Ram 3500 and air suspension option
I am considering a Ram 3500 but am concerned about the ride compared to the 2500. One of the options is air suspension. I am trying to find out how this option affects the unloaded ride. I think...
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I traded in a 2011 2500 ram CTD for my current 2015 3500 CTD with the rear air suspension. In my opinion, empty the 2500 had a much better ride, and handled better. The 2500 had a leaf spring rear suspension rather than the newer coil setup so I can't compare ride to those. The air suspension is really sweet when towing. As others have said, you get virtually no droop when loaded. In fact, I have to use the alternate ride height setting which lowers the back approximately and inch which helps me keep the 5er from being too nose high.
Since I'm using an Andersen hitch it's interesting to watch as I lower the hitch onto the ball and the rear settles down, then the air compressor kicks in and it comes right back up to where it was. Alternatively, when unloading the rear initially starts getting high, then you hear the air dump as it lowers itself right back to normal.
I do tend to take my trucks down a lot of dirt roads but as of yet I haven't had the chance to take the 3500 off the pavement. I did blow a couple shocks on the 2500 when they overheated on a washboard road. The same thing has happened to a couple other friends with the same setup, but other than that no one I know has had any issues. On my 3500 I have an appointment to get the truck in for a "Service air suspension" message as well as a couple other issues. Seems to not like the cold weather.
Since I'm using an Andersen hitch it's interesting to watch as I lower the hitch onto the ball and the rear settles down, then the air compressor kicks in and it comes right back up to where it was. Alternatively, when unloading the rear initially starts getting high, then you hear the air dump as it lowers itself right back to normal.
I do tend to take my trucks down a lot of dirt roads but as of yet I haven't had the chance to take the 3500 off the pavement. I did blow a couple shocks on the 2500 when they overheated on a washboard road. The same thing has happened to a couple other friends with the same setup, but other than that no one I know has had any issues. On my 3500 I have an appointment to get the truck in for a "Service air suspension" message as well as a couple other issues. Seems to not like the cold weather.
