Legitimate TREMOR Suspension?

[CAMDENN]

Hello F150Tremor people,

I wouldn’t be happy if I put a cold-air intake on my truck and lost 20-25% of my horsepower. However, that’s exactly what’s happening with aftermarket suspension for your F150 Tremor. Ford put unique, longer-stroke front & rear shocks and taller knuckles on your trucks so you can get 20% more suspension travel. This is super important when you’re towing a trailer, carrying a truck camper or rooftop tent + overlanding gear, if you’re rock crawling for articulation (I saw someone on this forum post an RTI test), and if you want to go blast some dirt roads which might have the occasional big pot-hole or wash-out.

…but every aftermarket suspension option with exception to one reduces your travel. The only exception is the Bilstein 6112 front struts which actually increases your travel (woot!), but it’s paired with the 5160 rear which reduces it. Also, the 5160 has been criticized for its non-rebuildable design, mismatched 2” shock body (compared to the 2.36” of the 6112 = less sensitive dampening) and questionably effective super-narrow hose from the shock body to the reservoir. ShockSurplus with Ian from WheelEveryWeekend demonstrated this and made these comments in their blind shock shootout.

So what I’m proposing is this — a true, legitimate F150 Tremor front & rear suspension kit that doesn’t reduce your travel. The company I think best suited for this is Falcon shocks out of Salt Lake City, Utah. They don’t currently have a Tremor SKU because, speaking with them this morning, “it’ll never happen because it’s too small of a market”. Also, Falcon is a small company unlike FOX or Bilstein who might be able break-even financially on this product in the interest of establishing overall market dominance. Falcon is going to need confidence if they invest in the R&D and/or manufacturing of a Tremor SKU, it’ll actually sell.

So I genuinely believe if we approach Falcon as a collective, we might actually be able to get this to happen. …and the existing Falcon kit has a 2.3” shock body (nearly identical to the 2.36” of the 6112) but has the tow/haul rear compression adjusters which help keep you from blowing-through your rear suspension travel when hauling overlanding gear with a rooftop tent or towing a trailer or truck camper. It also has the rear bump-stop kit which ShockSurplus said lots of positive things about in their video review.

So yes — I might feel really annoyed at companies trying to pass-off F150 shocks as ‘Tremor’ shocks or telling me they don’t think enough Tremor owners will care or notice or it’s just not worth their time to invest in it, but I’m an F150 Lariat owner. I can’t imagine spending the tens of thousands of dollars extra to get a Tremor, want to upgrade over the crappy Ford shocks, and then find yourself in this position. So let’s do something about it.


- Colin

Sounds like “another”sales pitch for Falcon shocks.

 

[GREYWOLF]

Sounds like “another”sales pitch for Falcon shocks.

I get where you’re coming from, but at the same time I’m also calling-out Falcon for not offering a Tremor-specific kit and even saying ‘it’ll never happen’.

My intent with the comment about the Raptor market is that that’s the dividing line. Parts are either Raptor specific or F-150 specific. We are in the middle of that dividing line on the specifics of suspension. Adding to your comment though yes I’ve sat in development talks about how the Raptor customer base is 90% Starbucks curb crushers. Similarly the Tremor is that way too. They’re in a category of marketing called lifestyle purchases and sadly the majority of the buyers are looking for turn key. Enthusiasts will more often than not start with a base they’ll build up to their needs. Less than 10% of owners shoot for the turn key model as their starting point to build on. The Tremor is a turn key get the average outdoorsman moving while facilitating the working needs for a truck, which even trucks now are modern sedans for most people. I’d love to see Gen 1 Raptor performance out of our trucks, from factory one day would be a pipe dream but at least with the aftermarket. Supposedly these were intended to be Fords Tier 2 truck with Raptor being Tier 1. Much like the Lobo trim I’ve been somewhat disappointed by the slap and tickle they are giving these vehicles and calling it ground breaking. I am hard to satisfy I guess though and I do get a massive sense that myself and y’all here on this forum are a dwindling era of enthusiasts. Seems like less and less people I see care about what more they can get out of something, or even what they can do with what they have. The comment from John Lawler about people not caring about powertrains is sadly kind of accurate.

Gosh, this post has so much good and interesting information. Are you willing to share what you do professionally? I suspect it’s something related to marketing or market research or something.

Okay, I just got a full cup of coffee. Let’s do this. lol

Suffice it to say, I agree with the vast majority of what you’re saying, albeit with one big distinction. Raptor products across all product lines are definitely ‘halo’ vehicles. They’re the modern equivalent of ‘race on Sunday, sell on Monday’. And being that the Tremor quite possible uses the exact same knuckle as the Raptor (I haven’t checked part #s to confirm), I also agree, it can be considered somewhat of an awkward middle child.

…however, as someone else pointed out, Ford is doubling-down on the ‘Tremor’ namesake by brining it to the Maverick, Expedition, replacing/rebranding Timberline on the Explorer, and on SuperDuty. So Ford is demonstrating commitment to the trim and I think it would be fair to say the aftermarket should take notice.

Performance enthusiasts — I’m curious about your 10% statistic. Is this an estimation or do you have market research? Moreover, if you do have market research, who did it include? …because I’m willing to bet it included a lot of Jeep people, many of whom I think start with a lower tier model. Similarly, car dealerships also ‘start’ with lower trim models because it’s stock they didn’t want and foresee difficulty selling and so they slap some wheels and a lift to give a walk-in customer another option (I work closely with a dealership so this is first-hand information).

Waxing philosophic for a moment — If people don’t know what their vehicle has, they don’t know what to ask for. …and auto manufacturers always seem to market to the lowest common denominator which I think is a shame. I have always believed they should have different marketing campaigns for different audiences. ‘Splashing through a puddle then driving down a mountain road’ for the turn-key customer you’re describing. But another one ‘rock crawling and announcing the Tremor has a torque-multiplying limited slip differential’. That will directly appeal to people who know but also maybe inspire those who don’t to look into things. But if Ford isn’t putting any information out there to educate their customers and develop a core base of enthusiasts, then we end-up in the situation we’re in.

 

[Tremgineer]

@halo.f150

 

[Calbot]

Sounds like “another”sales pitch for Falcon shocks.

It’s kinda weird seeing as how they guy doesn’t have a tremor either.

 

[GREYWOLF]

It’s kinda weird seeing as how they guy doesn’t have a tremor either.

I know, super sketchy. lol

…though I do have Tremor front and rear suspension, tremor rear bumper, custom powdercoated and Cerakoted Tremor wheels & ties, the Torsen front differential and 3.73s waiting to be installed and I’m working on Tremor front axles and Raptor knuckles.

 

[Calbot]

I know, super sketchy. lol

…though I do have Tremor front and rear suspension, tremor rear bumper, custom powdercoated and Cerakoted Tremor wheels & ties, the Torsen front differential and 3.73s waiting to be installed and I’m working on Tremor front axles and Raptor knuckles.

So how much more travel will I get if I hand these folks at falcon all my money?

 

[GREYWOLF]

So how much more travel will I get if I hand these folks at falcon all my money?

So that’s a very simple question with a very complicated answer.

The relationship between wheel travel and shock stroke is called Motion Ratio. If you watch the Shock Surplus YouTube channel, Bowen often talks about this. The ‘problem’ per se is Motion Ratio is not a 1:1 ratio. If we knew the exact lengths of the control arms, knuckle offsets, hub offset, etc. etc. etc. we could calculate it, but for our purposes the easiest way is to physically measure it.

We can however make some estimations. ChatGPT says the average motion ratio for a Short-Long Arm (SLA) suspension is 0.7:1 to 0.9:1, so we can assume 0.8:1. This means for every 0.8” of shock stroke, the wheel will move 1”.

This Motortrend article claims a regular F150 has 9” of wheel travel and the Tremor has +1” of front suspension travel (and +1.5” rear). https://www.motortrend.com/features/2021-ford-f-150-raptor-versus-2021-ford-f-150-tremor
I’ve always been lead to believe the regular F150 has 8” of front suspension travel but I cannot find any source which confirms this. Therefore, assuming the Motortrend article is accurate, the regular F150 has 9” of travel with a 5” stroke shock and the Tremor has 10” of travel with a 5.5” stroke shock.

The problem as you can probably see is that would mean the F150 has a motion ratio of 0.5:1 which is quite far outside what ChatGPT estimates for a SLA suspension. Additionally, 10” of front suspension seems suspiciously long considering the Gen 2 Raptor has a shock stroke of 7.85” and has 13” front suspension travel.

I personally suspect the Motortrend article is mixing-up increased ride-height over an F150 (which is +1” in the front and +1.5” in the rear) and suspension travel (which I suspect the Tremor is 9”). That would put a regular F150 @ 8.2” travel (assuming a 0.8:1 motion ratio). Likewise, we can also estimate a Tremor with a longer 6”-stroke shock will have 9.8” front suspension travel.

Something that confirms as well as contradicts this is @PNWTremor has the Bilstein 6112 which has 5.97” stroke and he is citing 9” of front wheel travel. That said, I don’t know how he measured this (was the spring and bump-stop removed)? If the bump-stop was on the shock, this would likely account for 0.8” or more measured wheel travel. Then again, the bump stop will never compress to 0%, so there will be a small difference between theoretical and applied wheel travel based on shock length alone.

 

[deepblack]

Simple answer: 0.5” additional shock travel will give you ~0.75” additional wheel travel.

I have measured the motion ratio two different ways on my truck. It’s actually more complex than this and these measurements aren’t easy to make accurately and the ratio changes through the range of motion, but here is the short version. Lower arm pivot to shock mount was 10.5” measured at a right angle to a line between the two joints. And 15.5” to the ball joint which gives 0.677 but the shock isn’t at a right angle to the direction of motion. Its at about 20 deg so cos(20deg) = 0.94 and .677*.94 gives .636 motion ratio.

Measuring shock extension top hat to LCA mount and wheel travel fender to center of wheel directly and only for droop gives (23-21.25)/(26.75-24) = 0.636

For IFS suspension if you are going to wheel it, what really matters is droop travel because you lift to get ground clearance and tire clearance when it’s stuffed, but you lose down travel as you lift. Im referencing maximum down travel not what some specific shock setup can do. You can change the upper control arms and knuckle but in our case what really limits the down travel is how much CV angle can you have and turn the wheel and hit the gas without significantly reducing reliability. There are a lot of people running shocks that have 23-23.5” extended lengths with decent reliability. There is also data with tremors who run 2” and 2.5” spacers off-road which is a total extended length of ~24-24.5” and have some CV issues.

Edit: Fixed some bad math on the motion ratio.

 

[PNWTremor]

So that’s a very simple question with a very complicated answer.

The relationship between wheel travel and shock stroke is called Motion Ratio. If you watch the Shock Surplus YouTube channel, Bowen often talks about this. The ‘problem’ per se is Motion Ratio is not a 1:1 ratio. If we knew the exact lengths of the control arms, knuckle offsets, hub offset, etc. etc. etc. we could calculate it, but for our purposes the easiest way is to physically measure it.

We can however make some estimations. ChatGPT says the average motion ratio for a Short-Long Arm (SLA) suspension is 0.7:1 to 0.9:1, so we can assume 0.8:1. This means for every 0.8” of shock stroke, the wheel will move 1”.

This Motortrend article claims a regular F150 has 9” of wheel travel and the Tremor has +1” of front suspension travel (and +1.5” rear). https://www.motortrend.com/features/2021-ford-f-150-raptor-versus-2021-ford-f-150-tremor
I’ve always been lead to believe the regular F150 has 8” of front suspension travel but I cannot find any source which confirms this. Therefore, assuming the Motortrend article is accurate, the regular F150 has 9” of travel with a 5” stroke shock and the Tremor has 10” of travel with a 5.5” stroke shock.

The problem as you can probably see is that would mean the F150 has a motion ratio of 0.5:1 which is quite far outside what ChatGPT estimates for a SLA suspension. Additionally, 10” of front suspension seems suspiciously long considering the Gen 2 Raptor has a shock stroke of 7.85” and has 13” front suspension travel.

I personally suspect the Motortrend article is mixing-up increased ride-height over an F150 (which is +1” in the front and +1.5” in the rear) and suspension travel (which I suspect the Tremor is 9”). That would put a regular F150 @ 8.2” travel (assuming a 0.8:1 motion ratio). Likewise, we can also estimate a Tremor with a longer 6”-stroke shock will have 9.8” front suspension travel.

Something that confirms as well as contradicts this is @PNWTremor has the Bilstein 6112 which has 5.97” stroke and he is citing 9” of front wheel travel. That said, I don’t know how he measured this (was the spring and bump-stop removed)? If the bump-stop was on the shock, this would likely account for 0.8” or more measured wheel travel. Then again, the bump stop will never compress to 0%, so there will be a small difference between theoretical and applied wheel travel based on shock length alone.

Perhaps the nerdiest person on the forum and I love it ^.

I'm actually a big fat liar and have never measured my wheel travel (The right way - the way you are describing it), except by doing some basic measurements by hand, something you can do with a ramp and a jack along with some deductive math.

The 6112 bump stop is pretty aggressive which could actually be hindering up-travel. I have no way to test this directly.

 

[Machine]

Is this the kit you’re referring to?

HaloLifts BOSS Aluma 2.0 Body 1-3" Front Lift Coilovers for 2009-2025 Ford F-150

HaloLifts BOSS Aluma 2.0 Body 1-3" Front Lift Coilovers for 2009-2025 Ford F-150 Online Auto Parts Store ✈️ Fast shipping and affordable price⚡ suspensionlifts.com

www.suspensionlifts.com

If so, I have the same answer as the Eibach kit — these are just 2.0” shock bodies, but these are like 10x the price. They won’t offer any meaningful advantage over 5100s for a regular F150 and there’s no data on stroke length.

Generally speaking, what I’m proposing is a good set of shocks that can last people a lifetime. So quality made, rebuildable, and have some user adjustability (at minimum — rear compression adjustment, but I certainly wouldn’t say ‘no’ to dual-speed compression. I think it’s unrealistic to hope for rebound).

Just for reference, if it helps, I have Halos/Elkas and they're a 2.5" body. Something closer to this kit: Halo/Elka 2.5IFP. I didn't pay that much for it so it seems prices have gone up or they've gotten better.

 

[Calbot]

Simple answer: 0.5” additional shock travel will give you ~0.75” additional wheel travel.

Alright I’m gonna stick with my $1050 2R setup. Seems to do pretty good in the trails

 

[GREYWOLF]

the ratio changes through the range of motion,

I did wonder about this…

.636 motion ratio.

I have no reason to doubt your math or measurements, so .636 is actually awesome for us.

what really limits the down travel is how much CV angle can you have and turn the wheel and hit the gas without significantly reducing reliability.

I agree and disagree with this. I’ve twice attempted to purchase Tremor 402A axles with the Raptor outer CVs because when the Torsen is installed, it’s my strong preference to not blow my driveline up. lol. That said, unless you’re running a bunch of lift in the front or are doing rock crawling, I don’t think there are too many scenarios where you’re going to have your wheel at full droop travel with high resistance/traction. Don’t get me wrong, those situations 100% exist, but I think for the majority of people it’s less likely.

Edit: Fixed some bad math on the motion ratio.

I’m not upset, I’m just disappointed.

Perhaps the nerdiest person on the forum and I love it ^.

I’m not sure, @deepblack dropped some serious math on us. I -thankfully- haven’t seen Cosign since high school. lol. That said, I’m just annoyed. I’m annoyed at companies being lazy and just targeting the masses and arguably misrepresenting their product’s fitment.

I'm actually a big fat liar and have never measured my wheel travel (The right way - the way you are describing it), except by doing some basic measurements by hand, something you can do with a ramp and a jack along with some deductive math.

The 6112 bump stop is pretty aggressive which could actually be hindering up-travel. I have no way to test this directly.

:O Shock. Horror. lol. Honestly, the ‘best’ way I know how is to remove the coil and bump stop and cycle the suspension.

 

[Bucknut22]

Didn't somebody here talk about eibach 2.5rs that are coming out? Not sure if that was going to be tremor specific or not

 

[TexasTea]

All this talk makes me wanna just put another OEM set on and call it good. Unless someone has found a nice soft PROgressive shock that will work? DIgressive sounds like the opposite of a comfy ride.

 

[CAMDENN]

Didn't somebody here talk about eibach 2.5rs that are coming out? Not sure if that was going to be tremor specific or not

Wouldn’t be worth it from a major company like Eibach to make the upcoming 2.5’s for TREMORS only.
They’ll probably start with the F150 or Toyota first then they’ll work on other trucks.

 

[GREYWOLF]

All this talk makes me wanna just put another OEM set on and call it good. Unless someone has found a nice soft PROgressive shock that will work? DIgressive sounds like the opposite of a comfy ride.

I actually did a video on the Bilstein 5100s which have digressive valving and then filmed my mom (65+; also an F150 owner) do a test drive and she didn’t find them to be worse, just ‘different’. Personally, I think it has a sporty ride but I purchased digressive for the towing benefits.

Also, keep in mind 5100s are only a 2” body. This means the shim stack will be narrower and thus less responsive, so a wider 2.3”+ body shock with larger valves are actually said to be an improvement in ride quality.

Lastly, I’ll learn more about it tomorrow when I’m at Falcon/Teraflex, but they have what they call a ‘linear-digressive’. I don’t know what this means but I’m interesting to see what kind of dampening profile this has and how it compares to a 5100 or 6112.

 

[TexasTea]

I actually did a video on the Bilstein 5100s which have digressive valving and then filmed my mom (65+; also an F150 owner) do a test drive and she didn’t find them to be worse, just ‘different’. Personally, I think it has a sporty ride but I purchased digressive for the towing benefits.

Also, keep in mind 5100s are only a 2” body. This means the shim stack will be narrower and thus less responsive, so a wider 2.3”+ body shock with larger valves are actually said to be an improvement in ride quality.

Lastly, I’ll learn more about it tomorrow when I’m at Falcon/Teraflex, but they have what they call a ‘linear-digressive’. I don’t know what this means but I’m interesting to see what kind of dampening profile this has and how it compares to a 5100 or 6112.

Totally understand buy for your own use-case. I don't tow, and I love the highway plush cowboy Cadillac smooth ride... And soaking bumps in the desert. Give me ALL the body roll please!

 

[StormTremor]

Totally understand buy for your own use-case. I don't tow, and I love the highway plush cowboy Cadillac smooth ride... And soaking bumps in the desert. Give me ALL the body roll please!

I'm with you, but I wanted to level it out without using pucks. If I could've fit Raptor takeoffs while keeping the stock ride with the crash bars, I would've done it. I considered just putting a smaller block in the back, but went with the Eibach 2" coilovers instead. Not as plush, but not rough either. I'm still happy. I'm also 98% sure I will never flex my suspension enough (stock or modified) to see the positives or negatives of my decisions .

 

[GREYWOLF]

Totally understand buy for your own use-case. I don't tow, and I love the highway plush cowboy Cadillac smooth ride... And soaking bumps in the desert. Give me ALL the body roll please!

You know what’s really ironic about this? You would be a great candidate for something like the Bilstein 8112 with dual-speed compression adjustment (although on F150s/Tremors it’s a ‘smooth body’; aka no adjustment). That way you could dial the low-speed compression all the way down for all the lean in the world. Jokes aside, you could actually have low-speed somewhere in the middle to keep things stable but open the high-speed right up for a super soft, expansion-crack absorbing feel.

 

[metallikatz3]

Does Icon count as a tremor specific kit?