Who uses a new ram Short bed

I would definitely suggest a 1 ton. My truck is a 2005 Ram 3500 and weighs 7100 lbs. If it was a 3/4 ton, the 8800 lb GVWR would leave insufficient payload even for my Lance 815! A 1 ton, even a SRW, gets you another 1100 lbs of GVWR, and most importantly, overloads to help with the weight! The choice is simple--either be 300 lbs overloaded before you even get in the truck or have sufficient payload that you're likely at or under your rating even fully loaded......you be the judge!

garryk6 wrote:

Mello Mike wrote:
If you're thinking about another truck, skip the 3/4 ton and go with a one-ton. I have a 2013 Ram 3500 CC and I've been very happy with it. Great suspension.

Mike,
You gave us all a great "review" on your old Ford. How about one on your "new" Dodge? And maybe a bit of comparison for both the Ford and Dodge guys. You know, real life comparisons, how all us camper guys and gals want to try to compare apples to apples, but end up with fruit smoothies from all the fruit throwing... ;-)

Thanks!
Garry

Thanks, Garry. I will definitely be doing that later this summer. I want to drive it a few more months before giving a final review. I can tell you that I'm very happy with it, so far, though there are a couple things that I miss with the Ford.

Mello Mike wrote:
If you're thinking about another truck, skip the 3/4 ton and go with a one-ton. I have a 2013 Ram 3500 CC and I've been very happy with it. Great suspension.

That is the direction I'm headed in. Just having a hard time finding one that has the 6.4, and is a SRW shorted. May have to finally break down and order a truck, I've always bought used...

Thanks for all the info!

Mello Mike wrote:
If you're thinking about another truck, skip the 3/4 ton and go with a one-ton. I have a 2013 Ram 3500 CC and I've been very happy with it. Great suspension.

Mike,
You gave us all a great "review" on your old Ford. How about one on your "new" Dodge? And maybe a bit of comparison for both the Ford and Dodge guys. You know, real life comparisons, how all us camper guys and gals want to try to compare apples to apples, but end up with fruit smoothies from all the fruit throwing... ;-)

Thanks!
Garry

If you're thinking about another truck, skip the 3/4 ton and go with a one-ton. I have a 2013 Ram 3500 CC and I've been very happy with it. Great suspension.

We have a 2014 Ram 2500 4x4 with the 6.4 motor and 4:10 gears, with a Camplite 6.8 in bed, generally towing a Can Am Commander or Sea Doo. The good - great motor/trans combo, good ride (unladen) although not as good as our 2010 Ram 1500 which was like a caddy. So, camper-wise, while the payload numbers are there, my theory is the springs are quite a bit further inboard (compared to the leafs) and thus the lever, that is the tall camper, contributes to a significant amount of sway (without mods). After our first trip a few months ago, I was seriously questioning whether I'd made a bad decision on the truck. I embarked on a three-phase suspension mod program to see where I could fix the sway. First a set of Bilstein shocks, a slight improvement, next a Hellwig swaybar (no big-wig for these trucks yet), a noticeable improvement, but not acceptable, finally put a set of Timbrens (the HD model) and wow what a difference. This is what the truck should have handled like when we got it (my opinion). The HD Timbrens are stiff, no doubt, but there is NO sway, and I prefer it that way. Soooo.... should I have opted for the 3500? Tough to say, I love the truck/camper combo now, so I won't second guess myself at this point. Bottom line, expect to make some suspension mods to a coil sprung Ram 2500 if one decides to put a camper in the back. Just my two cents.

I have a 2014 Ram 3500 with a Lance 865, it has a 3740 lb payload and my 865 is 2,600 lb and it handles like their is nothing back there. I have heard good and bad about the 2500 Ram suspension, so I would listen to someone that actually owns one, not the dealer.

I think what Lance meant was stay away from the new 3/4 ton Rams. They now use coil springs in the rear instead of the common leaf springs found in light duty trucks. Ram 1 ton trucks still use leafs although I've heard they are longer than what Chevy and Ford use. There are no aftermarket suspension helpers on the market for the rear coil spring setup so if you buy one for a TC you are screwed.