2017 RAM 2500c Build. Tradesman---->AEV'ish

[Bayou Boy]

Yep,although a srw truck and hardsided campers don't equate safe emergency handling. Short of a dually the 3500 srw configuration is next best.

We are on the same page. I specifically bought my 3500 SRW to haul a Lance 855. Stock it was fine at 75 or more on the interstate and drove excellent on curvy mountain roads. There has never been a single time that I wished for more truck, even while towing a flat bed trailer with my CJ7 on it with the camper in the bed.

There is a substantial difference in the stability of the newer 3500 SRW trucks and the older one's like your 2007.

 

[Regcabguy]

My Thuren coils were too soft even with his specially valved Kings and my popup.
I have them in the shed for future application if I chuck the camper. If I were to do it again I would not get Carli minipaks. The stock pack works great with a load.
Your 18's have a much higher load range than my 17's. The Toyo MT's are a solid tire.
I'd love a new one.

 

[Bayou Boy]

My Thuren coils were too soft even with his specially valved Kings and my popup.
I have them in the shed for future application if I chuck the camper. If I were to do it again I would not get Carli minipaks. The stock pack works great with a load.
Your 18's have a much higher load range than my 17's. The Toyo MT's are a solid tire.
I'd love a new one.

When I had my Lance I had the stock 20s with 295/65r20 Toyo ATs rated at 4080/tire. I had the swing-in Stableloads on the stock springs and it was great. I sold the camper because it got too small when we had a second kid. Now we are looking for a mid size OutdoorsRV or Nash travel trailer so I think I'm going to do the minipacks and some airbags. Not needing to carry 4000# in the bed anymore I figured I'd get this big truck comfy. haha

Did you find the minipacks rode noticeably better than the stock overload setup or were they a waste of money?

 

[Manchild]

Tell me more about the problems folks were seeing with aev lifts. Just the self jnstalled or factory builds as well?

 

[Bayou Boy]

Here you go.

https://forum.aev-conversions.com/forum/all-aev-products/ram-prospector-recruit-parts-product-discussion/244758-failure-after-failure-after-failure-ram-3500-with-3-lift

It's a very expensive spacer lift that admittedly, fixes the bad angles that spacer lifts cause. A Thuren or Carli setup will ride better and flex better you'll just need bags to tow the same load as the AEV.

Also, this thread is very good.
http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/153849-Thoughts-on-new-AEV-RAM

 

[Manchild]

Here you go.

https://forum.aev-conversions.com/forum/all-aev-products/ram-prospector-recruit-parts-product-discussion/244758-failure-after-failure-after-failure-ram-3500-with-3-lift

It's a very expensive spacer lift that admittedly, fixes the bad angles that spacer lifts cause. A Thuren or Carli setup will ride better and flex better you'll just need bags to tow the same load as the AEV.

Also, this thread is very good.
http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/153849-Thoughts-on-new-AEV-RAM

Thx for the links, nothing really surprising to me in them. Wonder whatbhappened to the guy in the first post, no real updates. Smells like it could have been a defect in the ram its self prior to the lift.

 

[Gibby56]

Thx for the links, nothing really surprising to me in them. Wonder whatbhappened to the guy in the first post, no real updates. Smells like it could have been a defect in the ram its self prior to the lift.

He pulled off the AEV lift and installed a 2" Leveling spacer. He posted about it on CumminsForum in the 4WD section. Its ~6 posts down.

I have the Carli Pintop (Close enough) on mine and if I were to redo my 2500

Carli Level (2" Front springs, 2.0 Fox shocks front & rear)
Carli front track bar
Carli Front Torsion Bar - by far the best improvement to my truck hands down
Thuren rear track bar
Thuren rear sway bar end links
Thuren Steering Stabilizer
Thuren Boogie Bumps in the Front

A lot more affordable than what I put on. Plus it would still be pretty fun in the dirt and handle great on the street. Don't get me wrong, the pin top is wicked off road and the parts above wouldn't handle as well. I am just not using it to its potential as much as I was hoping.

 

[Dalko43]

Here you go.

https://forum.aev-conversions.com/forum/all-aev-products/ram-prospector-recruit-parts-product-discussion/244758-failure-after-failure-after-failure-ram-3500-with-3-lift

It's a very expensive spacer lift that admittedly, fixes the bad angles that spacer lifts cause. A Thuren or Carli setup will ride better and flex better you'll just need bags to tow the same load as the AEV.

Also, this thread is very good.
http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/153849-Thoughts-on-new-AEV-RAM

Even if it is a spacer lift, it seems that lot of thought and development went into that setup in order to accommodate the bigger tires and maintain payload/towing capabilities, though I don't know who wants to tow heavy with 37's or 40's. They're very good products, regardless.

Carli and Thuren seem to take a completely different approach. I do wonder what, if anything, those kits do to address the out-of-stock angles created by their suspensions.

 

[Bayou Boy]

Even if it is a spacer lift, it seems that lot of thought and development went into that setup in order to accommodate the bigger tires and maintain payload/towing capabilities, though I don't know who wants to tow heavy with 37's or 40's. They're very good products, regardless.

Carli and Thuren seem to take a completely different approach. I do wonder what, if anything, those kits do to address the out-of-stock angles created by their suspensions.

Understand that a stock Ram 4th gen Radius Arm truck will fit 37s stock with rims with ~20mm backspacing with minor rubbing so zero lift was needed for the tires.

Check out their websites. Carli uses drop brackets for the track bars just like AEV. Thuren uses less lift to avoid the need for adjustments. Thuren has a few articles on his website explaining how it all works and his alignment method, etc. Check the Tech tab.

Also, something that few people realize is that the springs on the later 4th gen Rams are extremely sensitive to coil design and how those coils fit in the buckets at a specific suspension height. AEV realizes this and uses the brackets to fix this on their spacer kit. Carli and Thuren also realize this and use a different configuration of the coil ends to address it. This is why simple spacer lifts on these trucks almost always result in bowed coils.

The ride improvement on an AEV lifted truck is SOLELY due to using 37" tires on 17" rims with significantly lower tire pressures from stock.

On Carli and Thuren lifts, the softer springs add a whole additional layer of better ride. On my truck, going from a stock 3500 SRW with 20s to 36" tires on 18s with Thuren springs I can definitely tell what difference the tires had and what difference the springs/Fox 2.0s had because I drove around for a week with just the wheel tire setup on the stock suspension. The Thuren Coils/Fox 2.0 combo significantly improved my ride. An AEV truck is going to ride very much like a stock truck with 37s on 17s because it uses stock springs. For reference, I ran my stock tires at 60F/45R. I ran my old Toyo AT 295/65R20s at 50F/40R. I run my current 315/70r18s at 45F/35R.

My stock truck rode horribly at stock pressures. My current setup rides like a lot of half tons.

 

[Austo]

White Knuckle did some rock sliders for me and changed things a little from their others. Excited to get them on, should be the end of the month.

 

[Gibby56]

excited/curious to see the changes they did for you

 

[Explorerinil]

White Knuckle did some rock sliders for me and changed things a little from their others. Excited to get them on, should be the end of the month.

Awesome! I got a set, what I learned is get 3 people total, install will be allot easier, also remove passenger rear floor storage bin first.

 

[hb hellcat]

That's great to hear. Thank you for rear storage bin removal tip.
While my girl came to me with body mount rails, and they've worked exceptionally well, I still really NEED the frame mount rails so I can properly crawl the tough areas I deal with, mall, urban/fwy obstructions, the occasional desert trail, etc.
White knuckle is still my choice of upgrade when that time comes.
Enjoy your truck, she's really looking good.

 

[Austo]

Awesome! I got a set, what I learned is get 3 people total, install will be allot easier, also remove passenger rear floor storage bin first.

I was surprised how heavy they are, will definitely need some jack stands and an extra set of hands!

 

[Tex68w]

Why do you need to remove the in floor storage bins? Do they get removed for good with the install?