2015 Ram 3500 DRW factory Air Bag Suspension??
Would this be a good thing to have or a negative with a TC? Anyone with real life experience with this and a 5000 pound TC? It is "auto leveling", is there a way to over ride the "auto" control?
Forum Discussion
John, I think you are right. The DRW 5500 I saw was not a factory item but a Kelderman 4-link refit . All I could see were the big-rig strength air ride bags. My observations were that there were no leaf springs at all and the very fast up and down oscillation of the axle. It looked like not enough dampening to me.
24 years ago I let the rear shocks on my '90 Jeep XJ get too far along the wear path. Very little dampening. This would have been O.K. but i was near Telluride going down a graded gravel road from Ophir to Vance Jct. when I encountered a dog leg turn. I had been down this road many times before but this time I hit a short section of THE most aggredious washboard ever and the rear axle started to hop; big time. I was going about 25 mph with the brakes full on. The rear end started to go out from under me so I eased the rig into the slide but it was too late. I went over the cliff head first. The first roll was an endo where the fibreglass tailgate blew out after hitting a small Aspen.The next 4 rolls were barrel rolls where i could count the times i was upside down by the weight on the seat belt. Of the 13 windows in the Jeep, 11 were gone including the sun roof. There is more to the story but the important part is that I'm convinced that if I had replaced the shocks before making the trip to CO there would have been enough dampening to mitigate the rear axle hop and subsequent 125 foot drop off the mountainside.
regards, as always, jefe
24 years ago I let the rear shocks on my '90 Jeep XJ get too far along the wear path. Very little dampening. This would have been O.K. but i was near Telluride going down a graded gravel road from Ophir to Vance Jct. when I encountered a dog leg turn. I had been down this road many times before but this time I hit a short section of THE most aggredious washboard ever and the rear axle started to hop; big time. I was going about 25 mph with the brakes full on. The rear end started to go out from under me so I eased the rig into the slide but it was too late. I went over the cliff head first. The first roll was an endo where the fibreglass tailgate blew out after hitting a small Aspen.The next 4 rolls were barrel rolls where i could count the times i was upside down by the weight on the seat belt. Of the 13 windows in the Jeep, 11 were gone including the sun roof. There is more to the story but the important part is that I'm convinced that if I had replaced the shocks before making the trip to CO there would have been enough dampening to mitigate the rear axle hop and subsequent 125 foot drop off the mountainside.
regards, as always, jefe
