Seat in my truck is killing me

[horseylady]

Our 2006 Dodge dually 4x4 has very stiff suspension. The ride is better when towing fifth wheel but still very rough. Had shocks replaced, new tires, which help a little. Planning to put more air in air bags but may make it worse and raise truck too high for trailer.

Has anyone found a way to soften the ride. I have bought several expensive cushions but I need something for the entire seat, thick and cushiony, maybe with air. I have lower back problems anyway but, unless I'm driving, it kills me.

We are getting ready to go from coast to coast in a few weeks and usually can only do two days in a row because of my back.

We bought this truck new and it only has 80,000 miles, can pull anything, no problems, and great fuel mileage and, at our age, we are not interested in truck payments for a new truck.

Thanks,
Pam

[restlesswind]

jims1 wrote:
Remove the seat from the truck, Flip over, undo the metal wire rack- cut the hog ring holders and remove foam. Add whatever foam you would like, I used a piece of high density oopen cell then a piece of memory type. Reassemble with new hog rings. Its easy to do, takes less than 15 minutes to remove and open up. The other idea is to find 2004 seats in the same color and bolt them in. Much more comfortable. $generations seats fir as well depending on the model.

I did this about 80k ago.

The seats in my 2004.5 were killers,untill I modified them as above.
100% improvement!
Some us have butts that are just not shaped to fit those "bucket type"
seats:D

[Cummins12V98]

kennethwooster wrote:
DW and myself are short. We had a 2001 Dodge Cummingsthat was a great farm truck but horrible to travel in. Very uncomfortable to travel in. We started rving and DW was complaining. A friend told us to try Ford. Soon as DW set in one she said this is it. Didnt take me long to agree. The new King Ranch really sets nice. I said all that to say you probably need a different sear installed or try to rebuild the current one. Not sure about current Dodge but surely they have improved the seats. Anyway it took a Ford to solve our problems.

Huge difference in ride between any 01 and any 11.

I cash tell you that our Ford friends that have ridden in our RAM 11 Longhorn Dually all commented on how good ours rode and how comfortable the seats were.

[kennethwooster]

DW and myself are short. We had a 2001 Dodge Cummingsthat was a great farm truck but horrible to travel in. Very uncomfortable to travel in. We started rving and DW was complaining. A friend told us to try Ford. Soon as DW set in one she said this is it. Didnt take me long to agree. The new King Ranch really sets nice. I said all that to say you probably need a different sear installed or try to rebuild the current one. Not sure about current Dodge but surely they have improved the seats. Anyway it took a Ford to solve our problems.

[NJRVer]

You don't say which trim level you have.
Having both owned HD Dodge and have a bad back, I can say there is a huge difference between having a work truck bench and a Laramie power bucket.
Being able to fine tune the seat position will go a lonnnngggg way to increasing comfort.

[jims1]

Remove the seat from the truck, Flip over, undo the metal wire rack- cut the hog ring holders and remove foam. Add whatever foam you would like, I used a piece of high density oopen cell then a piece of memory type. Reassemble with new hog rings. Its easy to do, takes less than 15 minutes to remove and open up. The other idea is to find 2004 seats in the same color and bolt them in. Much more comfortable. $generations seats fir as well depending on the model.

I did this about 80k ago.

[transamz9]

racer4 wrote:
horseylady,

There are some upgrades available. They are expensive, but way less than buying a different truck.

You can look into R4Tech, Auto Flex and Kelderman Air Ride.

R4Tech link

Auto Flex Air Ride Suspension

Kelderman Air Ride 2003-2009 Dodge 2500/3500 2-Stage Rear Air Suspension

Kelderman Air Ride 2003+ Dodge 2500/3500 2-Stage Front Air Suspension

When I bought the Kelderman Air Ride for my truck I did not know it would lower the rear of the truck and reduce the rear suspension travel by about 2 1/2". I worked around that with a 2" lift block and pinion angle shims.

Kelderman has since changed their website and now reference "Stock Height". If you consider Kelderman, I suggest you verify if it will significantly change the available suspension travel.

The other two choices above became available after I bought.

The new Dodge trucks now have a factory option for air ride suspension upgrades. You can accomplish something similar with available aftermarket upgrades.

No more back pain for me after driving the truck.

Good luck.

I have this one and no loss of suspension travel.

AirBagit towing kit.

[JustLabs]

oilslick wrote:
When I saw the thread title I knew you were driving a Dodge, they are notorious for thin foam cushioning, Many peel back the top cover and install additional denser foam at not that much cost to do.

I did this mod to my '07 Ram. Takes about 10 minutes per side. It made a huge difference in seating comfort.

Seat fix

[racer4]

horseylady,

There are some upgrades available. They are expensive, but way less than buying a different truck.

You can look into R4Tech, Auto Flex and Kelderman Air Ride.

R4Tech link

Auto Flex Air Ride Suspension

Kelderman Air Ride 2003-2009 Dodge 2500/3500 2-Stage Rear Air Suspension

Kelderman Air Ride 2003+ Dodge 2500/3500 2-Stage Front Air Suspension

When I bought the Kelderman Air Ride for my truck I did not know it would lower the rear of the truck and reduce the rear suspension travel by about 2 1/2". I worked around that with a 2" lift block and pinion angle shims.

Kelderman has since changed their website and now reference "Stock Height". If you consider Kelderman, I suggest you verify if it will significantly change the available suspension travel.

The other two choices above became available after I bought.

The new Dodge trucks now have a factory option for air ride suspension upgrades. You can accomplish something similar with available aftermarket upgrades.

No more back pain for me after driving the truck.

Good luck.

[Cummins12V98]

The 4th gen RAM's ride really good for a 1 ton. Like I said earlier add Bilstiens and air bags along with PROPER tire inflation and you will enjoy the ride!

[FishOnOne]

A guy at work owned a RAM for a short period who would tow oil field equipment on weekends noticed his truck would squat more than his previous Chevy. Upon further inspection we noticed the previous owner removed the overload spring to make the ride smoother.

Good luck...

[transamz9]

Gdetrailer wrote:

transamz9 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
Nothing short of replacing the one ton truck for a 1/2 ton truck is going to "fix" a stiff ride..

You have had this same vehicle for 80K + miles, should have noticed this from day #1 of ownership...

I would suggest if you are running full sidewall pressure while unloaded then lowering the pressure SOME WHILE EMPTY ONLY will go a long way in making a firm ride a bit softer, BUT it still has 1ton SPRINGS and they are stiff.

While it may be possible to slip softer springs on the vehicle then you are going to risk overloading those springs when loaded.. A catch 22.. You can't have both worlds (Caddy ride when empty AND 1 ton hauling)...

It IS a truck and heavy haulers DO ride harsh especially when unloaded.

I have to disagree a little. My truck may not ride like a Caddy but it does ride as well as a 2WD half ton after my suspension upgrades. My suspension will also handle as much as any factory 350/3500 (10,000# capacity). I can also level my fifth wheel front to rear, air up tires and such, run an impact to remove wheels and lower the tailgate to below my waste on my 4X4 Ram to load stuff in the bed and I am short.

To make a one ton ride softer you would HAVE to replace the STIFFER high rate springs with LOWER and softer spring rates. Then to allow for heavy loads you would HAVE to add on stuff like air bags.

This to me is just plain stupid.

You buy a one ton for the hauling, not the ride.

Its YOUR truck and money but at the end of the day you have a crippled hap haphazardly modded suspension which one part of it fails and you are going to be limping it home. Air bags DO go bad, air lines do break and depending on them to carry the load with lesser springs just may not not be able to carry the full load..

While you and others may like your mods, the truth is once you start modding the suspension it is no longer rated to handle or carry the load the manufacturer listed.

My suggestion is if the ride is that bad, then you have just two alternatives.

One, replace truck with a CAR for DAILY DRIVING and leave the truck for HAULING ONLY.

Keep thinking this and I hope you like your current truck because air ride is coming. Ram is already starting it.

MDT's and HDT's have been running air systems for years and foe millions of miles. I have personally seen more broken leaf springs in my life that blown air systems. You don't use air line and fittings from the local Wally world to install these systems. I have 100% brass DOT compression fittings on everything. The bags I run have a rating of 500 psi. It takes 55 psi to carry my 6000# load sitting on the axle.

You say air lines blow and bags blow? So do brake lines. So do tires. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with a vehicle. 😉

[hone_eagle]

something to think about

air ride base for dodge pick-ups,I have the same (national) in a School bus and it never needs to be aired up.
The only use for a compressor is to change the ride height once in a while,varying the level is a comfortable option while underway.

[bmanning]

Custom seats, full air suspension (pricey!), or both.

Tune out the naysayers with the "well it's a hauler & that's that" attitude. MDTs & HDTs with air suspension, which have 5x the capacity of a cute little 1-ton dually, ride like luxury sedans.

There are solutions, just not inexpensive ones.

[oilslick]

When I saw the thread title I knew you were driving a Dodge, they are notorious for thin foam cushioning, Many peel back the top cover and install additional denser foam at not that much cost to do.