jharp
Member
Got the last of the Thuren parts installed yesterday. Went with the 1.5" Hemi coils, Fox 2.0 shocks (front and rear) track and sway bars up front. Already had the Airlift 7500 bags installed a few weeks ago. Truck sits almost perfectly level with the minimum 5 psi in the bags. Hoping with the trailer hooked up and 15-20 psi the truck will still sit level, but will find out in a few weeks.
The steering wheel was about 20 degrees off center when I test-drove it, took about 3 tries to get it centered up. The newer drag link clamp and adjusting nut system is so much improved over the jam nut system our 2018 Ram had (before Ram welded it together, steering wheel centering be damned...)
A couple observations from the installation.
1) Use a floor jack or something lower profile to lower the axle when you get ready to drop the springs. I use a large bottle jack to lift the truck, but you need to drop the axle down almost to the ground for the new springs to go in. Eventually found my cheapo floor jack (and found it low on oil...)
2) The retainer nut for the axle side of the track bar is interesting to get lined up correctly for the 27MM head bolt to thread in. Ended up using vise grip needle nose pliers to get it held in the right spot to start the bolt. This was the longest part of the project (besides unpacking the Thuren parts...)
3) There are no instructions that I could find on which side of the Thuren sway bar the alloy links go on (towards the engine or towards the tire) - I installed them towards the engine, but the zerks might be tricky to reach with a standard fitting. I use a 90 degree offset fitting on my grease gun anyway, so not a problem. If anyone else has them opposite (towards the tire) let me know.
4) The lock nut (19MM) on the front Fox shocks is tight! I used a long arm Allen wrench to keep the shaft from turning, but because of the coil bucket design it's tricky to get a 19MM gear wrench in there - so I ended up using the open end of the wrench. Took a few minutes longer, but that's the point of projects like this.
5) I haven't checked my toe or caster yet. I wanted to do the tape measure driveway alignment, but ran out of daylight yesterday. I did test drive it about 10 miles round trip, and the steering didn't feel bad, so not sure how far off the caster angle is with the 1.5" coils.
First impressions from the upgrades; Wow. Really a significant improvement in ride quality. We've owned lots of diesels, many of them duallys (all GM duallys) and I can say the unloaded ride of this Ram with the Thuren parts and air bags feels much better. I do have my tire pressures set fairly low (65 PSI up front, 40 PSI in the rears) but with the new coils and shocks the truck just feels smoother, more comfortable on the highway. The Hemi being much lighter made the truck ride kinda rough over potholes before, to be honest. I think the diesels tend to apply more down force on the suspension, so the coils 'soak up' more of the smaller bumps in the road. I was actually a bit disappointed in how the Hemi rode before, felt like there was almost zero give in the front suspension. The Thuren coils and Fox shocks dramatically change that.
I'm looking forward to towing the trailer and seeing how the truck responds now. Last trip home with about 20 PSI in the airbags the truck was very "boaty" for lack of a better phrase. Large bumps seemed to make the truck porpoise a fair bit. Given I do have my tire pressures fairly low (I did weight the truck and trailer to be sure I was safe) - Next tow I am going to try and run 15 PSI in the bags, 750 PSI on my Continuum hitch, and see how everything rides.
The steering wheel was about 20 degrees off center when I test-drove it, took about 3 tries to get it centered up. The newer drag link clamp and adjusting nut system is so much improved over the jam nut system our 2018 Ram had (before Ram welded it together, steering wheel centering be damned...)
A couple observations from the installation.
1) Use a floor jack or something lower profile to lower the axle when you get ready to drop the springs. I use a large bottle jack to lift the truck, but you need to drop the axle down almost to the ground for the new springs to go in. Eventually found my cheapo floor jack (and found it low on oil...)
2) The retainer nut for the axle side of the track bar is interesting to get lined up correctly for the 27MM head bolt to thread in. Ended up using vise grip needle nose pliers to get it held in the right spot to start the bolt. This was the longest part of the project (besides unpacking the Thuren parts...)
3) There are no instructions that I could find on which side of the Thuren sway bar the alloy links go on (towards the engine or towards the tire) - I installed them towards the engine, but the zerks might be tricky to reach with a standard fitting. I use a 90 degree offset fitting on my grease gun anyway, so not a problem. If anyone else has them opposite (towards the tire) let me know.
4) The lock nut (19MM) on the front Fox shocks is tight! I used a long arm Allen wrench to keep the shaft from turning, but because of the coil bucket design it's tricky to get a 19MM gear wrench in there - so I ended up using the open end of the wrench. Took a few minutes longer, but that's the point of projects like this.
5) I haven't checked my toe or caster yet. I wanted to do the tape measure driveway alignment, but ran out of daylight yesterday. I did test drive it about 10 miles round trip, and the steering didn't feel bad, so not sure how far off the caster angle is with the 1.5" coils.
First impressions from the upgrades; Wow. Really a significant improvement in ride quality. We've owned lots of diesels, many of them duallys (all GM duallys) and I can say the unloaded ride of this Ram with the Thuren parts and air bags feels much better. I do have my tire pressures set fairly low (65 PSI up front, 40 PSI in the rears) but with the new coils and shocks the truck just feels smoother, more comfortable on the highway. The Hemi being much lighter made the truck ride kinda rough over potholes before, to be honest. I think the diesels tend to apply more down force on the suspension, so the coils 'soak up' more of the smaller bumps in the road. I was actually a bit disappointed in how the Hemi rode before, felt like there was almost zero give in the front suspension. The Thuren coils and Fox shocks dramatically change that.
I'm looking forward to towing the trailer and seeing how the truck responds now. Last trip home with about 20 PSI in the airbags the truck was very "boaty" for lack of a better phrase. Large bumps seemed to make the truck porpoise a fair bit. Given I do have my tire pressures fairly low (I did weight the truck and trailer to be sure I was safe) - Next tow I am going to try and run 15 PSI in the bags, 750 PSI on my Continuum hitch, and see how everything rides.
