Truck Camper Adventure has evaluated and rated several suspension products that address rear sag porposing, and sway. One product that we’re currently evaluating is a patented suspension product called SumoSprings. The product is made by SuperSprings, an American company based out of Carpinteria, California. SumoSprings are different from any other suspension product that we’ve evaluated thus far. You can say they are a hybrid. On one hand, they work like a standard bump stop; on the other, like an air bag. Unlike air bags, however, compressed air isn’t needed. Instead, the air found in each SumoSpring is contained within the rubber compound itself, which consists of a proprietary closed-cell micro-cellular urethane. This durable, “closed cell” construction results in a product that is less harsh on the road than standard rubber bump stops, yet smooths out the “rough edges” of travel like a good set of air bags.
But SumoSprings do more than offer a progressive spring rate on the road—they also keep your truck level. But that’s not all, like a good pair of shock absorbers, they also provide additional damping properties for your rig. The progressive property of the springs means you get more support when hauling a truck camper, less support when you’re not. Furthermore, SumoSprings reduce side-to-side body roll, resulting in a more stable, safer driving experience like a sway bar. We already have a Hellwig Big Wig rear sway bar on our truck, but it’s nice to have a “backup” in case it’s ever needed in an emergency. Moreover, SumoSprings are maintenance-free, will not leak air, and do not require airlines or compressors, meaning SumoSprings are much easier to install. In fact, it only took us two hours to install both.
Look for a full-length review on the SumoSprings later this summer.
I need my air bags to lift the suspension so I can engage my Stable-Loads. I don’t keep them inflated for truck camper use. But they work fine for trailer tongue weight adjustment. I have a compressor on my Cummins and three cab gauges and left and right controls. They hold air for days. One just needs to have a good tight air system.
I’d be curious about cost comparisons between the two concepts ? For the record, I installed a set of airbags last year before leaving for Colorado. The driver’s side of our Travel Lite 840 SBRX is noticeably heavier so I run a bit more air in that side and it balances perfectly. And I might add, I have two manual fill Schrader valves and neither bag lost any air over 6,500 miles (50/35 psi). When we got home and unloaded the camper I deflated them to 5 psi and now 9 months later they’re still at exactly 5 psi. In other words, I’ve never had to add air to them other than when loading or unloading the camper.
Hey Mike i see you installed sumosprings frt and rear. I have a 2001 F-350 dually that i installed them on the front in 2017 , at first they were great but after about 1 3/4 yrs they pretty much stayed compressed. Every time i hit a dip or went off road felt like i was hitting the bump stops. Very solid thump. Kind of defeated my whole suspension in the front. I did remove them and have been without them for awhile a happy. I did have a Eagle cap 1160 at the time. As you know the weight was in the rear. We know have a Cirrus 920. Give it about 1year and half and see if the ride changes.
Mike,
I tried SumoSprings, but I didn’t care for them. I ordered the ones recommended on their website based on my weight, but once installed, they were so stiff my overloads never engaged unless I was hitting sharp dips or bumps in the road. Otherwise my uppers had about an inch or more to the contact pads. What that meant was on rough roads, it was more like we were riding on overinflated air bags and the back end looked like a kangeroo hopping down the road.
I did call and discuss this situation with them and they suggested I might want to buy a set with rated for a lighter weight. I didn’t want to do this because I just laid out dollars for the ones I had and no one was offering to do anything about an allowance, etc.
After that I made myself a set of uppers that mimic Torklift’s upper stableloads in action so my uppers are engaged when my bed is loaded. If the uppers never engage, what is the point in even having them is what I figured. So in the end, they are off the truck and if someone is running a SuperDuty I will give them a heck of a deal. I really liked how simply and quickly they could be installed and the promise of not having to deal with air bags was great, but the end result just wasn’t there for my truck. Maybe for others it is. 🙂