Well after readin BigBlue's post on his spring problem, and talkin to some guys at work I am kinda worried about the rear when I lift my truck. I don't like the block/leaf set up that is on there now, I don't like the idea of add-a-leafs and shims for lift and angle changes. Form guys I have talked to add-a-leafs sag after awhile. So I have been searchin around for some other solutions. I was wonderin what you guys think of some Air Ride bags in the rear? I would either try to come up with a set-up on my own, or look into the Kelderman mfg. set-up. Or should I look into a custom spring pack to get rid of the blocks? Advice, ideas, opinions, or suggestions. Thanks

 

Air ride is awesome. It rides at the right height no matter what you are hauling and rides WAY better tham any leaf spring empty or loaded......but it ain't cheap. I run my own bag system in the rear of my Jeep and I love it.......been toying with the idea of doing it to my 3500.....when ever time and money permit. I'll stick with the Air-lift helpers for now.

You can also buy complete custom spring packs for just about any lift height you want for the rear of your truck. It adds a little extra cost to the lift kit price but it may be worth it if you use the truck hard........and complete engineered spring packs almost always last longer and ride much smoother than an add-a-leaf. Because the add-a-leaf has to be so much stiffer and have a greater arc to force the other leaves to conform to it, ride and longevity suffer. You only acheive a lift with an add-a-leaf by increasing the spring rate of the pack with the add-a-leaf.........no good, IMO.

Too me, an add-a-leaf lift is silly for a Dodge.....you spend all sorts of money on a decent kit to properly lift the front and then totally cheap out on the rear?........so the front matters but the rear doesn't??

You should be able to get the right spring and maintain the factory block........it depends on how high you want to go.

 

http://www.t-rexengineering.com/

RJ

PS: Just tried this (new link for them) and it's not working! Anyone know what's up with T-Rex?

 

Air ride or you can buy a complete new rear leaf spring pack. I'll probably do it in a couple years ago just so I can eliminate the rear blocks and have a very nice and solid suspension. If we hadn't done my lift at 11 at night and had payed attention to the way the add-a-leafs were supposed to be positioned, then I wouldn't have had a problem. My truck doesn't ride any stiffer than it did from the factory. If anything, it rides better.

 

Hmmm......the link worked but you can't enter the site...... Weird.

 

T-rex is no more. The name has been changed.

Try http://www.koreperformance.com/

It's still Kent Kroeker and still the best suspension money can buy for a Dodge Ram.

Justin

 

Well I don't tow anything, and I won't be wheelin the truck either. I plan to go 4.5", I was thinkin the SkyJacker front set up. And then Air Ride in the rear, I think it would be better than the block/leafs in the rear. I got the idea from a guy on DTW who owns Big Bad Dodge, he does some serious sled pullin. And he fabed his own rear bag set-up, it is really nice. Anybody else with any opinions?

Hey CTD NUT, does cold or hot temp affect the bags at all? Are there and cons to the bags at all? I would be kinda worried that somebody might be an azz and slash the bags open.

 

I was thinking about going with Air Bags all the way around, nothing fancy with A valve on each corner, just a valve for the front, and one for the rear. My buddy works at a Big Rig Trailer Company and he said that he could get me an air bag set up real cheap or even free. I was wondering if this would work, the bags and everything?
As for the air I was going to go with the www.onboardair.com kit and then just find a tank in the junkyard.
As for somebody slashing the bags open, i doubt it would happen, because when they are reaching down in their with whatever they plan on slashing it with, when they slash it, the rear end of the truck will drop and probably hit them right on the head pretty **** hard. So I wouldnt worry about it.

 

Nah, the temp variation has a minimal effect on bag pressure and no effect on performance. I think the low lifes that would be running around looking for things to slash probably wouldn't even notice that there is airbags or that they would easily be accessible to slash.

Diesel kid: Big truck airbags are far too large for a Dodge. The air volume is so large that the pressure required to suspend the weight of your truck would be so small that your effective spring rate would be far too low. What this means is your truck would ride and handle like a bowl of jello. You would have over shock the truck just to keep it somewhat reasonable. I have been in a few trucks with semi bags on them and they are down-right scary. Depending on how flexy the suspension is, the bags will have to be valved independantly to prevent excessive body roll and promote good handling - there is only so much a swaybar can compensate for!

 

This is the web page for Scott with Big Bad Dodge, there is section for his suspension set-up. And what his rear bag set-up looks like. I want to try and do something similar. The only problem, I wouldn't even know how to start that or who could fab it up for me. So I am lookin into Keldrman mfg's set-up for the rear.

http://scottsram.homestead.com/scottsram.html

 

You can't beat air for ride quality no choppy ride just as smooth as grandma's caddie :P

Like was mentioned earlier the smaller the bag the higher the spring rate the bigger the bag the lower the spring rate. I run a small bag upfront on my truck with no sway bar or shocks to compensate for not having them. Im the rear run a larger bag to take the chop out of the back end of the pickup truck. Mine just floats over the bumps.

 

I came across this:

http://www.trex-tech.com/trexairlift.html

(its a different t-rex than kents)

It might be another option, I have no experience with this particular system but I will probably get this or a kelderman in the future.

 

Kinda pricey, and I would need to go up to 4.5" in the rear. 9" would be way too much. But it looks like a nice set-up. Thanks for the link Wilson!

 

Went with firestones ride rite with hd compressor kit. The ride is awsome and if you position the mounting hardware you could easily get 3" of lift in the rear.

 

When I was swapping springs after my accident, I added another leaf. Sure it isn't the 4.5" that you're looking for, but I have absolutely loved it so far. The truck rides a bit rougher, but it lifted the rear a good inch or so. Those looking for just an inch or so or have a bulldogging truck after a front coil spacer may be interested in this. But, I will agree that nothing beats air rides for smoothness, but I wouldn't shy away from the leaves. I would check into eaton spring (out of Detroit) or National Spring (out of California), I've talked to both a couple of times and they know their stuff and it really is reasonably priced.