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Smooooth riding

Ctdwot210

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I’m looking to get a smoother ride out of my 3500. I don’t want to lift it and I don’t tow too often.

I was thinking, some different coils in the front. Truck is 100% stock

Any suggestions?


2019 ram 3500 DRW Laramie CCLB
rear leaf springs(no coil springs)
 

Riddick

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Thuren front coils with their sway bar, thank me later.

They have a set of oils that will only lift your truck .5 inches.
 

AH64ID

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I added a Thuren active rate sway bar and boogie bumps to my front end and it made a good ride very nice. I do also adjust my tire pressure for the load and have the auto-level rear air suspension.

The Thuren 0.5” lift coils would also be a good addition, but I won’t run them with my auto-level suspension because it would be below level in alternate ride height.
 

BadKarma

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Best ride improvement I have done and seen/felt the most. 35” tires with 50 psi on a 17” wheel compared to the factory 20” and firestones. My second and still in the process of deciding how much of an improvement it is. Was removing the front sway bar. Immediately up and down the driveway feels better as well as the expansion joint or whatever it is on the crossover from the 10 freeway to the 17 as well as the same expansion from the 10 to the 101. Haven’t done any off roading yet but this weekend I will be.
 

gimmie11s

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OP's problem is he is DRW and non-air assist (assumption).

Your problem is in the rear end. Lower your pressures to 40-45 psi. Will be a HUGE improvement.

Stock, my front end did not ride terribly at all. It was quite pleasant, actually. After I installed Carli springs and the Bilstein shocks the front end ride improved again further highlighting how stiff the rear is.
 

joelp

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I did new kings all around from Thuren, new thuren coils and it improved a lot from stock. When I did the front sway bar a year later, I couldn’t believe how dumb I’d been to leave that part out. Huge difference.

Also, so soft on the tire pressures like everyone else says. Huge difference.
 

joshuaeb09

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As others have mentioned I'd start with tire pressures when empty, do something about the front swaybar unless you have a high center of gravity situation (regularly loaded heavy above the bed rails like an in bed camper for an example type of high center of gravity load), and then any sort of springs/shocks would be the cherry on top.

For the rear you can look into different shackles even if you don't want to change the leaf springs. Different shackles will help take some of the bite/jarring out of the ass end - I've ridden in plenty of trucks that have sulastic shackles that seem to work well and there are also options from Thuren and Carli.

Since you mentioned you don't want to lift it I'd imagine you also don't want to break the bank (Could be wrong here) so I'd probably look at doing the following in this order -

1.) Thuren Front Sway Bar - By itself this really does help the front end feeling when going over uneven surfaces, hitting drive way entrances at an angle, speed bumps, etc.
2.) Front .5" Thuren Springs and Shocks - I'd go with the 5100's Thuren specs for their front springs unless you really want to spend money, however, IMO I would go 5100 or straight to big boy shocks like King 2.5's. The Fox 2.0s aren't worth it over 5100's IMO and I'll be replacing mine with either King 2.5's or the Carli E-Venture shocks when my Fox 2.0s are ready for a rebuild.
3.) Rear Shackles + Shocks - I would look at Sulastic, Carli, and Thuren's rear shackle options along with getting the matching rear shocks to whatever you get upfront. While I haven't ridden in many Ram with Sulastic shackles, I have ridden in plenty of mostly stock F350/F450s that have em and I feel they were worth it for what they did to the ride compared to a truck without them IMO.
4.) Front Sumo Springs - With only .5" lift springs I would likely look at the blue ones and would only run black sumos if you are sticking with the stock front springs or lifting in the ~2"+ range. I feel my black sumos engage when I hit larger bumps, whoops, etc and while they're not too jarring when I expect to hit them I wouldn't want to deal with them engaging regularly if I had less lift.
5.) Thuren Rear Springs - If max payload isn't a concern or you do plan to add bags then Thuren also makes rear progressive leaf packs that only raise the rear .5" (Thier shackle has a .5" lowering hole so combining the two you can keep the rear stock height if you didn't want to raise the ass end any).
6.) Radius Arms - I like configuring the Metal Cloak Radius Arms into the two piece configuration WITHOUT the lock-n-load. They free up the front axle to articulate when combined with longer travel/softer springs like the Thuren springs. The bushings also don't bind up, allow for free movement when needed, and soak up smaller movements due to the bushing design. Going through rough construction zones, over curbs at angles, and playing off road they are the cherry on-top for my build. So much so that I'm very much looking forward to ordering the Thuren rear control arm setup for the 2500 assuming my anual bonus doesn't suck so I can correct the rear geometry and get rid of the bushing bind I can very much feel in the rear compared to the front.
 

thecastle

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I would second the #3 the sulastic shakles made a big difference for me on my 3500 I have them on my truck. I found replacing the shocks was very minor at best and hardly made a difference going to bilstiens. Unless you can find some bi-valved shocks which I think there might be something for trucks...... But in general truck shocks seem to be pretty simple designs, Ohlins and Koni don't make their advanced FSD/Bi-vavled shocks which make a huge difference in ride quality.

if you have a lot of money, consider liquid spring.
 

svanarts

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I would second the #3 the sulastic shakles made a big difference for me on my 3500 I have them on my truck. I found replacing the shocks was very minor at best and hardly made a difference going to bilstiens. Unless you can find some bi-valved shocks which I think there might be something for trucks...... But in general truck shocks seem to be pretty simple designs, Ohlins and Koni don't make their advanced FSD/Bi-vavled shocks which make a huge difference in ride quality.

if you have a lot of money, consider liquid spring.
My 3500 has the factory rear air bags. Wondering if I can use sulastic shackles on my springs? Probably a stupid question but, hey, I'm stupid!
Also, what brand shackles did you go with?
 

dieselscout80

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I added a Thuren active rate sway bar and boogie bumps to my front end and it made a good ride very nice. I do also adjust my tire pressure for the load and have the auto-level rear air suspension.

The Thuren 0.5” lift coils would also be a good addition, but I won’t run them with my auto-level suspension because it would be below level in alternate ride height.
Apache driver, what are the boogie bumps that you used?
 

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