nitro_rat
Lunchbox Lockers
I would like to apologize for the long running paragraphs but I cannot figure out how to force a line break! I tried to separate as best I could with pictures!
I purchased a 2009 Dodge 2500 QCLB almost two years ago. The truck always felt a little unsettled until fairly heavily laden. I do not typically haul enough weight to get it to ride nice. The addition of a Ranch Hand winch bumper and winch did not help matters any. The best way to describe the most annoying characteristic is "bucking." The front end would hit a bump, bottom out, and then the rear suspension would follow with an upwards kick!
This is the Ranch Hand Sport, net weight 270 lbs increase over stock
This is the Badlands 12,000 winch, net weight of about 80 lbs.
The total added weight is about 350 lbs. way out over the nose of the truck. As far as I can tell from researching on the internet the best way to measure ride height on these trucks is to measure from the bottom of the bump stop cup to the bump stop pad on the axle. It seems that right around four inches is the "stock" ride height for these trucks. I never did measure "before" the bumper add on, but after, this measurement was just shy of three inches. This put me at a little over an inch of sag from stock.
Here is the truck "before" the bumper"
The front springs on this truck always seemed too light even before the bumper and winch install. I wasn't really looking to go for any lift, and in researching the aftermarket solutions there seemed to be two schools of thought. One is catering the snow plow crowd who make extremely heavy rate springs for these applications. They are available in stock or two to three inch lifted heights but all seemed to be geared towards the diesel trucks. They receive mixed reviews on ride quality. The other is catering to the go fast crowd and provide two to three inches of lift with a softer rate. These are typically paired with expensive shocks and other equipment and do get good reviews on ride quality. Superlift does offer a two inch lifted spring for gas trucks that is advertised to compensate for the weight of a winch bumper or plow. The cost of any of these options is in the $400 range for a pair of springs from most vendors.
I was browsing on Rock Auto one day and found a set of Moog springs for a QCLB 3500 Diesel on clearance for about 75 bucks. It was the last set so I went ahead and ordered them. They were a much stiffer wire than the original springs but the free height was a few inches shorter. I went ahead and threw them in and my new bump stop cup to axle pad measurement is right about five inches. I think this is about one inch over "stock" and slightly more than two inches over where I was. They didn't seem to compress any under the weight of the truck so I was a little worried at first. A quick test drive revealed that the springs are actually amazing! The truck rides and drives like a normal vehicle. With the additional weight shifted to the rear it also softened up the ride out back also. I plan to pull out the overload and cut it down per the recommendations on Thuren's web site. Hopefully this will make the rear rate more progressive.
At this time the truck is still riding on its original black Mopar shocks! 225,000 miles (100k of which I have racked up in the last 18 or so months) and almost 10 years can not have been kind to these units. I don't really feel like they were ever that great of a shock to begin with. I was getting ready to pull the trigger on a set of Bilstein 5100's when I came across the 5160's. After quite a bit of research I decided to pull the trigger on a set of factory valved 5160's for the front and rear, along with a new steering stabilizer. I didn't want to go with the aftermarket revalved units as my spring rate is significantly higher than the springs those shocks are valved to match. Once I settled on a parts list, I found that 4wheelparts had the lowest price. 150-something as opposed to 170-ish from most other vendors. On top of that they were offering 10% off (and I don't usually see Bilsteins being discounted). A quick search netted me a code for an additional 5% off that actually worked! That kind of made it easier to justify the purchase of some pretty high-end shocks! I hope to have the shocks in hand early next week, I am really looking forward to having the suspension finally sorted on this rig! I am having difficulty getting more pics to upload due to my connection right now. I'll update with more later.
I purchased a 2009 Dodge 2500 QCLB almost two years ago. The truck always felt a little unsettled until fairly heavily laden. I do not typically haul enough weight to get it to ride nice. The addition of a Ranch Hand winch bumper and winch did not help matters any. The best way to describe the most annoying characteristic is "bucking." The front end would hit a bump, bottom out, and then the rear suspension would follow with an upwards kick!
This is the Ranch Hand Sport, net weight 270 lbs increase over stock
This is the Badlands 12,000 winch, net weight of about 80 lbs.
The total added weight is about 350 lbs. way out over the nose of the truck. As far as I can tell from researching on the internet the best way to measure ride height on these trucks is to measure from the bottom of the bump stop cup to the bump stop pad on the axle. It seems that right around four inches is the "stock" ride height for these trucks. I never did measure "before" the bumper add on, but after, this measurement was just shy of three inches. This put me at a little over an inch of sag from stock.
Here is the truck "before" the bumper"
The front springs on this truck always seemed too light even before the bumper and winch install. I wasn't really looking to go for any lift, and in researching the aftermarket solutions there seemed to be two schools of thought. One is catering the snow plow crowd who make extremely heavy rate springs for these applications. They are available in stock or two to three inch lifted heights but all seemed to be geared towards the diesel trucks. They receive mixed reviews on ride quality. The other is catering to the go fast crowd and provide two to three inches of lift with a softer rate. These are typically paired with expensive shocks and other equipment and do get good reviews on ride quality. Superlift does offer a two inch lifted spring for gas trucks that is advertised to compensate for the weight of a winch bumper or plow. The cost of any of these options is in the $400 range for a pair of springs from most vendors.
I was browsing on Rock Auto one day and found a set of Moog springs for a QCLB 3500 Diesel on clearance for about 75 bucks. It was the last set so I went ahead and ordered them. They were a much stiffer wire than the original springs but the free height was a few inches shorter. I went ahead and threw them in and my new bump stop cup to axle pad measurement is right about five inches. I think this is about one inch over "stock" and slightly more than two inches over where I was. They didn't seem to compress any under the weight of the truck so I was a little worried at first. A quick test drive revealed that the springs are actually amazing! The truck rides and drives like a normal vehicle. With the additional weight shifted to the rear it also softened up the ride out back also. I plan to pull out the overload and cut it down per the recommendations on Thuren's web site. Hopefully this will make the rear rate more progressive.
At this time the truck is still riding on its original black Mopar shocks! 225,000 miles (100k of which I have racked up in the last 18 or so months) and almost 10 years can not have been kind to these units. I don't really feel like they were ever that great of a shock to begin with. I was getting ready to pull the trigger on a set of Bilstein 5100's when I came across the 5160's. After quite a bit of research I decided to pull the trigger on a set of factory valved 5160's for the front and rear, along with a new steering stabilizer. I didn't want to go with the aftermarket revalved units as my spring rate is significantly higher than the springs those shocks are valved to match. Once I settled on a parts list, I found that 4wheelparts had the lowest price. 150-something as opposed to 170-ish from most other vendors. On top of that they were offering 10% off (and I don't usually see Bilsteins being discounted). A quick search netted me a code for an additional 5% off that actually worked! That kind of made it easier to justify the purchase of some pretty high-end shocks! I hope to have the shocks in hand early next week, I am really looking forward to having the suspension finally sorted on this rig! I am having difficulty getting more pics to upload due to my connection right now. I'll update with more later.
