Have a truck - suspension questions

[wfs989]

I recently purchased a 2005 Dodge 3500 dually and am wondering what to do about suspension. We are looking for a 2006 or later AF 990 and am going to install Torklift tiedowns. Depending upon which AF 990 year we get, dry weight will be around 3,500 pounds. My question is what would you recommend ? I have read on the forum and mfg's websites about Torklift stable loads, Timbrins, Big Wig sway bar, and airbags.
Any personal suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help. We live in the middle of Washington state.

[towpro]

Here is what I did to my 2006 Dodge SRW 3500.
I also had bilstein shocks after an OEM failed in 6 months.
than after I got my pickup camper I added a bigwig sway bar.

Energy Suspension Part 9.9109G



these shown have 60K miles on them, 40% of the time loaded enough that they were in contact with springs.

[msiminoff]

Grit dog wrote:
Curious what your reccomendation for front suspension upgrades is, as I'm always after making it better, but have seen no issue with the front end handling a heavy camper.
Unless you're talking about a camper that adds a fair amount of weight to the front axle as well.

A truck camper should add weight to the front axle if properly loaded (i.e. center of balance in front of rear axle), and will add significant weight (regardless of loading) while braking. In addition, the 3rd Gen. Ram trucks are notorious for having "death-wobble", and there are several solutions (in addition to the shock absorbers that I'd previously mentioned) that address this issue and, in combination, will dramatically improve handing in all driving and load conditions.
Here's my long (and very expensive) list of upgrades;
1) Replace the steering linkage with '08 (or later) components. This includes the drag-link, tie-rod, pitman arm, and steering damper (Note: This upgrade is not optional and should have already been done by your dealer under factory recall).
2) Add a steering stabilizer such as the DSS from Solid Steel Industrial.
3) Upgrade the track bar with one from Thuren Fab'.
4) Replace the weak factory tie rod end with a bulletproof one from Thuren Fab'.
5) Replace the under-sized factory ball joints with much stronger, serviceable ones such as Carli or Dynatrac
And... while the front end is apart for the ball joint replacement you might as well (6) replace the crummy unit bearings with hubs that have serviceable wheel bearings and allow the front axle to be disengaged.
7) Replace the anti-sway bar end links with stronger ones.

Cheers,
-Mark

[Grit_dog]

And I haven't seen any new Ford short bed duallys in a while. Last ones I recall seeing were in the 7.3 and 6.0 years. They are much rarer than mega cab duallys. You can get those anywhere any year.

[d3500ram]

Dodge sorta' makes a shortbed dually, but you must get it with the Mega cab option. It is essentially a longbed chassis with a short bed attached and the "gap" filled in with more "cab."

[tkcrawford]

wfs989 wrote:
I have a long bed 2005 Dodge 4 x 4. I might need to reconsider the camper based on GVW. It will only be my wife and myself and we like the layout of the AF 990, but will certainly consider others. I can't tell by some of your profile pictures, but it looks like there are some short bed dually's - maybe a visual illusion on my part.

As far as I'm aware, only Ford makes short bed duallies. Ram/Dodge only make long bed duallies and I believe GM is the same.

[jimh406]

There are some short bed duallys, but not many. Not as many campers are made for shortbeds. There are a lot of different campers and different weights. Don't look at just new models. There are a lot of brands that have changed models over time. Rvtrader is a good place to look for different model types. Look nationally.

[wfs989]

I have a long bed 2005 Dodge 4 x 4. I might need to reconsider the camper based on GVW. It will only be my wife and myself and we like the layout of the AF 990, but will certainly consider others. I can't tell by some of your profile pictures, but it looks like there are some short bed dually's - maybe a visual illusion on my part.

[Grit_dog]

msiminoff wrote:

wfs989 wrote:
I think I will go with the stable loads as I can disengage them easily when the camper is not on the truck, and probably add the BigWig sway bay, after I look at the OEM sway bar.

Hi WFS,
I also have a '05 Ram 3500. I strongly suggest that you consider the Roadmaster anti-sway bar instead of the Helwig... it's a superior product for our trucks.
I also recommend that you start with airbags (I have a preference for PacBrake), upper TorkLift StableLoads, and aftermarket shock absorbers (Rancho RS9000 or Bilstein).

Is your truck 4-wheel or 2-wheel drive?? The front suspension of the 4WD trucks need lots of work to get them to work well with a large TC.

Cheers,
-Mark

Curious what your reccomendation for front suspension upgrades is, as I'm always after making it better, but have seen no issue with the front end handling a heavy camper.
Unless you're talking about a camper that adds a fair amount of weight to the front axle as well.

[msiminoff]

wfs989 wrote:
I think I will go with the stable loads as I can disengage them easily when the camper is not on the truck, and probably add the BigWig sway bay, after I look at the OEM sway bar.

Hi WFS,
I also have a '05 Ram 3500. I strongly suggest that you consider the Roadmaster anti-sway bar instead of the Helwig... it's a superior product for our trucks.
I also recommend that you start with airbags (I have a preference for PacBrake), upper TorkLift StableLoads, and aftermarket shock absorbers (Rancho RS9000 or Bilstein).

Is your truck 4-wheel or 2-wheel drive?? The front suspension of the 4WD trucks need lots of work to get them to work well with a large TC.

Cheers,
-Mark

[tkcrawford]

Duplicate post

[tkcrawford]

wfs989 wrote:
I recently purchased a 2005 Dodge 3500 dually and am wondering what to do about suspension. We are looking for a 2006 or later AF 990 and am going to install Torklift tiedowns. Depending upon which AF 990 year we get, dry weight will be around 3,500 pounds. My question is what would you recommend ? I have read on the forum and mfg's websites about Torklift stable loads, Timbrins, Big Wig sway bar, and airbags.
Any personal suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help. We live in the middle of Washington state.

My truck is identical to yours, only a year older and I carry an EC995. Total weight, ready to roll, is around 4200 lbs. To the truck I've added air bags, Stable Loads, Big Wig and Rancho 9000's. It doesn't handle like a sports car but it is acceptable. I will say, however, the truck doesn't want any more load. It's maxed out.

[joe123]

I have a 2001 dodge dully 1 ton 4x4 most likely the same truck as you only older, I took my truck to spring shop and had the overload purchase adjusted to load the overload faster also had one more leaf added to overload, I have carried a camper for over ten years on this truck with no problems, spring shop told me all dodges the same spring purchase wrong spacing right from the factory.Good luck and fun camping.

[wfs989]

In both cases of the campers, the AF 990 and the EC 950, I am looking for used campers from about 2005 - 2012.

[wfs989]

Thanks for all the information so far. I think I will go with the stable loads as I can disengage them easily when the camper is not on the truck, and probably add the BigWig sway bay, after I look at the OEM sway bar. Several of you have the AF 950 - do you like it and would you choose it again. I am also looking at a Eagle Cap 990 which looks about the same - but is lighter.