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3500 LEAF SPRING SAG - Help I Need Ideas

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RBarrett

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I have a 2020 3500 4 door non-mega cab SB 4x4 with 11,800 GVWR. This truck has leaf springs with no air-ride suspension. It is used almost exclusively with a 8 ft Hallmark pop-up camper in the back with loaded GVW ranging from upper 10K range to full 11,800 depending on my load out. Truck alone is 8,500 and has just less than 16,000 miles. It also has Air Lift 7500 XL bags and an on-board compressor. The truck has been used off-road and subjected to more irregular road surfaces than the average truck camper. Never anything abusive and always slow. The vehicle has gradually started to sag on the drivers side when loaded and is getting worse over time. A while back it would level out with 30 psi in driver side air bag. Now it is more like 55 psi to push it back to level side to side. The front axle only carries 150 to 200 additional weight when the camper is on. Here is the confounding thing. When the camper is off the truck it is very nearly level with the diver side only 1/4 to 3/8 inches lower than passenger side measured at the rear wheel well. This increases to nearly 2 inches with the camper on and no air in the bags. The vehicle is at the dealer now without the camper and of course they say they can't find anything wrong. They are not interested in seeing the truck with the camper on and say my camper must be heavier on the driver side and be causing the lean. I get a blank stare when I tell them it sat level on my last leaf sprung 2500 Ram. I am looking for any ideas on approaching this issue further with Ram. I have about 6 months of warranty left and would really like to figure something out before that. I can see the dealers service departments not being overly motivated to deal with this since they only make their money when they repair stuff. That was there words to me. I'm looking for any thoughts or ideas how to proceed.
 
Dealer won't do anything so don't bother.

Give CJC Offroad a call. There's a couple offerings from Carli suspension and others that may be able to help out with that. They make a heavy duty leaf pack and also have an add-a-leaf available.
 
Yes I am aware of options to replace or band aid the current springs. I am not willing at this point to jump into spending money for what I believe is a warranty issue. I am hoping to somehow show a dealer or some higher authority (if that exists) that there is something unbalanced left/right in my springs ability to carry weight. I just don't know how or to whom I make a convincing argument. That is what I was wanting ideas about. Thanks for your thoughts though.
 
How does it sit without the camper?… a cracked or broken spring is easy to spot just look at the springs and see
 
Figure out how to weigh all four corners of the truck with the camper loaded OR all four corners of the camper off the truck? Or put a heavy load in the bed other than the camper and see if you get the same lean. You need to rule out the camper as a cause.
 
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I did give the springs a once over look. I only saw that the overload spring is slightly misaligned with the main pack on the driver side but not enough to cause my problem. At least I don't think so. I will go back under and look for any evidence of a crack in a leaf. That I had not thought of. As for ruling out the camper as the cause I had thought about weighing the four legs to convince myself it hasn't somehow gained weight on the driver side since it was on my last truck. All water is on the passenger side and I have this lean when empty. I don't know where to find scales like that but I thought I would ask the dealer if bringing them numbers like that would help. I also thought about the heavy load idea dead center in the bed. That I could take right to them. I don't know where to find that either. I guess I could buy a pallet of stone pavers at Home Depot and return it after visiting the dealer. Seems crazy but might work. Thanks for the ideas
 
Why not just remove the camper completely for the 30 mins it takes… if it sits crooked loaded it will sit crooked unloaded usually aswell
 
Have you thought about swapping the driver side and passenger side springs to see if it sags the opposite way? I would document it (pictures)if you're going to try it.
 
In this case I wouldn't be taking measurements from the ground to the fender liners - I'd be taking measurements from the rear bump stop plates to the axle where the stops would contact. If the measurements there are closer to the same I'd be looking at the body mounts as a possible culprit.

I've also never heard of running differing pressures in bags to level things side to side. I usually find which side is the lowest unloaded and then hook up the load and inflate the bags till the lowest side is the same level as unloaded - equally. I wouldn't want differing bag forces side to side just to level it side to side.
 
When I had a slide in camper, I ran more air on the driver's side airbag as it was heavier than the passenger side. The driver's side had the truck fuel tank, the camper propane tank, water tank and refrigerator.
 
Take $20 to Lowes and see if they load a pallet or two of concrete bags or cinder blocks in the bed for you.
 
Like I said in the original post the truck is level when the camper is off the truck. I picked the truck up yesterday after they finished the pump recall. When speaking to the service writer they have switched from my camper must be heavier on one side, to this is a common problem with the newer trucks. They said they put a bunch of people (whatever that means) in the back and it dropped the driver side about an inch lower than the passenger side. That may be about right since when I am loaded to my full payload limit it is around 2 inches lower maybe a little more. They said the reason I didn't see it with the last Ram was because they were a better design and didn't sag on the driver side when loaded. They said that so many trucks do it that now it is considered normal. So I was told that no matter what I put in the back or no matter how much it sags more on the driver side they will consider it normal. So this seems like complete BS of course. My assumption is that since it now is in the Ram system with my complaint logged and no problem found noted that no one else will give me the time of day. I actually asked what they thought they would do if I swapped the springs and it sagged then on the passenger side. I got no real response and was losing patience so let it go. I don't know if there is any recourse for a warrenty claim but I would be really pissed to swap the springs document it all and still be told it's normal. Unless there is a higher authority I may just be SOL
 
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Have you checked the airbags. I had the Airlift 5000 on my 2500 but did not put in the onboard air, didn’t trust it. Heard about several issues and I was hauling way to heavy to risk decompression on the road. I had the stainless hoses and did have to clean and retighten connectors due to loss of air on the drivers side. Have you manually checked pressures? I had a pin weight of 3400 and put in 55 psi, everything level. The air bags should take nearly all pressure off the springs.
 
RV’s in general come with built in problems. I have had 6 and had to fix every one of them when new. Design problems and poor quality control is expected. Weighing all 4 corners sounds like a good idea. Portable scales, maybe law enforcement.
 
Yes I've worked though air bag install issues on several vehicles. Everything I have stated about this issue is with no air in the bags. I should say 5 psi since my on board compressor sets that as minimum. The only reason I mentioned the amount of air needed on drivers side to level the camper was to show how the sag is getting worse over time. No matter how unbalanced my camper may be I can't see there is any reason to believe it is getting heavier on just one side. Everything I have measured is with an empty camper. No water, no propane, no food etc. I just find it hard to believe the camper is the issue and apparently from the dealers most recent comments they agree. The only thing I can make sense of is that the springs can't hold the weight equally and it is getting worse.
 
I have to agree with you, it sounds like a weak spring. The LoadLifter 7500, like the 5000, can hold up to 100 psi. If it is level empty, great. This is what the air bags are for. I usually ran 7 to 10 psi empty for better ride. Hauling I put in 50 psi before I even hooked up which went up to about 70 psi after hook up. Rode like a dream. Use the airbags so as not to further weaken the spring and if it becomes not level when empty, replace the spring. After having the airbags on my last 2 trucks I would not have a truck without them again. Makes hauling heavy loads so much easier.
 
A happy ending to this! I finally started making noise to RAM customer service about this. They asked me to take the truck to a different dealer. That dealer wanted me to return with the camper on the truck. When I returned they took one look at it and ordered two new leaf springs under my warranty. Their approach to my problem was so much better than my first experience. Needless to say I will be switching dealers for any future needs. Like all these nuisance recalls.
 
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