Which air bag system for 2015 Ram DRW

[billyray50]

Been thinking of installing airbag system on my 2015 Ram 3500 CTD DRW to level out truck with TC loaded. Had air lift 5000 system on my previous 2006 Ram CTD 2500 and although I liked them and held up over 5 years they created more sway when leveling up since truck had no top overload springs. I know some 1 ton Ram owners out there have factory air suspension so should I go with Airlift or Firestone?

[billyray50]

towpro wrote:
BillyRay, Where did you go with this one? Did you end up with the upper stable loads installed? how is the difference?

I am still on the fence, but with my 990 loaded, I am just hitting the overload springs. I think bringing the Over Load's into play will help with what little sway I do have.
I have a set of the Progressive Suspension blocks showing up tomorrow.

Towpro. Yes I did install the upper Torklift stable loads and it made a big difference. No more little squat that I had and also engaged the springs sooner. Improvement in feel while turning too. Thats all I am going to need for mods.

[towpro]

BillyRay, Where did you go with this one? Did you end up with the upper stable loads installed? how is the difference?

I am still on the fence, but with my 990 loaded, I am just hitting the overload springs. I think bringing the Over Load's into play will help with what little sway I do have.
I have a set of the Progressive Suspension blocks showing up tomorrow.

[Grit_dog]

HMS Beagle wrote:

Grit dog wrote:

When you load your truck and the weight engages the entire lower spring pack(bottom leaf) and the overload leafs, the spring rate is much greater and there's a lot less side to side body roll.
If you load the truck down then pump the airbags back up to get it back level or close to unloaded height, you're not using all the springs. Air bags will hold the load up but for a high CoG load like a TC, the nature of the air bags is they'll have some flex in them.

If you achieve the same ride height, any weight not being carried by the springs is being carried by the airbags. The airbags likely have a higher spring rate than the overloads, and certainly more progressive. Like many things, the devil is the details. My truck has less body roll with full air suspension than it did on the springs.

But an antiroll bar is really the tool to solve body roll.

OP is not talking about air ride suspension though.
Add on airbags, if not using your overload springs (too much air) are like bouncy balls compared to air ride.

[Bedlam]

My F250 carried my 4000 lb Arctic Fox 811 just fine with upper and lower StableLoads. I needed the Firestone airbags at 40-50 PSI to compensate for the additional 1000 lbs of trailer tongue weight. Otherwise I did not need bags and kept them at 5 PSI. If I used airbags again, I would choose a model with internal bump stop so I did not have to worry about minimum air pressure. I did not have in cab air to keep them inflated but carry a high pressure low volume compressor I can hook up.

The 5500 has not needed anything yet. Even with the 60-gallon fresh tank filled on the Mammoth, the overloads are barely touching and do not come in full contact until I hitch up the trailer. We'll be testing it later this week over the mountains.

[noteven]

HMS Beagle wrote:

Grit dog wrote:

When you load your truck and the weight engages the entire lower spring pack(bottom leaf) and the overload leafs, the spring rate is much greater and there's a lot less side to side body roll.
If you load the truck down then pump the airbags back up to get it back level or close to unloaded height, you're not using all the springs. Air bags will hold the load up but for a high CoG load like a TC, the nature of the air bags is they'll have some flex in them.

If you achieve the same ride height, any weight not being carried by the springs is being carried by the airbags. The airbags likely have a higher spring rate than the overloads, and certainly more progressive. Like many things, the devil is the details. My truck has less body roll with full air suspension than it did on the springs.

But an antiroll bar is really the tool to solve body roll.

when you add springs don't forget to control the damping...

[billyray50]

Area13 wrote:
Same camper, different animal hauling. I absolutely love the Firestone airbags with compressor. I always end up with more air in the left one. I'm petty sure the camper is left heavy (slide side). I just make sure I keep in good contact with my upper stable loads or I start to sway. When I tow my boat this summer, it's going to be nice to compensate for the tongue weight too.

I agree Area13. I have not ruled out Airbags. Want to see how the how truck sits and rides with the overloads engaging sooner than factory bump stops first.

[Area13]

Same camper, different animal hauling. I absolutely love the Firestone airbags with compressor. I always end up with more air in the left one. I'm petty sure the camper is left heavy (slide side). I just make sure I keep in good contact with my upper stable loads or I start to sway. When I tow my boat this summer, it's going to be nice to compensate for the tongue weight too.

[HMS_Beagle]

Grit dog wrote:

When you load your truck and the weight engages the entire lower spring pack(bottom leaf) and the overload leafs, the spring rate is much greater and there's a lot less side to side body roll.
If you load the truck down then pump the airbags back up to get it back level or close to unloaded height, you're not using all the springs. Air bags will hold the load up but for a high CoG load like a TC, the nature of the air bags is they'll have some flex in them.

If you achieve the same ride height, any weight not being carried by the springs is being carried by the airbags. The airbags likely have a higher spring rate than the overloads, and certainly more progressive. Like many things, the devil is the details. My truck has less body roll with full air suspension than it did on the springs.

But an antiroll bar is really the tool to solve body roll.

[Tizi]

I use firestones with onboard compressor and never had an issue.

[billyray50]

thedavidzoo wrote:
billyray, didn't you give up on the upper Stableloads before and get your money back? The install on newer Rams is a PITA, as we both have confirmed...

Yes I did. Then I ordered Supersway stops and for half the price. Permanently trimmed the Laramie longhorn custom wheel well liners to gain easy access to bump stops. The wheel well liners were the main culprit. However the ssa-2 models the bolt is to big in diameter for the Rams and would have had to drill bigger holes in bump stop frame. Did not want to do that. Return them too. Talked with Super Springs tech support and told me the SSA-2 should not be advertised to direct fit Rams. They are in process of developing SSa-3 direct fit for newer Rams now but not sure of Availability date so I will now try Torklift upper stable loads again.

[Grit_dog]

OneTrack wrote:
This is very interesting. I also have 2015 RAM DRW truck, and have been looking at airbags too. Same reason; just to raise the rear to normal 'loaded' level when 'max loaded'. Then the truck is level front to rear, and the headlights aren't pointing skyward, the camper is level, etc.

Curious why some think stableloads are a better way to achieve this over air bags.

Not necessarily better, but generally more "stable". Hence the name....
When you load your truck and the weight engages the entire lower spring pack(bottom leaf) and the overload leafs, the spring rate is much greater and there's a lot less side to side body roll.
If you load the truck down then pump the airbags back up to get it back level or close to unloaded height, you're not using all the springs. Air bags will hold the load up but for a high CoG load like a TC, the nature of the air bags is they'll have some flex in them.

It's not the end of the world, drove mine to AK and back with just bags but had a lot of body roll.
Added a sway bar and made some lower "stable loads" and it rides much better, less body roll.

[thedavidzoo]

billyray, didn't you give up on the upper Stableloads before and get your money back? The install on newer Rams is a PITA, as we both have confirmed...

[billyray50]

I ordered the Torklift upper stable loads and should be here today. Will post install pics and update this week. Planning on towing DW's car with truck/TC in 2weeks.

[towpro]

My ram is all jacked up in the back empty. Load enough weight to make it level and I have to adjust the headlights. I carry torx screwdriver in console
There only is an up down adjuster. I think it's 6 clicks down loaded