Best rear suspension option?

[Carl2500]

Hey guys,
The time for reworking my suspension is coming up shortly, and I'd like some opinions on the most ideal setup for my application.
'94 Ram 2500 Standard Cab, Long Bed.
I'm going with a popup camper, and going to try to keep the center of gravity for the truck as low as I can, so I can still do a little off roading if I wish.

I'm thinking a 4-link with airbags and a rear sway bar will help with handling with a loaded camper on the road, and the 4-link suspension will give me the most articulation if I go off the beaten path.

Any thoughts?

 

[78Bronco]

How are you going to figure out the proper geometry to ensure the correct instant centers and roll axis, etc? A good leaf spring (Alcan or Deaver) with Airbags would provide a level of redundancy should a bag blow, the load hamdling you need with a camper and freedom to dial in the setup.

 

[bfdiesel]

Are you wanting to do something unique? If not I say stick with proven leaf springs and have it out on the road sooner.

 

[Regcabguy]

Have Deaver or Atlas build a custom rear leafpack for your load,thus eliminating the monsterous blocks back there. As mentioned,keep it simple. My 2nd gen had horrible axle hop with those blocks.

 

[WCO]

I'd stay away from anything complex. 4 link is great for rock crawlers, and when they break, they go back on the trailer and go home. When you're "living" out of your rig, I prefer to go by the KISS method, Keep It Simple Stupid. Like Regcabguy said, have some custom packs made and get out on the road. As for air bags, depends on how much weight your hauling, I like airbags, but again it's one more thing to go wrong.

 

[Alaskan1Ton]

4 links are for serious articulating vehicles..................not for long bed pickups that have a pop up camper in the bed and for someone who wants to go off road occasionally. The other gentelmen are right, Keep the simple leaf system and go with a flexier spring pack like Deaver/Alcan etc. Ive had some leaf sprung trucks that had amazing flex just by softening up the spring packs either with Deaver springs or by eliminating some leafs. IN your case your still wanting to carry a load in the bed so dont eliminate leafs. Just face it, you cant have an Amazing rock crawling truck AND a Heavy duty pop up camper carrying long bed truck. Just take what you have and tweak it a little bit. Your off-roading desires do not warrant a 4 link set-up.

 

[ExpoMike]

Owning a '97 Ram Club Cab, Long Bed with a FWC pop up, you are not going to get into places that a multi link suspension is truly going to be needed. I just got back from my first real trip since having my National Spring installed. They got rid of the huge rear block and have leafs that are very flexy, yet handle the load correctly. The camper in on the rig all the time, so the springs are setup to the load weight.

I don't have any of my rig flexing through things yet (awaiting pics) but this will show you a small sample of what we were going through. The truck did it with no effort at all. I had my hesitations about how well this truck would work, coming from my built Cherokee but let me tell you, the Ram walked through everything I would have done in the Cherokee.

Full spring pack without those stupid blocks

BTW, the ride is totally awesome with the National Springs.

 

[ScottReb]

I have a 2007 CTD with a 3000 lb Alaskan camper on it, 10500 total. Im running the Carli starter with their long travel airbags. It rides smoother than a stock 2500. Ive had 2 of them. I added a rear antisway so it limits articulation a little. You can do a quick disconnect if you really wanted. Custom springs if you have the camper on full time is a great idea. Cost for custom springs vs airbags is probably a wash. Thuren is another great name for Dodge suspensions.

 

[Carl2500]

Thanks guys,
You've all probably saved me a bunch of money, and helped me to get on the road just a little quicker

I agree it looks like the pro's don't outweigh the con's in this application in regards to the 4-link.

Custom Leaf packs it is. Also I think I will go with a disconnectable front and rear sway bar. Front one needs replacing anyway.

I'd still like some kinda control over the handling with smooth highway, vs. logging roads. Maybe just adjustable shocks?

 

[ExpoMike]

Honestly, get your camper and load it up as you would for a trip. Get it weighed (front and rear axle weight) and then have spring made front and rear. This is what I did with National Spring, they built front and rear ones to match my actual load. I had added just prior to that, a set of Bilstein 5160 shocks. Outside of that, the suspension is stock, front and rear sway bars and all. It rides great on the road and freeways as well as the dirt, rocks and washboard trails.

I honestly had been looking at building sway bar disconnects but after this last trip and running through some pretty good ruts/wash outs at angles, I could totally feel the suspension flexing just fine with everything connected. I honestly think the weight of the rig helps things to flex unlike the light weight Cherokee I had been driving.

The whole full size rigs, though similar to smaller rigs, really work much different. I think you will be very surprised how little you really need to so. Springs and shocks really is will have the biggest effect. I am slowly learning this with each trip out. Don't over think things until you try it out.

BTW my specs are, tires, 285/75-16, National Springs built to put it back to stock height at camp load weight, Bilstein 5160's but everything else is basically stock. FWC Grandby. Front axle weight, 4320, rear axle weight, 4360, total 8680.

 

[goodtimes]

Honestly, get your camper and load it up as you would for a trip. Get it weighed (front and rear axle weight) and then have spring made front and rear.

If you're camper stays on the truck all the time, this is the way to go. You can go a step farther and add in shocks that have been valved for the specific application.

But - if the truck gets used without the camper more often than with the camper (which is the vast majority of people who own campers), then you'll need to consider the ride and handling when the truck is unloaded, and plan spring rates to accommodate that use, too. This is why so many people resort to using air-bags - they can keep a decent ride when the truck is unloaded, then bump up the effective spring rate when they load it down. It's still not a perfect solution (typically you are only adjusting effective spring rate in the rear, and you're not adjusting the damping rates to match the spring rate & load), but it does gives some measure of control when you see significant load changes.

 

[ExpoMike]

If you're camper stays on the truck all the time, this is the way to go. You can go a step farther and add in shocks that have been valved for the specific application.

But - if the truck gets used without the camper more often than with the camper (which is the vast majority of people who own campers), then you'll need to consider the ride and handling when the truck is unloaded, and plan spring rates to accommodate that use, too. This is why so many people resort to using air-bags - they can keep a decent ride when the truck is unloaded, then bump up the effective spring rate when they load it down. It's still not a perfect solution (typically you are only adjusting effective spring rate in the rear, and you're not adjusting the damping rates to match the spring rate & load), but it does gives some measure of control when you see significant load changes.

Yes, I was assuming that the camper would be on all the time. Looking at his thread in the Pop Up Camper area, it sounds like it would be.

Agreed, for a true dual use truck (loaded/unloaded) airbags are really the only method that is going to give you a nice ride either way. I actually did that on my Cherokee and it worked very well. Since I am just using manual fill valves, the downside was I need to check them every so often. A onboard compressor and gauge setup would make that much easier.

 

[fifty]

I am in the middle (close to end) of a 4 link conversion on the rear of my superduty. My biggest complaint on my truck was lack of rear articulation. Lots of hop, lots of spin. it was horrible.

I called deaver, etc etc etc. They all said that new spring packs would only get me a bit more travel, but not much, after all it is a 1 ton etc etc etc.

I was so fed up at not being able to keep my rear wheels on the ground even through small, and I mean small articulations, I called a guy who makes a 4 link C/O conversion and ordered a kit.

When I started taking my rear suspension apart, the first thing I did, was un bolt the air bags...Lifted the truck, and holy crap, look at all that new found droop. I felt like the biggest idiot.

I never even thought about the air bags. Never considered their limiting factor. It didnt even occur to me to think it out. I just started asking the experts etc..

Long story short, If I had just swapped the firestone bags out for some of them long travel bags, and thrown a set of traction bars on there, I'd have a whole lot more money in my pocket...(But my truck does look cool, and the one I drove off road with this set up drove like butter...silky smooth)

 

[Buliwyf]

I am in the middle (close to end) of a 4 link conversion on the rear of my superduty. My biggest complaint on my truck was lack of rear articulation. Lots of hop, lots of spin. it was horrible.

I called deaver, etc etc etc. They all said that new spring packs would only get me a bit more travel, but not much, after all it is a 1 ton etc etc etc.

I was so fed up at not being able to keep my rear wheels on the ground even through small, and I mean small articulations, I called a guy who makes a 4 link C/O conversion and ordered a kit.

When I started taking my rear suspension apart, the first thing I did, was un bolt the air bags...Lifted the truck, and holy crap, look at all that new found droop. I felt like the biggest idiot.

I never even thought about the air bags. Never considered their limiting factor. It didnt even occur to me to think it out. I just started asking the experts etc..

Long story short, If I had just swapped the firestone bags out for some of them long travel bags, and thrown a set of traction bars on there, I'd have a whole lot more money in my pocket...(But my truck does look cool, and the one I drove off road with this set up drove like butter...silky smooth)

I'm about to bolt Firestone airbags onto my F250. Just to keep it level when I pull a trailer. It sits allmost level stock. But it rides really nice. I often remind people that the airsprings can be removed in 20 minutes when you're not using them. I plan on using my bags for a couple long trips where I'm towing, then removing them and putting them on a shelf. I'll leave all the hardware and lines in place. This kit: http://www.firestoneip.com/site-resources/ride-rite/installation/2452.pdf

You only have to remove 8 bolts and an airline per side to remove them with the upper bracket and lower still on the bag.

Were your bags not stretching far enough to get full droop? Or was the bumpstop inside the bags interfering with full up travel?

Do you know if there are any bag kits out there that will allow good articulation? Keep in mind that long travel bags are inferior for towing. You want to limit your travel when there is 6000 pounds in the back. Kind of like a stiff sway bar.

 

[ScottReb]

The Carli bags, for Dodge only, allow 12" of articulation. I don't know of any others.