At their urging, I asked CJC Offroad after watching one of their videos and getting slightly snarky about a lack of clarity regarding some points...not directed at them, but in general... They gave great advice (below) and contextually answered a couple questions in addition to the specific recommendation. I'm going to follow it. It appears that a couple of you responding here followed it also...
On Fri, Feb 17, 2023 at 11:04 AM Karl Milhon <
kavoom@aol.com> wrote:
Hello,
I"m looking for a recommendation on a "budget" suspension improvement for my truck. I was looking at the budget Carli system with the "tuned" shocks all round and the new front springs along with the track bar.
I have a 2022 Ram 2500 Laramie with the "off road" package and I added the AMP power steps.
I just added a Fab Fours matrix pre-runner front bumper that weighs 180 lbs and the winch is 90 lbs with synthetic line... So, its a total of 270 lbs (ish) vs the OEM bumper weight of 85 lbs... I do notice a very slight hardly noticable difference in how it rides with the new bumper. I put a "Rough Country" rear bumper on and that is neglible weight with about a 40 or 50 lb difference vs OEM bumper. My payload is rated at 3,080 per RAM...My Max Tow is like 14,800.
The truck will do a bit of light off roading mostly national forest roads of varying quality. Some can be pretty bad during certain seasons but NO Moab type stuff. I tow a loaded 6800 lb travel trailer with one slide Runs around a 800 lb tongue weight loaded and want to keep it practical around this core requirement of the truck... I'm open to an air bag system for towing but sounds like more trouble than its worth... The trailer tows great now, no sag. I'm NOT looking for a "lift" as such more leveling, tow friendly set up using the same rear OEM springs if possible but getting an improved ride overall. That's why the "budget" Carli set up appealed to me.
In reading and researching, I like the Carli System but the Thuren is also spoke of positively. The Carli system seems ever so slightly better engineered including the "tuned" Fox Shocks but I can't attest to any real world distinctions except for the subjective YouTube videos I've seen and a few bit more objective ones like from your company. I may consider a new swaybar at some point in the future if indicated...
So, any help or recommendations would help.
Hi,
A nice setup for Hemi 2500 trucks that retains the factory rear weight capacity while leveling the truck slightly and running custom tuned shocks would be to run
Thuren 2" Hemi tuned front coils,
Carli tuned 2.0 shocks (or Carli Pintop shocks), and a
Carli track bar. The Thuren 2" front springs are the lowest riding custom tuned springs for Hemi applications that we have encountered for these trucks and we have been very pleased with how they work. Carli's front springs in their leveling setup are diesel specific so many customers with Hemis that are looking for a similar outcome have run this setup.
For what it's worth custom tuned shocks make a world of difference in terms of on road ride quality and are a critical piece of a well rounded suspension setup. A replacement sway bar can absolutely help to further improve ride quality but is not a requirement. That said, the sway bar can help substantially to reduce the truck's side to side rocking on forest service roads and similar. We touch on that a bit in this video:
Feel free to let us know if we can provide any additional information or recommendations.
Thanks,
--
CJC Off Road
Sales Department
Sales@CJCOffRoad.com
(424)241-3252
CJCOffRoad.com