that it doesn't squat excessively. Payload doesn't seem to be the issue.

My guess for the reason Ford is sticking with leaf springs in the rear (at least for now) is because it is a tried & true design that is cheap to implement. Being a bean counter myself, I can assume the rear suspension budget for the all new gen 14 was kept on a short leash.
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