Towing with Carli Pintop King 2.5 3.25" Lift

[PikePatrol]

Hello all,

I'm new to the site and was looking for older posts regarding my question and could not find one so if figured I ask. The title pretty much says it all. I have a 2020 Ram 2500 Laramie without the auto leveling rear end. Does anyone have any experience with the Carli Pintop 3.25" lift? If so have you done any towing with your truck and noticed significant squatting? Im concerned the system is more focused on offroading performance than towing. I want to lift my truck some and was really interested in the Carli system, but worried it would significantly increase the squat of the rear end.

 

[MtnRider]

Having the airbag system is better then then coil because their coil lift takes a 30% hit in payload. You are just adding spacers in this case so I would think your squat should not change? Another concern is how big a tire are you going to? What is the weight of you trailer and what type of hitch (bumper pull, 5th wheel etc). Lifted trucks with big tires are not the best for towing. Going to be hard on the truck for sure. I know someone will chime in and say they do it all the time but it definitely more strain on everything.

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[MooneyFWD]

Carli's Pintop reduced payload by 15%. If you are going to tow heavy regularly CJC recommends airbags with daystar cradles, or modifying the mounts on a set of Timbrens for quick install/removal as needed.

 

[elephantrider]

I run the cradles and bags on a carli 3" front, pp 2.5" rear spring set up. I don't have crazy offset wheels, and don't have any issues.

 

[MooneyFWD]

I run the cradles and bags on a carli 3" front, pp 2.5" rear spring set up. I don't have crazy offset wheels, and don't have any issues.

I'd like to eventually run this setup, but I'm concerned about it affected the unloaded ride after spending $$ on a quality suspension system. Could you tell a difference while unloaded with the bags, or did you put them on at the same time as your lift?

 

[elephantrider]

it rides better than stock, but not as good as my buddy's kelderman rear bag set up.

 

[PikePatrol]

Thank you for all the responses. Now I'm wondering if I should have just waited for the 21 with auto leveling lol. I don't haul anything too crazy and once every other 2 months. I have a Jayco 264bh that I use to haul with my 1/2 ton before my Ram HD. I plan on upgrading to a 5th wheel toy hauler down the road.

I wasn't aware that their 3.25" lift reduced the payload that much. What type of airbag system do you recommend installing with the Carli? Maybe even just do the Kelderman airbag system instead.

 

[elephantrider]

the kelderman rear set up is seriously awesome riding. if you want to spend the extra cash it would be the kit to get. I just used a set of airlift 5k bags and it does the trick, for me.

 

[UglyViking]

@PikePatrol The Carli systems for your truck will not reduce the payload or add rear sag. It's literally a metal spacer in the rear with better shocks. The truck will tow like stock, more or less. The biggest difference you will see will be from tires and wheels.

 

[RPS1030]

2020 Ram 2500 Laramie without the auto leveling rear end.

@PikePatrol The Carli systems for your truck will not reduce the payload or add rear sag. It's literally a metal spacer in the rear with better shocks. The truck will tow like stock, more or less. The biggest difference you will see will be from tires and wheels.

That’s for the rear air suspension 2500s only. He says he doesn’t have that, so it’s replacement coils F&R.

 

[PikePatrol]

@PikePatrol The Carli systems for your truck will not reduce the payload or add rear sag. It's literally a metal spacer in the rear with better shocks. The truck will tow like stock, more or less. The biggest difference you will see will be from tires and wheels.

From my understanding I thought the 3.25” lift is better shocks and coils.

 

[UglyViking]

That’s for the rear air suspension 2500s only. He says he doesn’t have that, so it’s replacement coils F&R.

Good catch, I misread that as "with" not "without".

From my understanding I thought the 3.25” lift is better shocks and coils.

It is, I was talking about the factory air ride kit.

Carli puts pictures of the squat with different weights in the bed of the truck (see here) so it really depends on how much pin weight you're talking about. For a decently loaded crew cab laramie you're prob looking at give or take 2k in legal payload, and as you can see you get a pretty substantial amount of squat.

With all suspension it's a balancing act of ride comfort and payload. If you want more ride comfort you give up payload you can see with the squat.

One option would be to either use airbags or timbrens. If you go bags I highly recommend using daystar cradles so you can maintain as much flex and suspension travel as possible. If you go timbrens then just install them when you plan to tow.

I don't run Carli, I run Thuren and have his 2.75" front 1" rear soft ride coils with 3.0 front 2.5 rear kings with resis. It rides amazing but I had just over 2" of squat with my 7700 GVWR trailer, using a WDH I'm at about 1.5" squat. Note that Thurens rear coils are linear rate coils and softer than Carlis, so you may notice less squat with Carli when using a WDH.

That said, if you plan to pull a 5th wheel or tow all the time I'd recommend either keeping the factory rear coils and going with a level kit (2-2.5" front), getting timbrens/bags or just dealing with the squat and seeing how confident you feel with it.

Reach out to cjc offroad or Carli directly for feedback based off your desires and they can point you in the right direction if you don't get the data you need from the forum.

Sorry for the potential confusion with the initial post, I misread your original post.

 

[PikePatrol]

Good catch, I misread that as "with" not "without".


It is, I was talking about the factory air ride kit.

Carli puts pictures of the squat with different weights in the bed of the truck (see here) so it really depends on how much pin weight you're talking about. For a decently loaded crew cab laramie you're prob looking at give or take 2k in legal payload, and as you can see you get a pretty substantial amount of squat.

With all suspension it's a balancing act of ride comfort and payload. If you want more ride comfort you give up payload you can see with the squat.

One option would be to either use airbags or timbrens. If you go bags I highly recommend using daystar cradles so you can maintain as much flex and suspension travel as possible. If you go timbrens then just install them when you plan to tow.

I don't run Carli, I run Thuren and have his 2.75" front 1" rear soft ride coils with 3.0 front 2.5 rear kings with resis. It rides amazing but I had just over 2" of squat with my 7700 GVWR trailer, using a WDH I'm at about 1.5" squat. Note that Thurens rear coils are linear rate coils and softer than Carlis, so you may notice less squat with Carli when using a WDH.

That said, if you plan to pull a 5th wheel or tow all the time I'd recommend either keeping the factory rear coils and going with a level kit (2-2.5" front), getting timbrens/bags or just dealing with the squat and seeing how confident you feel with it.

Reach out to cjc offroad or Carli directly for feedback based off your desires and they can point you in the right direction if you don't get the data you need from the forum.

Sorry for the potential confusion with the initial post, I misread your original post.

Thank you. I've heard a lot about CJC and will have to check them out. It looks like they are based out of Long Beach, CA which is amazing because I live approximately 30 minutes away from there.

 

[UglyViking]

100% would reach out to them. The guys know what they are talking about.