jkilgore11
Adventurer
I went with the Icon reservoir shocks on front and non-reservoir on the rear. Previously had 5100's. There is a night and day difference and have been very pleased so far on my F250 diesel.
Suspension Help for RAM 3500 - Remote reservoir or simple HD shocks
- Thread starter littledoc
- Start date
I went with the Icon reservoir shocks on front and non-reservoir on the rear. Previously had 5100's. There is a night and day difference and have been very pleased so far on my F250 diesel.
2025 deleted member
Well-known member
redthies
Renaissance Redneck
I've been running 5100s on a few trucks, and currently have them on my '14 3500 that carries a 3000 lb camper on and offroad very regularly. I have 2.5" Thuren coils which have also been fantastic. I also used the Bilsteins on a '97 F350 that carried a 9'6" Vanguard camper from Vancouver up to Alaska and then south to Patagonia over two and a half years. There's bad apples in every brand, but Bilsteins have proven themselves to me.
The a Toyo AT-II is not my favorite tire by a long shot. I used to love them, but they only lasted 20,000 miles on my diesel. You may want to look at the Cooper ST Maxx. I've gotten way more life out of them, and they are as quiet as the Toyos.
What sort of camper are you running?
We have an X P on the way. It's being built at the moment. I will take a peek at the Coopers too. This kind of terrain (attached pic) is likely as 'rocky' as we would encounter at a guess. I am not sure I would want to be tackling anything more in a big truck / camper combo. I have to live in it, toppling it is not an option.
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'05TJLWBRUBY
Adventurer
Shocks are an item that people often look at price and immediately steer clear due to higher costs without knowing any better. There is absolutely no comparison to a quality rebuildable shock vs an off the shelf out of box disposable. Add a solid tune from reputable builder and you're really in for an eye opener. I threw away 5 sets and 4 makes of disposables on one rig before finally going with a quality Fox rebuildable. 2 sets of OMEs, Bilsteins, Ranchos, forget the 4th brand- washboard and weight kill them fast. Went to a quality rebuildable Fox with reservoir and haven't touched them since. Wish I had have realized this sooner as I threw away more money in shocks than original purchase of a quality rebuildable set. Those who've been there know better. Those seriously in the market who need to ask the question, need to be prepared to step up and spend some money where it counts. Suspension is not a place to skimp if you use your build as intended for how you built it.
Best of Luck,
Mike
Best of Luck,
Mike
Nomads365
A Most Adventurous Couple
So do we, going on a 2007 Ram 3500 5.9L, longbed dually being converted to SRW (tomorrow in fact). We'll be pushing the max GVWR. We'll be doing Marc's suggested Icon front springs as well as Icon reservoir shocks all around. We'll also be rebuilding the front end with the 2008 components including the steering box. Back will get upgraded springs (TBD) as well as a swaybar. We're mounting up Cooper Discoverer STT Pro's.
Thanks. I am not keen on going cheap at all. I guess my main worry was being able to rebuild when required if I am in the middle of nowhere. With a disposable, albeit a decent one, I expect I would be able to find a reasonable replacement a lot easier than a rebuild. If I was staying in more developed countries then I would have simply jumped on the reservoir shocks. I wjust don't want to be left out in the cold. That said, a previous poster mentioned I could simply replace with a disposable anyway to get me where I need to go - which would work.
jkilgore11
Adventurer
Having a heavy duty diesel truck with a camper will test your shocks. Throw on a bumper, winch, water, and gear while trying to do even mild off roading changes everything.