My 2500 handles tows better then my new 3500.

[noizy21]

I have a few cargo/race trailers and a 30' Jayco TT that I've owned for some time now and have been pulled with my 2017 RAM 2500 6.4 gasser. Honestly , the 2500 handles the trailers great. No sway or anything even in a heavy wind or next to other larger vehicles. The only issue I ever had with the truck is power pulling in the hills/mountains and against a strong head wind. But other then that, the truck is great.

Since we are traveling more with the camper, I decided to go with 6.7 diesel and thought since I may get a bigger trailer in future, I might as well go with a 3500 SRW with a HO 6.7. (it also has factory air leveling)

This last week was my first tow with the new 3500 from Illinois to Florida with the TT. The truck obviously had no issues with power. It was awesome!! Never owning a diesel before, I almost started laughing at how easy it pulled through the mountains. However, it was all over the road and just felt like the back of the truck was rolling and I was "see-sawing" the steering wheel around corners and when vehicles would be next to me. (if that makes sense). It's fine going down a strait highway at whatever speed but as soon as another vehicle pulls along side or a sami comes up behind me and disturbs the air, I just have to white knuckle it and hold it in my lane. Also, I'm not sure if this will make sense but it's almost as if the steering is too easy in the truck and there is no firm feed back in the wheel. I'm assuming this because of the adaptive steering? This was nothing like I ever exsperienced with my 2500. My wife would even tow the camper with my 2500 but after a few miles on the highway with the new truck, she said no way and traded me back.

Since I still have my 2500 , as soon as I got home, I hooked it back up and went for a drive and guess what, it was as stable as ever and had no sway or control issues at all!

So.....reading other post, I know what some are going to say...... "make sure the wieght distribution is right" which is very good advise. Since this is text, I only say this not to sound like a smart ass but to explain that I'm not "new" at towring. I've been towing race tailers and campers since I've been 16. However, I'm definitly am not going to sit here and say I know everything or I wouldn't be posting here. I need some help and opinions from you guys that know these newer trucks better then I do. I'm just saying I know the concept of weight ditribution and such. I forgot to mention, I do have and use a nice WDH for the trailer and have checked all the measurements for the new with the air bags in "towring" mode and all is good. I'm a big fan of WDHes.

I got to looking at my two trucks and noticed that my 2500 has a rear sway bar and my 3500 does not. Could this be the simple solution? How come the 3500 doesn't have a rear sway bar and my 2500 does? In your opinion is this something I should add and if so, any recommendations?

Anyway, any help or advice for the 3500 is very much appreceiated. I know there has to be a fix and I would have to kinda blame the truck since the 2500 still handles it with no issues at all. I'm just was so surprised in the difference in the trucks and totally expected the 3500 to tow as good as... if not better then my 2500.

Thanks!
Nick

 

[thestuarts]

I have a 2019 3500 SRW HO diesel without adaptive steering. I don't experience any of the symptoms you describe when towing, so I wonder if adaptive steering may be the culprit as you suggest. Is there a setting to disable adaptive steering for comparison?

Also, check your tire pressures, and consider getting a Carli steering stabilizer. I noticed an improvement on rutted roads after getting the Carli stabilizer.

Carli Suspension 2014+ Dodge Ram Low Mount Steering Stabilizer

Carli Suspension 2014+ Dodge Stainless Low Mount Steering Stabilizer

www.cjcoffroad.com

 

[noizy21]

I have a 2019 3500 SRW HO diesel without adaptive steering. I don't experience any of the symptoms you describe when towing, so I wonder if adaptive steering may be the culprit as you suggest. Is there a setting to disable adaptive steering for comparison?

Also, check your tire pressures, and consider getting a Carli steering stabilizer. I noticed an improvement on rutted roads after getting the Carli stabilizer.

Carli Suspension 2014+ Dodge Ram Low Mount Steering Stabilizer

Carli Suspension 2014+ Dodge Stainless Low Mount Steering Stabilizer

www.cjcoffroad.com

Thanks, I will definitely look into the steering stabilizer. Just curious, does your truck have the rear swaybar?

 

[MtnRider]

Rear sway bars are not required for leave spring trucks. If I had to guess it's the adaptive steering that is the issue. (assuming you have that).

 

[diode_ee]

Have you tried the alternative ride height with the air suspension to see if that changes anything for you?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Epsilon Plus]

Might not be enough tongue weight to squat those strong leafs down. Try running the camper with a full water tank and load some gear in the nose or bed. My 33ft TT barely drops my 2500 on ball only, no WDH bars. I actually prefer to travel with a full fresh water tank for the extra tongue.

 

[thestuarts]

Thanks, I will definitely look into the steering stabilizer. Just curious, does your truck have the rear swaybar?

My truck does not have a swaybar, and I don't recommend one. Skip to the 1 minute mark in this video.

Edit: The guys at CJC Offroad indicate there may be a benefit to a sway bar for some applications.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Rear sway bars are not required for leave spring trucks. If I had to guess it's the adaptive steering that is the issue. (assuming you have that).

All the leaf spring ram 3500s i have owned had factory swaybars.... its the airbags that eliminate the sway bar im pretty sure

 

[whitexc]

The trusty old 2nd gen, albeit not a dually, has leafs and a rear sway bar.....that's why it's such an awesome truck! LOL

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Might not be enough tongue weight to squat those strong leafs down. Try running the camper with a full water tank and load some gear in the nose or bed. My 33ft TT barely drops my 2500 on ball only, no WDH bars. I actually prefer to travel with a full fresh water tank for the extra tongue.

If the trailer tows fine with the 2500 then there is enough tongue weight you dont need to “squat the leafs”

 

[Epsilon Plus]

Rear weight biased TT with no tongue weight is a recipe for sway no matter the suspension. If there is no weight on those heavy rate leafs and its all in the ass end of that TT its going to dance around.

 

[roegs]

OP - Like you, I've towed my fair share of trailers, but I'm far from being an expert and always open to learning more. As I read your post, it reminded me of times where I did not have WD springs tight enough. My experiences have been that taking measurements on HD trucks is difficult due to stiffer springs. Measurements don't change as much as they do on a lighter sprung 1500 truck. Have you scaled your setup to see what kind of weight you have on the front axle with and without the TT and WDH in place?

 

[MtnRider]

All the leaf spring ram 3500s i have owned had factory swaybars.... its the airbags that eliminate the sway bar im pretty sure

And what years where those trucks? Pretty sure they have not been on the 3500's since at least 2012?

.

 

[Great White North Eh]

I’ll throw my cent and a half in (Canadian money). How about front end alignment? Some have not been happy with their factory settings.

 

[Xflight29]

My 3500 with factory rear air level and adaptive steering tows our 17K trailer with no sway at all, none. So I would not look into the adaptive steering being any problem with towing.

 

[Epsilon Plus]

17k is not light. A 30ft Jayco TT is probably 7k GVWR.

There can be times when the 2500 is under sprung. Stands to reason a 3500 can be over sprung for some situations. Payload Police can go overboard.

The 2500 absolutely has it's place.

 

[Deleted member 80]

Out of curiosity, is there a setting to adjust the boost of the adaptive steering?

 

[Epsilon Plus]

No. It is very light though. When I get in my wife's 2020 Traverse it feels like it has a flat tire at low speed in comparison. Car weighs a literal ton less with smaller tires and has full electric steering.

 

[MikeXM]

The first thing I noticed with the 3500 is it does need some weight on the tongue to behave smoothly. Releasing the WD fixed the problem. It's like it's telling you: are you kidding me? Give me that weight. I'm a big truck!

 

[noizy21]

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for the replies. There are definitly some good thoughts here that I will look into.

To answer a few of your thoughts/suggestions...

• The trailer is a little over 9K so although it's not a heavy trailer for this truck, It's not what I would consider extra light either.
• I have not weighed the truck/trailer out because I haven't needed to before although I think at this point it definitly wouldn't hurt.
• I checked the adjustment of the WDH with the air out of the bags. I will mention that it does squat the truck pretty decently with bed lowering selected as exspected since I know some leafs are missing because of the Air Bags
• While driving south, I also played with the alternate ride height thinking maybe it would put some more weight of the WDH bars. I also adjusted the bars a notch tighter just to see if that helped. I did feel a slight difference but no where near what it should be. I will note that I towed the trailer several times with my 2500 short distances without the WDH around home and althought 2500 sqates pretty good without the WDH, it still doesn't sway.
• My tire preassures on the truck and trailer are set approperatly and the trailer has a nice set of E rated tired on it.
• I do actually tow with the fresh water tank full because we do a lot of boon docking and I like to have the extra weight on the front of the trailer for just that reason. When we left this last time, it was empty beause of the cold temps and I thought that was maybe the problem so I filled it as soon as I got into warmer temps. It didn't help at all though
• I like the idea of at least getting the alignment checked and will do that

So at this point my ideas were a lot of the same as what you all mentioned. I know it's far fetched but I'm going to try the tires off my 2500 just to see if that helps. After that I'm going to go to dealer and see if by chance they have any ideas and at least have them go through it and check alignment and such but I'm not exspecting much.

As far as the rear sway bar, what would be the disadvantage to adding one for a tow vehicle that won't be used for off road? I'm assuming it will change the ride a little and probably make it a little rougher with out the trailer attached. I'm okay with this since I bought this for a tow vehicle. Any other disadvantages? I also liked the idea of the steering stabalizer and will look into that. I know that some with the newer Fords are adding them with the new trucks and have been enjoying the results.

Below is a pic of the setup for fun on a cool 5 degree day as we were leaving.

Thanks again!