stiff ride solutions

Air seats would be well worth it. Either that or you may be camping alone.

I drive an MDT with air everything. You'll still hear and feel bumps, but air seats are the magic that saves your back. Not only that, but you will not get as tired from all the tossing around.

Air ride is the way to go, but it isn't cheap. Kelderman makes a hybrid sort of system for less, will help with the unloaded ride but not the loaded ride. I'm not sure a new truck is the answer either. My '15 Ford DRW rode rougher than the '99 it replaced. There are better reports on the redesigned '17, but I have no first hand knowledge.

I put air suspension on the back of my '15, it is a noticeable improvement both empty and loaded - more so loaded, but still short of a Cadillac ride. After a year, I feel it was well worth the money for me (around $4K self installed).

I started out with airbags. They just made the ride worse with lots of sway. To help with the sway I set my Rancho shocks on high for the rear and close to high in the front. The ride was stiff and jarring but at least the sway was somewhat tamed. I kept dropping the pressure in the airbags until finally I was not using them at all.

I then added super springs. That cut back substantially on the sway. At that point I lowered the settings on the Ranchos and the ride has been comfortable.

My situation may not match yours since I have a SRW axke but I would suspect your shocks are too stiff. With a DRW I doubt you need to do anything with the suspension besides softer shocks.

How much air are you running in the air bags? Try dropping down to 40 or so.

What Bilstein shocks do you have?

Try reducing the air in the front tires to 70 or so if you are running 80.

You could also try a gel seat for her or redo the foam on her side.

I have a 2002 Dodge 3500 dually when I got the truck the rear springs didn't have thin round friction reducers in between the springs (as many trucks do) but the holes in the springs were there. I couldn't get the friction reducers for my dodge however Dorman parts has them for GMC trucks. The friction reducers have had a marked improvement to the ride loaded and unloaded, I wouldn't say dramatically but a marked improvement for around 10$ and 1/2 hour of time.

The car can have oversised tires , so when putting them on maximum pressure, you can also experiënce discomfort by bouncing.
I am able to calculate a save lowest pressure for you , but need 100% acurate determined weights on seperate tires best, second best axles, wich is never possible. But give it the best you can , for instance empty weight and the way you load it adn towbarweight and if you use a Weigt distribution Hich.
Also from tires I need the maximum load or loadindex, Loadrange to determine the AT-pressure , but better AT read from sidewall, and if you can find it speedcode.
I hope this is the cource and I can help you .

Billy, I know what you are going through, I had the exact same problem with my ram 350 dually and AF 1050. I solved it 100%, now it rides like a car. Here is how: rear suspension fix

billy
Before throwing in the towel, is your truck a 4x4? They're substantially stiffer than 2 wd imo.
I'd guess most of the jarring is coming from the front which has virtually no additional weight compared to empty maybe even a shade less. First I'd make sure you don't have the front tires too stiff. You may not need the full 80 psi up front if that's what you're running.
Same goes for the rear tires, but 3700lbs should smooth out a dually pretty nicely. Correct air and little to no airbag pressure if you're pumping up the bags too. Let the truck squat a little, keep it on the springs.
If you can determine its from up front, places like carli and Thuren make softer front coils. Not ideal imo for sway with the camper but those softer multi rate springs maybe with an upgraded from sway bar will be about the best you can do up front.
Hope this helps give you some ideas.

Btw if it's a 3rd gen, the seat bottom foam isn't awesome, as evidenced by the drivers seat being probably worn already.
Simple to try, on mine , when I fixed up the smashed seat booster, I put a piece of 1" foam in the center section of the seat bottom. That helped a lot and it's cheap.

What I would do is air up the bags so the overloads just touch, it will make the ride more bouncy. And then play with the air in the bags, a little more or a little less, you might just find a sweet spot with the bags. It might just be enough to give you a smoother ride. I have the exact opposite problem not enough spring and using the air bags is giving me to much bounce so I am adding 3500lb helper springs and then just use the bags to level side to side.