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Steering with 37s and Carli suspension

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farmoffrd

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I'm looking at getting a 3500 Megacab and throwing the carli catalog at it. However, I test drove a 2023 super duty...and wow was the steering tight and now I'm torn. But a could a Ram 3500 with carli ball joints, track bar, upper and lower stabilizer, apex steering linkage, PSC XHD steering box, and steering box brace on 37 Toyo AT3s produce a similar feel? Can anyone with steering mods and 37s chime in? Is there a lot of play? Deadzone? Does it need a lot of constant adjustment or can you cruise ona two lane road with one hand?
 
I went with the entire pintop kit (king shocks) from Carli for the OEM auto air leveling system. I'm running 22's with Toyo MT 37x1350. I'd say the biggest difference in making the truck enjoyable was getting rid of the OEM sway bar.
My rig is a CCLB DRW. If I air down to the recommend spec, it drives like a sedan. But she's still rough when unloaded with the progressive leaf pack in the rear. The steering is nice and tight since i have the dual carli stabs..dont feel much of kickback when hitting holes..road feel is great.. But if you need to adjust them, its a real PITA to do so. Mine is pulling to the right and I've been playing with stabilizer pressures to make it go straight down the road. But when its spot-on, its laser straight. I had a bad valve stem in my upper stab and it leaked out the nitrogen.

If you're going to replace your steering box, go with the RedHead box's.
 
Forgot to mention, I had mine installed at CJC Offroad. I planned to upgrade the steering and balljoints at the same time and they advised against it. They said in their experience the front suspension/balljoints have really held up well in the 19+ trucks and not to waste money until something actually needs replaced so Im still running factory balljoints, draglink, and tie rod. Everything that Carli offers was optioned and I'll pull the trigger on Apex the first sign of wear. I've ran Carli balljoints in the past and had no issues but Im not sure if I'll run them again when the time comes. Sure, they have lifetime warranty but they could still need replaced. I may go with Dynatrac instead since they can be rebuilt without needing pressed out. I've ran them on my Jeep since 2017 with zero issues as well.
 
Rockcrawlindude said:
You don’t need all that stuff to get the truck to drive straight.
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You're right, but I can tell you my truck is the best riding 1 ton I've ever been in while still retaining capacities and I've been in many. When you spend $100K on a truck the last thing I want to do is install inferior parts.
 
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Wheelz said:
I went with the entire pintop kit (king shocks) from Carli for the OEM auto air leveling system. I'm running 22's with Toyo MT 37x1350. I'd say the biggest difference in making the truck enjoyable was getting rid of the OEM sway bar.
My rig is a CCLB DRW. If I air down to the recommend spec, it drives like a sedan. But she's still rough when unloaded with the progressive leaf pack in the rear. The steering is nice and tight since i have the dual carli stabs..dont feel much of kickback when hitting holes..road feel is great.. But if you need to adjust them, its a real PITA to do so. Mine is pulling to the right and I've been playing with stabilizer pressures to make it go straight down the road. But when its spot-on, its laser straight. I had a bad valve stem in my upper stab and it leaked out the nitrogen.

If you're going to replace your steering box, go with the RedHead box's.
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I'll definitely check out the redhead box. thanks for the info.
 
BilletWilson said:
You're right, but I can tell you my truck is the best riding 1 ton I've ever been in while still retaining capacities and I've been in many. When you spend $100K on a truck the last thing I want to do is install inferior parts.
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You said you have all carli so If you went with carli springs then you aren’t retaining capacities because they don’t make springs that have the same capacities as stock springs. but, I am glad your truck rides good.
 
Rockcrawlindude said:
You said you have all carli so If you went with carli springs then you aren’t retaining capacities because they don’t make springs that have the same capacities as stock springs. but, I am glad your truck rides good.
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My truck has factory rear air. The Carli lift for this particular application retains capacities both in SRW & DRW trucks. I can confirm it tows extremely well.
 
I agree with @Wheelz the biggest improvement to the truck is ditching the swaybar(s). Setting the front end to “Thuren spec” alignment in the driveway with a tape measure and an angle finder and upgrading the shocks helped as well.

In my opinion you don’t need to buy all those high dollar parts but there certainly isn’t anything wrong with buying a bunch of high dollar parts. I’ll admit I’m in a different tax bracket or at least a different spending bracket than some folks. My truck was $39k new and some trucks on here were 2.5X that price
 
Op, As far as stock steering, you’re comparing two solid axle radius arm trucks. They should be about the same.

I would think the differences in steering feel should come down to amount of assist, tires, box ratio etc and not play in the system. The ram doesn’t have any play, dead zones, wandering, etc by nature but it is a straight axle truck. it’s not a sports car or even a 1500.

Did both trucks you drove have similar options such as having (or not having) driver lane assist etc?

Nothing in the steering system should need to be upgraded on either truck to run 37s.
 
Rockcrawlindude said:
Op, As far as stock steering, you’re comparing two solid axle radius arm trucks. They should be about the same.

I would think the differences in steering feel should come down to amount of assist, tires, box ratio etc and not play in the system. The ram doesn’t have any play, dead zones, wandering, etc by nature but it is a straight axle truck. it’s not a sports car or even a 1500.

Did both trucks you drove have similar options such as having (or not having) driver lane assist etc?

Nothing in the steering system should need to be upgraded on either truck to run 37s.
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good info. Both trucks had the adaptive steering and the super duty had the lane keep assist. I'm not sure if the ram had it or not. I thought they were really close the ford just felt like a sports car kind of.
 
farmoffrd said:
good info. Both trucks had the adaptive steering and the super duty had the lane keep assist. I'm not sure if the ram had it or not. I thought they were really close the ford just felt like a sports car kind of.
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Tire pressure, tire size, tire type can all change the steering feel. So if you drove a Tremor package it’ll definitely feel different on tires alone
 
I have a '23 Cummins with thuren level and 37's. It drives like a solid front axle 4x4 would. Just like a Ford would. However Chevy's IFS front does steer a little better with a level and larger tires. But in my opinion, inferior to solid axles.
 
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