Truck rear air suspension

RO

rollinrollinrollin

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Joined
Jun 3, 2017
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29
Location
Bay Area, California
I'm brand new member to WTW

I purchased a new Ram pickup truck that I’ve always wanted many months ago and then decided to get a new FWC Hawk Woolrich Edition. Kinda went crazy. I probably should have done it in the reverse order, meaning I should have decided what I want to haul and then get a truck to match. Anyway, I never really looked into the truck camper compatibility until I already owned the truck. FWC says the Hawk will fit just fine. I will be using my truck for a daily driver (kind of extreme) as a second vehicle. Im pretty confident the truck has adequate payload.

Does anyone have experience with auto leveling air bags and how they handle with a heavy camper on or off road? Im not planning on doing much off roading. Maybe just some backroads.

My truck Info:

2017 Ram 2500HD solid front axle 4X4, 6.7 Cummins, Crew Cab, Short Bed, 3.42 Rear Axle, OEM Mopar Auto Leveling Air Bags in Rear(does not come with coil or leaf springs), E rated tires. 10000# GVWR. Truck weighs about 7700#.

Thanks for any feedback as I have never owned or driven a truck camper combo. I recently sold a small motorhome and decided to downsize.
 
I have a 2003 dodge 1500 4X4 with a Hawk shell and air bags it performs just great on and off road. If i do any thing serious off road I let some air out down to about 10psi. I haven't experienced any of the air bag tearing or rupturing people talk about. The air bags are the Ride Rights with the internal bump stop. Your 3/4 ton should be just fine even without airbags.
 
His truck only has air springs, they're not additional/supplemental springs. I'm curious too, but it looks like you might be the Trailblazer in this. I would expect the OEM to have done their homework in the system's design. No doubt there will be some "oopsies, we didn't anticipate that!" along the way, but those are usually manageable. You might have a look on the turbodiesel register ("TDR") forum, see what others have posted about this system there.
 
Thanks for the responses and suggestions.

I went for the system since I read that Ram 2500 has been using this air bag option since 2014 with some improvements over the years. They claim it is very heavy duty and that it will keep the truck level at all times automatically without any driver input. I figured they had most of the kinks worked out by now..I hope. I can't wait to get my new Hawk camper and put the system to the real world test.

Bill
 
Welcome to WTW!
I would assume that since you should be well under your GVWR that you will not have any issues.
 
After much discussion and exchanging emails with Eddie (smlobx) I installed Airlift 5000 on my 2016 F-350. Not because I really needed them, but rather, because they help level the truck to factory height, which I prefer. I have the Bilstein 2" front leveling kit installed. Also, finding the "sweet spot psi" for the bags makes for a nicer ride. And the AirLift is a very good product with good support.

But, after attending OX-West last month, and camping near the Hellwig rep/truck/camper rig, I would probably go with Hellwig if I had to choose over again. The Hellwig bags support 5400# v 5000 for the AirLift. I have the Hellwig Big Wig rear sway bar and it made a huge difference. Plus, the Hellwig customer service is top notch and can't be beat. Also, the Hellwig rep gave us some cool swag! Even more impressive, Hellwig reps offered a friend, who made his own overland rig by hand, all the technical support and tour of the plant he needed...pro bono!
 
Advmoto18 said:
I have the Hellwig Big Wig rear sway bar and it made a huge difference.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly new to all of this but I am surprised that with an F350 and a light FWC that you had a sway problem. Can you please elaborate? I'm thinking about getting a sway bar.
 
I have the F-350 4x4 Lariat. Not the FX4. The FX4 comes with a sway bar, not the 4x4 non FX4 models. Any load of substance, say 500#, will cause a Super Duty to sway and lean. Why all Super Duties come with a front sway bar.

Hellwig has a video that might explain it better than I. Granted, that is a very heavy load for the truck in the video, but the benefit the Big Wig provided was evident in my truck as well with my Hawk in the bed.
 
On June 5 I posted some concerns I had about putting a FWC Hawk on my 2017 Ram 2500, 4X4 Crew Cab, Short Bed Cummins 6.7 with the "auto level rear suspension" (air bags only, no springs). I believe there was at least one member who expressed an interest on how the Ram auto level feature would work since there hasn't been a lot of feedback on this combination. Well, I picked up my new FWC Hawk Woolrich Edition two days ago at the Woodland Ca. factory and I'm happy to report that the truck drives as smooth as a "Cadillac". The 1600# camper mellowed out the ride quite a bit. I don't even know the camper is back there. Needless to say I am very pleased.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I have a 12 2500 hemi SB 4x with an Alaskan 8' cabover. I'm extremely pleased with its road manners. Rides great, good acceleration (no real mountains here though) . It can be parked in almost any spot( aftermarket backup camera helps immensely)
The only thing to hate on is the 9.9-11mpg loaded
 
My drive home from Woodland Ca. back to the Bay Area (about 78 miles) around 65-75 mph and cruising around the neighbor hood for a couple of days showing off the camper I'm averaging about 17mpg. I expect to do better on long interstate hauls. The Cummins is amazing. I purchased a OEM camera from Dodge (the same one in the tailgate) since I didn't want to cannibalize the tail gate. I made a bracket and installed it next to the license plate. Plug and play works great. I just have to calibrate it a little more since it is mounted lower and a little off center.
 
So has Dodge gone to rear air springs on all trucks after their "mistake" of ditching leafs in favor of coils? I say mistake as it did severely limit the payload capacity. It hurt them as today's truck marketing highlights (screams) payload and towing capacity. Although deceptively interchanging them as if payload and tow were the same thing.

My daughter has a Ram Rebel with computer controlled air springs on all four corners. When you press the button on the keyfob the truck unlocks, starts and then squats down for easy entry. Put it in gear and it returns to normal ride height. On pavement it gets lower with speed, hugs the road on the freeway. In 4x4 off-road mode it sits up real high. It has two huge air tanks between the frame rails which allows instant air pressure to the bags as they are also part of the active stabilization control. It corners like a sports car.

So I wonder are the new Ram rear bags computer controlled with reserve air to act as sway control? Now that would be cool.
 
So has Dodge gone to rear air springs on all trucks after their "mistake" of ditching leafs in favor of coils? I say mistake as it did severely limit the payload capacity. It hurt them as today's truck marketing highlights (screams) payload and towing capacity. Although deceptively interchanging them as if payload and tow were the same thing.

My daughter has a Ram Rebel with computer controlled air springs on all four corners. When you press the button on the keyfob the truck unlocks, starts and then squats down for easy entry. Put it in gear and it returns to normal ride height. On pavement it gets lower with speed, hugs the road on the freeway. In 4x4 off-road mode it sits up real high. It has two huge air tanks between the frame rails which allows instant air pressure to the bags as they are also part of the active stabilization control. It corners like a sports car.

So I wonder are the new Ram rear bags computer controlled with reserve air to act as sway control? Now that would be cool.

Amazing technology. But my problem is what happens when it gets old. New trucks are crazy expensive and take a long time to pay for themselves. Range rovers had this kind of suspension years ago. But replacement costs were unreal when the stuff got tired. The aftermarket stepped in and provided conventional steel springs to replace those old bags.

I may be old fashioned. But I've never been a fan of complicated systems for vehicles that travel off the beaten path. Kiss principle gets you home! That and I just can't bring myself to pay the huge costs that go with buying this stuff new. Just my .02.

Having said that. Every thing from dump trucks to Semi's have used airbags in the rear for years with good luck. I doubt the Dodge stuff has a problem with weight capacity.

I have a question though. Do the high capacity rear bags use a different shock absorber? I have Firestone airbags on the rear of my Tundra. The airbags have a completely different spring reaction than the steel leaf springs. I'll be upgrading my shocks before long because the stockers just can't handle the extra rebound from the air springs. I think good aftermarket shocks will be fine for my application. But I have steel springs with air assist. I would think that if you had strictly air springs then the valving would be much different.
 
Backroad Joe said:
So has Dodge gone to rear air springs on all trucks after their "mistake" of ditching leafs in favor of coils? I say mistake as it did severely limit the payload capacity. It hurt them as today's truck marketing highlights (screams) payload and towing capacity. Although deceptively interchanging them as if payload and tow were the same thing.

My daughter has a Ram Rebel with computer controlled air springs on all four corners. When you press the button on the keyfob the truck unlocks, starts and then squats down for easy entry. Put it in gear and it returns to normal ride height. On pavement it gets lower with speed, hugs the road on the freeway. In 4x4 off-road mode it sits up real high. It has two huge air tanks between the frame rails which allows instant air pressure to the bags as they are also part of the active stabilization control. It corners like a sports car.

So I wonder are the new Ram rear bags computer controlled with reserve air to act as sway control? Now that would be cool.
Click to expand...
I'm probably the only one who finds it amusing, but I do. All of those fancy things your daughter's Ram is doing was done by Citroen on their DS series' hydropnuematic suspension first sold in 1955.

oh, yeah that system was also the power source for things like power windows, steering, & brakes.

In the past I've cautioned about the mixing of spring types because of their different damping requirements. The average bloke may not notice or care, but some do and it were those whom I had intended to warn. Haven't mentioned it much lately as I didn't want to the broken record guy....
 
Its hard to find detailed information about the Ram 2500 auto level system. I'm pretty sure it uses conventional heavy duty shocks. I do know that the system has a nitrogen filled tank and onboard compressor. For some reason Dodge calls it a "auto level system" rather than a air bag system, even though they are air bags. I think regular air bags can be inflated to be soft or hard. The purpose of the auto level system is to always keep the truck level with or without a load. So I have to assume that the bags are always completely inflated based on load weight. The compressor is computer controlled and seems pretty sensitive. When I get out of the truck I can sometimes hear a tiny release of air, and I'm not that heavy. The truck has a pretty substantial suspension system and the ride is very stable. I haven't felt any sway. Driving home from the factory where I had my 1600# slide in camper installed I encountered some pretty stong cross winds while I was doing 65 and 70 mph and the truck tracked perfectly. Ive only had my truck camper combo for a few months so time will tell. So far So good.
 
I have a question though. Do the high capacity rear bags use a different shock absorber? I have Firestone airbags on the rear of my Tundra. The airbags have a completely different spring reaction than the steel leaf springs. I'll be upgrading my shocks before long because the stockers just can't handle the extra rebound from the air springs. I think good aftermarket shocks will be fine for my application. But I have steel springs with air assist. I would think that if you had strictly air springs then the valving would be much different.
Click to expand...
Since the interleaf friction on leaf springs produces a significant damping effect, there's no doubt that valving for a coil or air spring with the same rate would have to be different. But if you're just adding air bags to leaf springs to compensate for a heavier load I don't think any sophisticated calculations are necessary.
 
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