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2019 RAM 2500 Diesel Towing Issues (with Hensley)

wywypi

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Hello All,

Just curious and hoping that I can get some assistance or tips on an issue I'm having. I swapped out my 2018 Ford F-150 XLT (gas) with a 2019 RAM 2500 Cummins mainly for towing reasons. We have a large 36 ft camper that we haul around quite a bit in the summer and had plans on going cross country in the future. I didn't feel comfortable in my F-150 given that the ride was pretty rough and acceleration was a bear (felt like I had to jump out and push it at times). The camper dry, is roughly 8,200 lbs. When we have it loaded its over 10,000 lbs. I did install a Reactive suspension on there and it did seem to help (on the F-150) and a Hensley hitch since thats the gold standard on hitches and solving sway issues.

Anyway, in comes my newer 2019 RAM 2500 Mega (diesel). I was thinking that I wouldn't have the porpoising or side to side pulling/pushing that I got from my F-150. NOPE, dead wrong. Honestly, its as if its worse in my RAM then in my Ford aside from acceleration (RAM gets up and goes way better). I have E-Rated tires (inflated to 80 PSI in back and 70 psi in front) on the truck. Trailer tires are set at 80 PSI and with a TPMS all look consistent. I got my new Stinger that has to have a 6-inch drop so I can stay nice and level on the Hensley. I went on the highway with this and I had to pull over to the side since my trailer was swaying horribly. Never had it do it to that degree with my F-150 which is shocking to me. I thought maybe its a sway bar issue so I have been messing with those a lot. First tried it very lose, crazy bumpy ride though and saw some pretty bad swaying of the trailer. So I then tightened it down REALLY far, further then I had to with my F-150. Which ended up helping with sway but the ride was insanely stiff and I had the side to side pulling (and there was very little wind) quite often. Now, I do have air bags and I have played with these as well, keeping them at 5 PSI and going to 30-35 PSI but didn't really see a difference. I thought maybe a loading issue on the camper but we haven't loaded it any differently with the F-150 but still, I moved some stuff more towards the front of the trailer. Didn't seem to help. As a result, whats been "working" is just tightening down the sway bars quite a bit, moving that weight to the front of the truck, but like I said, its very stiff and the ride is really bad on roads that of course are bad or just not super consistently level. This truck was suppose to eliminate a lot of that "white knuckle driving" but it hasn't at all. The wife isn't too pleased that the ride feels worse then in the F-150 (was a big part of the reason I sold her on getting a newer truck since I made the case we could go on longer camping trips further out). Anyway, any help/tips is appreciated. I don't really have access to scales (pretty far away) otherwise I'd get that info for you guys. Thanks!
 

H3LZSN1P3R

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Drop your trailer air pressure to about 65-70 and bring the truck tires to 60 front 70 rear i usually just keep the rears at 60 personally it should help the ride tremendously, i dont tow with a WDH just a friction style anti sway bar if needed i find it tows best like that i often tow parkmodels and larger trailers for people my last trailer i towed was 1625lbs on the ball 10k trailer easily pulled at 70mph just on my curt adjustable
 

wywypi

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Drop your trailer air pressure to about 65-70 and bring the truck tires to 60 front 70 rear i usually just keep the rears at 60 personally it should help the ride tremendously, i dont tow with a WDH just a friction style anti sway bar if needed i find it tows best like that i often tow parkmodels and larger trailers for people my last trailer i towed was 1625lbs on the ball 10k trailer easily pulled at 70mph just on my curt adjustable
OK, I'll give that a shot. We have a camping trip coming up soon so I can try this out. Any thoughts on where to adjust sway bars?
 

gimmie11s

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By "sway bars" do you mean weight distribution bars?
 

wywypi

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Yes, sorry, Hensley I believe calls them sway bars in some of there literature.
 

Burton12387

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If I were in your shoes, I’d hit a CAT scale with the bare truck loaded like normal And then after hit the CAT scale again with your trailer loaded down like you’d typically have it loaded, without any sway or weight distribution bars applied (at time of weigh) get the real base numbers of what’s going on here, then play from there……


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Firebird

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Also, a 2500 Cummins Mega Cab has very little payload. I agree with the suggestion of CAT scales, you really need some accurate weights. I pull 9000 pounds loaded with my 6.4, proper WDH hitch, all leveled out, and it tows perfectly. Something isn't set up properly, and I would guess your tongue weight is somewhere around 1200 pounds? Are you pulling a 5th wheel or bumper pull?
 

wywypi

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Yeah the closest CAT scale is over an hour away. It does have little play on payload but I would expect this thing to pull/feel better then my F-150. Its bumper pull and yeah, its probably in the neighborhood of 1200 - 1500 lbs on the tongue.
 
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Firebird

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Yeah the closest CAT scale is over an hour away. It does have little play on payload but I would expect this thing to pull/feel better then my F-150. Its bumper pull and yeah, its probably in the neighborhood of 1200 - 1500 lbs on the tongue.
What is the payload on your door sticker?
 

wywypi

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Payload on sticker is 1808 lbs (about the same as my F-150)
 

H3LZSN1P3R

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OK, I'll give that a shot. We have a camping trip coming up soon so I can try this out. Any thoughts on where to adjust sway bars?
Adjust them by leaving them at home i dont run em unless i have no choice, here is one i pulled was 1625 tongue weight dry,
 

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Burton12387

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Don’t beat yourself up over payload. There is something setup out of whack here. I’m in a 2020 mega cab diesel, and I know for a fact it takes me about at least 1500# in the bed to get close to leveling the truck out. Without the bars, and without the bags aired up, does your trailer tongue weight set you on your bump stops? Or does it just level you out?


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Burton12387

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Yeah the closest CAT scale is over an hour away. It does have little play on payload but I would expect this thing to pull/feel better then my F-150. Its bumper pull and yeah, its probably in the neighborhood of 1200 - 1500 lbs on the tongue.

Again, If I were in your shoes, I’d be grabbing a McDonald’s breakfast sandwich and some comedy radio, and heading to the cat scale. 3 hours of your time will save a lot of guesswork…….just saying.


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Burton12387

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And don’t confuse that response with me saying you’re “overloaded” I would be towing your trailer with my 2500 with a smile on my face “over weight payload” or not. Your truck is perfectly capable of towing that trailer safely. Take any Karen payload comments with a grain of salt.


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wywypi

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That's what I thought, so 80% of your payload is already gone just from tongue weight
True, but I'd still think my three quarter ton truck would feel better at towing the same trailer loaded the same way then my half ton Ford
 

wywypi

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Don’t beat yourself up over payload. There is something setup out of whack here. I’m in a 2020 mega cab diesel, and I know for a fact it takes me about at least 1500# in the bed to get close to leveling the truck out. Without the bars, and without the bags aired up, does your trailer tongue weight set you on your bump stops? Or does it just level you out?


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It does not put me on the bump stops. Really I only use it to level myself out because there's about a 2-in drop on the rear. As for your cat scale comment, I agree I just need to find the time to be able to do that and time is a hard thing to come by at the moment.
 

wywypi

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And don’t confuse that response with me saying you’re “overloaded” I would be towing your trailer with my 2500 with a smile on my face “over weight payload” or not. Your truck is perfectly capable of towing that trailer safely. Take any Karen payload comments with a grain of salt.


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I feel like I don't have something set up right. I just don't know what that is. Right now from one of the replies, I guess I can lower the tire pressure in all of my tires but I would be surprised if that was the main issue. I will try setting the sway bars extremely loose. Since they're part of the Hensley I can't just remove them but I have a feeling it's going to sway quite a bit and I'll have to tighten them back down again really far in order to eliminate that.

As for speed I'll take it on the highway and go 70 mph. Yes, the faster I go the worst it is but like I said I could do this with my F-150 and it would be similar if not better.
 

Firebird

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True, but I'd still think my three quarter ton truck would feel better at towing the same trailer loaded the same way then my half ton Ford
It definitely should. The advice to hit the scales is a great idea, then you can dial it in and never look back. I used to pull a 30’ enclosed car hauler with a 1946 Cadillac in it, with my Mega Cab. I did not have a WDH, and the truck never seemed to care. Zero stability issues. This is definitely solvable, just have to check all angles
 

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