Lowering rear and getting a better ride.

[Arthurw]

I have a 2015 Ram 2500 heavy-duty. It's ride is terrible. It's so stiff in the back that when empty going down a rough road the back tires will bounce off the ground. It beats a person half to death. Now loaded It's fine and can haul one heck of a load. It's all factory as far as I know. I was wondering if I changed out the rear springs for some a couple of inches shorter and maybe not as stiff would work okay? If so where is the best place to get a kit for that? TIA.

 

[A child of God]

I have a 2016 1500 with air suspension. My rear suspension is rock hard. But on rare occasions it will soften and it rides like a Caddy. Ive researched, pulled fuses,changed settings that I could find. Nothing helps.
Do you have air suspension?

 

[rzr6-4]

I have a 2015 Ram 2500 heavy-duty. It's ride is terrible. It's so stiff in the back that when empty going down a rough road the back tires will bounce off the ground. It beats a person half to death. Now loaded It's fine and can haul one heck of a load. It's all factory as far as I know. I was wondering if I changed out the rear springs for some a couple of inches shorter and maybe not as stiff would work okay? If so where is the best place to get a kit for that? TIA.

The only way to soften the ride regarding the suspension itself would be to put weaker springs in, which will lower its ability to "haul one heck of a load". Make sure you have good shocks in to help eliminate that bouncing but that can only do so much. What tire size/pressure are you running?

 

[mtnrider]

Lower your tire pressure a little when not hauling, that will help. Other then that welcome to HD trucks, they are made for hauling/towing heavy loads. If you don't really need that capability downsize to a 1/2 ton. Changing the springs is going to lower your payload to that of a 1/2 ton anyway so it's pointless.

.

 

[Daw14]

A 4’ x 6’ by 1/2 inch steel plate bolted to the bed floor should be just about 500 pounds . That should improve the ride and give a bit more traction .

 

[Rick Ram-jet]

A 4’ x 6’ by 1/2 inch steel plate bolted to the bed floor should be just about 500 pounds . That should improve the ride and give a bit more traction .

OR, you can go to home Depot or Lowes and get some sandbags and put them in the rear side nooks of the bed when not towing..try 3-4 per side and see if that`s enough!

 

[62Blazer]

Check out Thuren Fabrication or Carli Suspension for some options. You can also call and chat with them to get recommendations. Going to a shorter/lower spring doesn't necessarily mean it will ride softer. But as mentioned already you sacrifice load carrying ability to get a softer ride....the softer the ride the less weight you can carry without squatting the rear suspension. There are options to get around this such as adding airbags or other load carrying supplements (like Timbrens).
Tires are part of the equation also. For example if you are running E load rated tires pumped up to 80 PSI they will ride like rocks. I have always adjusted my rear tire pressure pending on the conditions. If running empty I run them pretty low and increase air pressure as the load or towing weight increases. Most 1/2 ton trucks come with much softer C load rated tires running in the 40 PSI range. The difference between a C rated tire at 40 PSI and an E rated tire at 80 PSI makes a big difference in ride quality.

 

[Dean2]

Best recommendation is adding easily removed weight, sand bags, tied down water tank etc and air down the tires to 45 front 40 rear. That way it is easy to go back to max tow capacity in a couple of minutes. Anything else you try will mess with your tow capacity, so would make sense to go to a 1500 if you don't need the 2500's capabilities.

 

[Arthurw]

I have a 2016 1500 with air suspension. My rear suspension is rock hard. But on rare occasions it will soften and it rides like a Caddy. Ive researched, pulled fuses,changed settings that I could find. Nothing helps.
Do you have air suspension?

No.

 

[Arthurw]

Thanks everyone for the information. Looks like I'll just be adding some weight.

 

[rzr6-4]

Adding weight is going to give you a noticeable hit in mileage for a minimal improvement in ride IMO. I'm with @mtnrider, air down and if that doesn't work I would downsize or deal with it.

 

[Dean2]

Adding weight is going to give you a noticeable hit in mileage for a minimal improvement in ride IMO. I'm with @mtnrider, air down and if that doesn't work I would downsize or deal with it.

I disagree. I have run my 2500 at 8200 pounds and 9500 pounds and the gas mileage is virtually the same. If I increase wind drag, or push into a head wwind, gas mileage goes down and the more resistance the more it drops. However, weight in the box or in the cab seems to have very little effect on mileage. Same as raod speed, much to my surprise, 60 mph or 85, virtually the same gas mileage, and completely contrsry to conventional wisdom.

Have a read through this thread i posted a few days ago.

Learned Some Interesting Things the Last 2 Weeks

I took the 2021 2500 for a long road trip, not pulling a trailer, but well loaded with gear and travel stuff, it scaled at 9,000 LBs. I already knew my 2021 2500 rode and handled better than my 1996 2500. Driving it on U.S. interstates at 85-90 mph made it clear just how much better it is than...

www.ramforum.com

 

[2003F350]

I disagree. I have run my 2500 at 8200 pounds and 9500 pounds and the gas mileage is virtually the same. If I increase wind drag, or push into a head wwind, gas mileage goes down and the more resistance the more it drops. However, weight in the box or in the cab seems to have very little effect on mileage. Same as raod speed, much to my surprise, 60 mph or 85, virtually the same gas mileage, and completely contrsry to conventional wisdom.

Have a read through this thread i posted a few days ago.

Learned Some Interesting Things the Last 2 Weeks

I took the 2021 2500 for a long road trip, not pulling a trailer, but well loaded with gear and travel stuff, it scaled at 9,000 LBs. I already knew my 2021 2500 rode and handled better than my 1996 2500. Driving it on U.S. interstates at 85-90 mph made it clear just how much better it is than...

www.ramforum.com

You must be hard on the throttle all the time - my last 6.4 would take a hit in mileage when I loaded up the bed with weight, though not as bad as pulling. But the difference in mileage between 60 and 85 was a good 3-4 mpg (I could get 14-15 at 60, but only 11-12 at 75, I never ran 85 for extended periods so I can imagine how much worse it would be).

Even my new CTD has a big mileage difference between 60 and 75...at 60 I'll be seeing mid to high 20's, at 75 I'm down around 22 - and it's all because of wind drag increasing as a square of your speed.

 

[A child of God]

Adding weight is going to give you a noticeable hit in mileage for a minimal improvement in ride IMO. I'm with @mtnrider, air down and if that doesn't work I would downsize or deal with it.

If I could air down, don't you think I would have done that? I need to understand the air system and puter controls so I can then look for what's wrong or have it professionally checked.

 

[Dean2]

If I could air down, don't you think I would have done that? I need to understand the air system and puter controls so I can then look for what's wrong or have it professionally checked.

First off he wasn't replying to you. Second, brand new to forum, have contributed didiley squat so far, and then running tude on other members is pretty much quaranteed to get you zero help. You owe an apology.

 

[oe542bob]

OP has a 2500. “A child of god” you have a 1/2 with air suspension. I would recommend you start your own thread with your questions.
Now to the OP, when I had my 2018 Ram 2500, I installed rear air bags from Kelderman. You remove the rear coils and the air bags go there. I didn’t install any air compressors or tanks to be able to change on the fly. That gets quite a bit more money. I installed them myself and bought the rear air bags to lower the rear about 1”. They sell the regular ride height too.
They cost around $1,000
I ran about 40 psi under normal driving. It’s nice to be able to pump up the pressure if you will be hauling anything heavy. I also bought a Milwaukee 18V air compressor that I always had in the bed.

 

[62Blazer]

While adding weight will probably get you what you want, it's not the first thing I would recommend. I'm guessing you would probably need at least 500 lbs. in the bed which is a substantial mass, and maybe more. Not like you just throw a couple sand bags in and out whenever. I guess if you rarely haul or tow anything it's not that big of a deal to have a bunch of weight in the back. But if you do haul or tow regularly I would think you would get tired of packing 500 lbs. in and out of the bed all the time. Also, what happens when you are away from home and unexpectedly need to haul something. What do you do with that 500 lbs. in the bed?
Have you checked to see what air pressure are in your back tires? Super simple to check the pressure and if it's at something like 80 PSI drop it down a lot and see what happens.
A set of aftermarket coil springs with a softer rate will probably run in the $600 range. Then if you add airbags that can be pumped up when hauling or towing a large load that starts out around $400.

 

[tron67j]

Adding aftermarket springs to soften ride will reduce payload capacity. Airbags will return zero percent of that capacity.

I agree with above, adding the weight has never, ever made an appreciable difference in mileage on a 2500 and I have driven one since 1999, over 300k miles in hills and flat. But if one drives off the line like it is a Ferrari, then yes it probably would.

 

[Zoe Saldana]

I have a 2015 Ram 2500 heavy-duty. It's ride is terrible. It's so stiff in the back that when empty going down a rough road the back tires will bounce off the ground. It beats a person half to death. Now loaded It's fine and can haul one heck of a load. It's all factory as far as I know. I was wondering if I changed out the rear springs for some a couple of inches shorter and maybe not as stiff would work okay? If so where is the best place to get a kit for that? TIA.

Try Rancho 9000XL - adjustable shocks.
Also, it is a HEAVY-DUTY truck!

 

[Gr8bawana]

^^^This^^^
It's a heavy duty truck-it should ride like a truck not a luxury car.
Lowering the tire pressure will make a world of difference in the ride. It will still be firm but not jarring like when the rears are filled to 80psi which is totally unnecessary unless carrying the max payload.
I usually go with 50 on the rear and 55 in the front when unloaded.