Really bouncy ride on 3500 w/ Factory Air Suspension

[JcLeiva]

Anyone else have this issue?

I have a 2020 RAM 3500 Laramie SRW with the factory air suspension (~800 miles). When I get on the highway, I’m bouncing all over the place. It’s pretty bad to the point where it’s almost embarrassing to bring passengers. I understand these are heavy duty trucks, I’m not new to them. I have a 1990 Dodge Ram W350 with 9 springs plus helpers in the rear. Honestly, my old Ram has a slightly better ride on the same highway.

Also, when pressing the “bed lowering” button, it lowers for less than a second and says “bed lowering complete” and doesn’t change height. I understand with the 3500s they probably don’t adjust much but I can’t help but think there must be something wrong with my suspension.

 

[John Jensen]

I have a 2020 RAM 3500 Laramie SRW with the factory rear air leveling. Empty it was bouncy as expected. With my Leer shell and approx 300 lbs of gear in the bed and tires at 65 psi it is a pretty good ride on the highway. Still a bit rough on surface streets. Not a problem for me as my daily driver is my smooth riding 2016 1500 Ecodiesel.

The bed lowering only works under load. I've read that it takes a 500+ lbs load to operate, that may hearsay, I don't know for sure. The manual says it will drop 1". However, when I put my trailer's 1100lb tongue weight on it the "bed lowering" drops it 2". I operate the bed lowering when unhitching the trailer, otherwise, the "rear leveling" is in effect and I would have to raise the trailer's hitch too high to get it off the hitch ball.

 

[cummins2020]

No problems with my 2020 3500 SRW Bighorn. Rides like a dream!!!

 

[Zeroday]

Definitely check the pressure in your tires - off the lot they can be really high and if you're not towing or carrying heavy loads, you don't need as much. The bed lowering issue has been discussed here at length and in a nutshell yeah, it's pretty disappointing in the 3500 - the leaf springs in the rear don't compress at all with nothing in the bed, so the lowering feature doesn't work if you don't have any payload. Basically it takes the air out of the bags, but the leafs hold the back up at the normal height. I, too, got it for the lowering option and was disappointed that it doesn't work unladen. Not particularly useful, IMHO.

 

[Deleted member 80]

What is your tire pressure? On an empty dually you can run 35 psi in the rear. Adjust for load to 65 psi when heavy. Fronts should be 80 psi all the time.

 

[John Jensen]

" Fronts should be 80 psi all the time."

I don't agree but open to learning. Why do you say that?

Here's why I disagree:
A RAm 3500 HO 6.7, SWD or DWD puts 4962 lbs on the front axle or 2481 on each wheel.
A 275x70-18 E rated tire at 50 psi is rated at 2680 lbs.
So anything from 50 PSI to 95 PSI is safe.

2nd edit of above tire data

 

[Xflight29]

My 2020 3500 Mega Cab I run 70 in front and 70 in back rides real smooth and no bouncing at all.

 

[Deleted member 80]

" Fronts should be 80 psi all the time."

I don't agree but open to learning. Why do you say that?

Here's why I disagree:
A RAm 3500 HO 6.7, SWD or DWD puts 4551 lbs on the front axle or 2276 on each wheel.
A 275x70-18 E rated tire at 40 psi is rated at 2270 lbs.
So anything from 41 PSI to 95 PSI is safe.

Edited above tire data

I misread the OP's post, and thought he had a dually. Have you scaled your truck to come up with 4551? My '15 2500 with 6.4 gasser scaled at @4200 lbs on the front, and the Cummins/Aisin is a whole lot heavier. Just curious.

 

[John Jensen]

I misread the OP's post, and thought he had a dually. Have you scaled your truck to come up with 4551? My '15 2500 with 6.4 gasser scaled at @4200 lbs on the front, and the Cummins/Aisin is a whole lot heavier. Just curious.

No, I haven't scaled my truck, took the data of the spec sheets for the described truck. No need to scale a truck to determine tire pressures.
By the way, dually has the same front end specs.

 

[Deleted member 80]

No, I haven't scaled my truck, took the data of the spec sheets for the described truck. No need to scale a truck to determine tire pressures.
By the way, dually has the same front end specs.

I can't find my scale ticket for this truck, but think it was much higher. I will weigh it again. Also the dually tires with taller sidewalls and only 235 wide are pretty darn squirrely if you don't run them pretty high.

 

[John Jensen]

I can't find my scale ticket for this truck, but think it was much higher. I will weigh it again. Also the dually tires with taller sidewalls and only 235 wide are pretty darn squirrely if you don't run them pretty high.

Here's a chart for your 2019.
I just changed my data above as I had selected the wrong data.

 

[Nick]

On the door mine says 60 front and 80 rear SRW . Usually run them in the rear at 55 . ever with 80 in the rear it rides pretty good . Of course a 50 gal fuel tank and a Hensly air ride 5th wheel probably help contribute to the smoothness . It rides better then my 14 Mega with the same set up in the bed .

 

[JcLeiva]

My 2020 3500 Mega Cab I run 70 in front and 70 in back rides real smooth and no bouncing at all.

I have a long bed and run 65 psi all round. Any particular reason you go to 70 on the front?

 

[JcLeiva]

On the door mine says 60 front and 80 rear SRW . Usually run them in the rear at 55 . ever with 80 in the rear it rides pretty good . Of course a 50 gal fuel tank and a Hensly air ride 5th wheel probably help contribute to the smoothness . It rides better then my 14 Mega with the same set up in the bed .

I have the 50 gallon fuel tank. Maybe I just to add some weight to the back

 

[JcLeiva]

I have a 2020 RAM 3500 Laramie SRW with the factory rear air leveling. Empty it was bouncy as expected. With my Leer shell and approx 300 lbs of gear in the bed and tires at 65 psi it is a pretty good ride on the highway. Still a bit rough on surface streets. Not a problem for me as my daily driver is my smooth riding 2016 1500 Ecodiesel.

The bed lowering only works under load. I've read that it takes a 500+ lbs load to operate, that may hearsay, I don't know for sure. The manual says it will drop 1". However, when I put my trailer's 1100lb tongue weight on it the "bed lowering" drops it 2". I operate the bed lowering when unhitching the trailer, otherwise, the "rear leveling" is in effect and I would have to raise the trailer's hitch too high to get it off the hitch ball.

To my understanding, bed lowering should work no matter what but “Alternate trailer height” needs weight. I hear it’s the leaf springs but I hear some people take out all the air in the suspension and it drops 2”. I feel like a simple update should fix this

 

[JcLeiva]

No problems with my 2020 3500 SRW Bighorn. Rides like a dream!!!

That’s what I hear sometimes and I’m curious if it’s my air suspension.. I have a Laramie LB. if the highway isn’t perfectly smooth, my wife is bouncing all over the place

 

[Brutal_HO]

Anyone else have this issue?

I have a 2020 RAM 3500 Laramie SRW with the factory air suspension (~800 miles). When I get on the highway, I’m bouncing all over the place. It’s pretty bad to the point where it’s almost embarrassing to bring passengers. I understand these are heavy duty trucks, I’m not new to them. I have a 1990 Dodge Ram W350 with 9 springs plus helpers in the rear. Honestly, my old Ram has a slightly better ride on the same highway.

Also, when pressing the “bed lowering” button, it lowers for less than a second and says “bed lowering complete” and doesn’t change height. I understand with the 3500s they probably don’t adjust much but I can’t help but think there must be something wrong with my suspension.

Bed Lowering may not lower much if there's no payload. It also cancels out above 5MPH.

Alt Trailer height lowers 1" but needs payload (500-600lbs+) to activate.

I have a 2020 RAM 3500 Laramie SRW with the factory rear air leveling. Empty it was bouncy as expected. With my Leer shell and approx 300 lbs of gear in the bed and tires at 65 psi it is a pretty good ride on the highway. Still a bit rough on surface streets. Not a problem for me as my daily driver is my smooth riding 2016 1500 Ecodiesel.

The bed lowering only works under load. I've read that it takes a 500+ lbs load to operate, that may hearsay, I don't know for sure. The manual says it will drop 1". However, when I put my trailer's 1100lb tongue weight on it the "bed lowering" drops it 2". I operate the bed lowering when unhitching the trailer, otherwise, the "rear leveling" is in effect and I would have to raise the trailer's hitch too high to get it off the hitch ball.

Alt Trailer Height only works (sticks) under load. Bed Lowering works, but may not not achieve much "lowering" unladen.

To my understanding, bed lowering should work no matter what but “Alternate trailer height” needs weight. I hear it’s the leaf springs but I hear some people take out all the air in the suspension and it drops 2”. I feel like a simple update should fix this

See above. Bed Lowering will typically drop little unladen (hooking up) as the bags are not carrying much weight. It may drop more, 1-2", from the normal laden ride height when unhooking.

Alt Ride Height, which levels the bed (1" lower), does need weight to stay enabled.
Bed Lowering or any other "jack/transport/alignment mode" cancels over 5MPH.

 

[Xflight29]

I have a long bed and run 65 psi all round. Any particular reason you go to 70 on the front?

It just seems to ride better with 70 pounds of air on all 4. tires. I feel the front is heavy, and it feels better while driving winding roads up in the mountains.

 

[Dr__Bob]

2019 Laramie 3500 SRW long bed, with a really smooth and comfy ride. My 2010 F250 was a lot more skittish. I’m very happy. I just hope my CP4 doesn’t crap out (off-topic, I know...).

 

[ahhhr]

With no load and fully inflated tires, pot holes and speed bumps are brutal.
No complaints on the highway.

Everything feels better with less tire pressure unloaded.