3500 Ram factory air suspension

noteven wrote:
For those with sway bar concerns look at Donvel valves. I have no idea if they fit factory Ram suspension. I called and had a yak with them about using them on my aftermarket full air suspension on my Dodge.

Just looked these up. They are essentially a check valve in the air line preventing rapid air release as I see it. Advantageous where each bag is not valved separately.
Certainly Ram did not valve the lines to the the rear assist bags together....did they?
If so, I see these helping. If they're plumbed the way aftermarket bags should be, then they will not help (or hurt) the ride.
I don't see where these Donvel valves would do any thing on bags that are effectively valved separate from each other.
On semi tractors, are the drive axle bags, 4 each, valved separately or do they air up the same? If all hooked together, the Donvels will help. Work2much said it. Ram 3500 air not ideal for big TCs. Ram 3500 air has its place, but unlike the 2500s, IMO it's a gimmick for those that haul heavy more often than not, but a nice feature for a weekend warrior that wants a plush daily driver and the same capacity as a 1 ton, albeit with some compromise in handling when the loads get big or tall.

For those with sway bar concerns look at Donvel valves. I have no idea if they fit factory Ram suspension. I called and had a yak with them about using them on my aftermarket full air suspension on my Dodge.

Gary3 wrote:
I'm a little confused I've seen lots of trucks carrying campers with airbags over the years on all kinds of trucks. A friend had them on his truck and liked them why are these factory ones different. On my last truck I had the springs reworked twice and the truck still squatted in the rear the owner of the shop asked me why I don't just add airbags.That was on my 2007 DRW Dodge and there was no factory swaybar on that truck.

The Ram air suspension doesn't just add airbags. It replaces part of the spring pack with air bags. I had aftermarket airbags on my 94 Ram 2500HD and my 2004 Ram 3500 dually. In both cases the springs did most of the lifting with the air bags assisting. On the 2004 I had only a small amount of air to level the truck from side to side as the camper was unequally heavy on the passenger (slide) side.

The design of the new trucks is to have a relatively light spring pack so the truck drives much more smoothly when unloaded with the air bags picking up weight as the truck is loaded.

The truck does pick up the weight, the truck will ride level front to back. We have almost 25,000 miles on the truck n ow carrying very large truck campers. The system will work.

My main complaint is the lack of adding a sway bar. I have seen people modify the lines for the air ride (prying them out of the way) to install a sway bar on these trucks. As it stands though the air ride components are located in the way of adding a sway bar. A component I consider advantageous with a full size truck camper.

Thus my initial recommendation to stick with the stock spring pack suspension. You can always add the air bags later (and the sway bar).

If you have already committed to the truck with air suspension and there is no turning back then I'm not sure why asking/debating the advice given. Hopefully for your set-up you will be pleased with the truck. With a lighter camper than ours the sway affect will be less.

I'm a little confused I've seen lots of trucks carrying campers with airbags over the years on all kinds of trucks. A friend had them on his truck and liked them why are these factory ones different. On my last truck I had the springs reworked twice and the truck still squatted in the rear the owner of the shop asked me why I don't just add airbags.That was on my 2007 DRW Dodge and there was no factory swaybar on that truck.

I cannot speak from personal experience with the new Rams air assist on the 3500s but I surmise that they're not ideal for high center of gravity loads because like regular add on air bags, the more the truck is on air and the less on steel, the body roll is more pronounced.
5ver or other general heavy hauling duties, while still wanting good daily driver manners I think is where the 3500s with air shine. TCs, but be interesting to hear first hand from someone with a big TC with air.

work2much wrote:

bolljl wrote:
I have factory air bags. The big reason for me was back of truck height with air bag versus leaf spring is two inch lower. So far no issues no regrets. Truck and RV intentionally stay away from cold weather.

Is this with a truck camper?

oops as soon as I posted realized referencing to truck camper.
No have 5th wheel.

But we purchased used truck camper to take to alaska but with different truck. Awesome trip. Would have kept the Truck Camper for other trip but had no place to store it.

I was wonder how the OEM air bags would work with Truck Camper.

bolljl wrote:
I have factory air bags. The big reason for me was back of truck height with air bag versus leaf spring is two inch lower. So far no issues no regrets. Truck and RV intentionally stay away from cold weather.

Is this with a truck camper?

I have factory air bags. The big reason for me was back of truck height with air bag versus leaf spring is two inch lower. So far no issues no regrets. Truck and RV intentionally stay away from cold weather.

The truck is for hauling the camper to AZ in Nov thur March so the cold shouldn't be an issue the rest of the time it just mostly sits there and gets a 20 mile run on the freeway once a week to keep things loose. We also take a couple trips in the summer.

I’ve read about issues with them in cold climates. Google search it or check the Ram forums.