Most comfortable riding

Been years since I had a Dodge, but on my Fords:

The 2015 is better in every way than the 1999 - except the ride. The ride was about the same loaded, a bit worse unloaded. I assume because of the 14,000 GVWR springs vs. 11,500. The trucks were DRW F350 identical in every way except year.

I had air bags on the 1999 to get it closer to level with the camper loaded. On the 2015 I converted to full air ride in the back. The improvement was quite marked, both empty but especially with the camper loaded. It cost around $4K, but there is no way I would want to go back. The truck is all around better, less sway, slightly less vibration and noise. I do not regret the money spent at all. This winter I plan to build front air suspension for it, as the front end now feels harsh by comparison. It doesn't ride like a Cadillac, but it is half way there.

While the air suspension is nice in my Peterbilt dump truck, it is the air ride seat that makes it comfortable, loaded or unloaded.

There is an ongoing thread in a dodge web site Air Ride Seat Questions that has lots of information.

National Seating has a DOT approved suspension and seat combination for Dodge and Ford pickups, that isn't on their website. Part # for truck models can be found in a PDF from the above thread.

I agree 100% with "Reality Check". (And I have similar life-long truck seat time in everything from pickups to semis.)
Air ride will make it ride nicer than without, but I'd say the benefit is more when the truck is empty because that's when they ride the harshest.
An air-ride diesel-pusher bus coach is the only rig I could positively assure you is the smoothest ride possible in an RV.
If your wife is that sensitive, that may be your only option.
BTW, those 2nd-Gen Dodge seats are some of the more comfortable ones around.
A company called Katzkin makes really terrific new leather upholstery kits for most popular vehicles including those Dodges, and you can now get brand new lower seat foam for them from genosgarage (dot com). If you keep your '01 Dodge and want to make the seats nice and new again, the stuff is all readily available.

One other thing; this is a bit counter-intuitive but I'd try lowering your tire pressure.
That usually has a very noticeable effect on ride quality.
You could try installing the biggest fattest tires you can and running really low pressure. The bigger the tire, the more it can support on lower pressure. That Dodge has a lot of room in the wheelwells and you can put spacers between the rear duals for more clearance.
We used to do that with dump trucks that did a lot of off-road work.
It works. That technique could be your magic formula.

billy1davis wrote:
So what I understand now is that no matter how new the truck is if it has leaf springs it is going to have the same ride but if I put air suspension and get rid of the leaf springs it will ride0 as good or better then I brand new truck with leaf springs
However according to another person on this chain of holsteins a brand new truck outfitted the way it comes stock or ride better than my old truck

Well, lets just say most will agree that newer trucks ride better than older trucks. Suspension, isolation, interior sound proofing (which affects perceptions), better seats... but, it's only opinion which is sort of like .... everyone has one.

billy1davis wrote:
, so if I install kelderman or air link suspension on my 2001 Dodge Dually I can be assured of a great smooth ride that is good as a new truck I hope that if there is anybody that disagrees with this they'll let me know probably as I need to do something right away for my wife to be able to continue to ride in this truck

My answer would be yes. Someone else is going to chime in 'maybe' and I suspect you'll have a different idea once you spend the money.

Face it; you're trying to get a donkey with a pack to ride like a Town Car. Ain't going to happen.

Ideas that folks are voicing are relative to their understanding, perceptions, expectations and above all, experience. What I call smooth as butter (based on previous sentence, million miles plus in trucks in everything from p/u grocery getters to small chassis flatbeds to med duty trucks to sprung and air ride haulers) might seem completely unacceptable to you.

There's no gospel here, and if you're looking for absolute "assurance", hmmmm... I won't offer it.

, so if I install kelderman or air link suspension on my 2001 Dodge Dually I can be assured of a great smooth ride that is good as a new truck I hope that if there is anybody that disagrees with this they'll let me know probably as I need to do something right away for my wife to be able to continue to ride in this truck

, so if I install kelderman or air link suspension on my 2001 Dodge Dually I can be assured of a great smooth ride that is good as a new truck I hope that if there is anybody that disagrees with this they'll let me know probably as I need to do something right away for my wife to be able to continue to ride in this truck

So what I understand now is that no matter how new the truck is if it has leaf springs it is going to have the same ride but if I put air suspension and get rid of the leaf springs it will ride0 as good or better then I brand new truck with leaf springs
However according to another person on this chain of holsteins a brand new truck outfitted the way it comes stock or ride better than my old truck

billy1davis wrote:
Which truck is the most comfortable when loaded with a heavy camper?

Ours is... without a doubt.

Yada yada yada... if you have springs, it's a compromise. No way around it. Smooth here makes rough or incapable there.

Air suspension. Eliminate the springs. Same basic ride whether loaded or not. Change the load, truck ride height stays the same, ride stays the same. Have had these discussions before, and folks just don't get it sometimes. There are units that eliminate the stock suspension...not assist, not add on, not bags from the auto store. Air ride. It's the bomb.

A sprung 450-550/5500 riding empty is not compfy...it's painful and annoying. But, what do I know. I'm down to three of chassis versions.

For changing loads (read; camper on/off, different trailers), there is no better option than air ride.

I have a 2nd Gen 1999 Dodge one ton dually, same truck as the 2001.
Mine rides GREAT, because I put on a Kelderman air ride rear suspension kit.
This is not your standard overload airbags. This replaces the real leaf spring hangers with a large hinged bracket that has airbags. The truck's springs aren't directly attached to the frame at the rear, they float on the air bags. It takes a lot of harshness out of the ride.
I don't care how new a truck is, if it has leaf springs, it has leaf springs. There's no new technology magic, they are what they are.
This (the Kelderman) is better, and you don't have to buy a new truck to get it.

I also have the normal overload airbags because the Kelderman isn't a load capacity increaser, it's a ride-smoother. In fact it eliminates the factory overload springs.

I have zero problems carrying a 4000 pound camper while towing a 10,000 pound trailer. (A few engine and transmission modifications help too).

Bedlam wrote:
My Ram 5500 rides better with the Host Mammoth than Arctic Fox 811. Empty, it is very stiff but not what I would call jarring unless driving empty on bad roads.

Not a bad tradeoff for the ULTIMATE camper hauler!