We were running over 13K on the rear axle of a 2019 Ram 3500. Despite it handling the load well (with mods), we knew it wasn't responsible to continue with that rig and have spent the last few months looking for a F-550 or Ram 5500.
For those interested: SuperSprings (4600lb pack) and 245/70R19.5 tires worked wonders on the 3500 with that load.
The market for trucks in general is insane right now, and finding a high-trim 5500 was next to impossible. The wait for ordering one more or less ruled that out.
We ended up finding a 2021 Ram 5500 Limited, 84CA, Cummins, 4x4, with most of the options we wanted in a new truck. It's Granite Crystal with Indigo/Frost interior. Bought it sight-unseen from a dealer 1700mi away from our current location, and had it shipped to us. Has 74gal of fuel, and 4.89 gears.
This week it's getting a Ranch Hand Sport front bumper, 17.5K winch, 11'4" flatbed, and 255/70R22.5" Hercules DT320 tires on 22.5" direct-bolt wheels (Alcoa style, rated for 6K each). That's roughly a 37" tall tire with a fairly aggressive A/T tread. Effective gear ratio with those tires will be around 4.27, or halfway between the optional 4.10 and 4.44 gears.
I'll post updates to the build in this thread, but it should be a beast when done. I decided not to go the popular super single route, because in my opinion it has more tradeoffs than benefits. We never had any issue getting anywhere we wanted with the old truck, which ran 245/70R19.5 Cooper RM253s up front and Continental Terra HD3s in the rear as duals.
We boondock extensively with both the truck camper posted above, and a 39' fifth wheel that has extensive modifications. We also flat tow a 5700lb Jeep Wrangler when hauling the truck camper.
For those interested: SuperSprings (4600lb pack) and 245/70R19.5 tires worked wonders on the 3500 with that load.
The market for trucks in general is insane right now, and finding a high-trim 5500 was next to impossible. The wait for ordering one more or less ruled that out.
We ended up finding a 2021 Ram 5500 Limited, 84CA, Cummins, 4x4, with most of the options we wanted in a new truck. It's Granite Crystal with Indigo/Frost interior. Bought it sight-unseen from a dealer 1700mi away from our current location, and had it shipped to us. Has 74gal of fuel, and 4.89 gears.
This week it's getting a Ranch Hand Sport front bumper, 17.5K winch, 11'4" flatbed, and 255/70R22.5" Hercules DT320 tires on 22.5" direct-bolt wheels (Alcoa style, rated for 6K each). That's roughly a 37" tall tire with a fairly aggressive A/T tread. Effective gear ratio with those tires will be around 4.27, or halfway between the optional 4.10 and 4.44 gears.
I'll post updates to the build in this thread, but it should be a beast when done. I decided not to go the popular super single route, because in my opinion it has more tradeoffs than benefits. We never had any issue getting anywhere we wanted with the old truck, which ran 245/70R19.5 Cooper RM253s up front and Continental Terra HD3s in the rear as duals.
We boondock extensively with both the truck camper posted above, and a 39' fifth wheel that has extensive modifications. We also flat tow a 5700lb Jeep Wrangler when hauling the truck camper.
I didn't notice any rubbing, but when checking everything over this week, I found that we made contact with the flatbed crossmembers coming up here:
I was initially going to put a 2" spacer above the bump stop to limit uptravel (circled in red, ignore the missing bolt -- I removed it prior to taking the photo to check size (M10)):
... but decided to look at other options instead. I had planned a full Kelderman air ride but there are a lot of things I'd rather spend $10K on right now. So I decided to stick with the factory suspension a while and look at helper options. I ruled out Air Lift, Pacbrake, and Hellwig bags because they're all inboard of the frame, and ruled out Timbrens and SumoSprings for the same reason and that the camper is perfectly level on level ground, as they would change that. I ruled out SuperSprings because the current springs are sufficient and they'd increase ride height all of the time. That leaves only Firestone bags, which are outboard of the frame, above the leaf packs.
I called up Firestone to get actual measurements of the brackets and everything will clear the flatbed mounts without modification, as well as give me 1" of clearance to the tire when fully deflated. That should let me safely run tire chains if I have sufficient air in the bags as they're narrower when inflated.
I ordered the Firestone 2404 kit with Pacbrake HP10327 compressor/ wireless control kit.
This set me back around $1K instead of $10K and will give me 3-4" additional clearance when needed above the tires/ under the boxes as well as let me level the rear of the rig from side to side and back to front when at unlevel sites. Unfortunately I'll still have to use front blocks in some situations, but the ride of the truck isn't bothering me enough yet to spend the additional $9K.
I've used helper bags on several trucks and despite what most people claim, I've found they reduce stability. I believe that's most likely due to moving your load support inward as almost all of the readily available kits are inboard of the frame, sitting on top of the axle with the upper bracket in place of the bump stop. This kit shouldn't have that issue, so I'm excited to see how it compares.
I was initially going to put a 2" spacer above the bump stop to limit uptravel (circled in red, ignore the missing bolt -- I removed it prior to taking the photo to check size (M10)):
... but decided to look at other options instead. I had planned a full Kelderman air ride but there are a lot of things I'd rather spend $10K on right now. So I decided to stick with the factory suspension a while and look at helper options. I ruled out Air Lift, Pacbrake, and Hellwig bags because they're all inboard of the frame, and ruled out Timbrens and SumoSprings for the same reason and that the camper is perfectly level on level ground, as they would change that. I ruled out SuperSprings because the current springs are sufficient and they'd increase ride height all of the time. That leaves only Firestone bags, which are outboard of the frame, above the leaf packs.
I called up Firestone to get actual measurements of the brackets and everything will clear the flatbed mounts without modification, as well as give me 1" of clearance to the tire when fully deflated. That should let me safely run tire chains if I have sufficient air in the bags as they're narrower when inflated.
I ordered the Firestone 2404 kit with Pacbrake HP10327 compressor/ wireless control kit.
This set me back around $1K instead of $10K and will give me 3-4" additional clearance when needed above the tires/ under the boxes as well as let me level the rear of the rig from side to side and back to front when at unlevel sites. Unfortunately I'll still have to use front blocks in some situations, but the ride of the truck isn't bothering me enough yet to spend the additional $9K.
I've used helper bags on several trucks and despite what most people claim, I've found they reduce stability. I believe that's most likely due to moving your load support inward as almost all of the readily available kits are inboard of the frame, sitting on top of the axle with the upper bracket in place of the bump stop. This kit shouldn't have that issue, so I'm excited to see how it compares.
n0arp wrote:
This is in an area we frequented with the 3500, but further up the road than we ever ventured with it. We traveled the road in several times with the 3500 but always ended up with a corner up off the ground regardless of the line we picked. The 5500 rolling on taller tires stayed planted firmly on the ground the whole way.
The longer wheelbase almost caused an issue where the drivers front toolbox would have contacted a large boulder in the middle of the road, but we were able to put a rock in front of the rear tire to crawl comfortably up and over. It might have made it otherwise, but with little to no wiggle room. Getting here was a great shakeout/test. It feels notably more stable than the other truck in off-camber situations.
The front tires also caught the front bumper when compressed and turned at the same time, so we pulled out the angle grinder and did some trimming before proceeding up the road.
Cheers, man!
Angle grinder?
Nothing like a guy who carries an angle grinder, camping, but has the balls and skills to take said grinder and make field โadjustmentsโ on his new 6 figure rig! Love it!
jimh425 wrote:
Seems like you are pushing the limits a lot. Have fun!
Grabbed a photo of that rock that came close to hitting the toolbox. The road lets you go to either side of it, but we're so wide we can't avoid it. Size 11.5 shoe for scale. We slid the rock in the foreground up next to it which made the transition a non-issue. Aside from that, we had plenty of clearance and didn't come close to hitting anything except for a few small tree branches. There is a surprising amount of clearance under the diffs, which I didn't pay attention to prior to this trip.
After looking at it a little closer on my walk, I might be able to avoid the rock on the way out if I'm careful of the trees and really hug the side.
Also, the trimmings from the front bumper so we could get full articulation up front:
The roads aren't anything insane, but there is no way we'd have the clearance needed on the factory height tires to make it here. Lots of transitions, dips, rocks, grades, etc, but nothing a large SUV or half ton pickup can't make with a little caution. Being wide makes it a little more difficult because we can't go around certain obstacles and the height of the camper means we have to account for the possibility of leaning into trees on either side. Our Jeep just walks over everything and would laugh if it could.
Hey look, a Gladiator! (Not really...)
