DODGE RAM SUSPENSION: MAINTAINING LOAD CAPACITY

Dodge Ram Suspension was designed by Chrysler to have industry leading load capacity for towing and hauling, so how does aftermarket suspension affect this? There is always the question about a loss of performance when you have a $45,000 truck that can pretty much tow anything else you can afford, so we examine how Carli Suspension maintains the O.E.M payload and towing capacity after you bolt on a performance suspension system. The entire philosophy behind the product line featured at Carli Suspension is based on increasing the off-road performance of the vehicle AND increasing the on-road performance. This includes the entire spectrum of your truck's capability. We wouldn't want you to tow a toybox out to the dunes with your truck's ass end wagging like a dog's tail down the highway, just so you can hit the trails with your bro's. These suspension systems perform everywhere and we'll get into how we provide that.

O.E.M. Payload Capacity and Towing

The photograph to the left is what Dodge.com promotes with their 2500/3500 line of trucks, clearly showing the intention behind the design of the O.E.M. suspension. A basic rule of thumb with towing is the tongue weight should be approximately 5% to 7% of the GVWR of the trailer, fully loaded. The photo that Dodge.com has showing their Ram H.D. in front of what appears to be a 27-30 foot fishing boat, which would probably weigh (with trailer) around 10,000 lbs, which puts the tongue weight, applied by the rule, between 500 and 700 lbs. Considering that the weight is at the end of the hitch, there is leverage applied so the truck would ride the same with that trailer hooked as it would with say 1,500 lbs directly over the axle. So we're talking about maintaining Dodge Ram load/towing capacity, as well as safety while you're on the road.

Rear Suspension

This is all handled by the rear suspension components, primarily the springs. Again, going back to the last topic, talking about spring rates, the job of the leaf pack is to maintain the truck's attitude, or rear ride height in relation to the front. Clearly you're going to experience squat when you load up the rear of the vehicle with a significant load, however squat, to be expected, should not compromise the ride quality or safety of your highway travel. The mini packs offered with most of the complete systems maintain the O.E.M. load capacity of your Dodge Ram without any loss whatsoever. The chief difference will be a smoother cycling of the progressive spring rates where they will increase in a linear format all the way to their max. The full progressive spring pack has more leafs that consist of lighter rates, so rather than, say 8 stiffer leafs, you have 12 lighter leafs. This creates an even smoother transition from rate to rate and improves ride quality when unloaded. We all know how a 1-ton truck rides with nothing in the bed and the first time we load the truck up, we comment about it riding "like a Caddy", right, we've all been there. So with the factory set up, you sacrifice unloaded ride quality for Dodge's ability to boast big payload figures on sales materials. Modifying your rear suspension inverts this example and now you have incredible unloaded ride quality and the sacrifice is more rear end squat under heavy load, they all will hold the same weight, it's just a matter of how far you go into the spring pack to the rate you need for the weight you're carrying, so when a stock truck will get there in 3", the mini packs will too, and the full leaf pack will be there in 3.5" or 4".

Payload vs. Performance

Here's a great example showing a Dodge Ram, Quad Cab, Long Bed, 3500 with a Carli Full Progressive Spring Pack fully loaded with a weekend's worth of goodies. There are two four-stroke dirt bikes, two fuel cans, two full-sized spares, three guys, three ice chests, complete set of tools, some spare parts and a surfboard for good measure (headed to Mexico). There's at least a half a ton of gear in this truck and as you can see, it isn't overwhelming the rear end. Take the same truck, the same weekend and hammer it off road until it leaves the ground at speed. By adding a suspension system to your Dodge Ram with either the 5-leaf add-a-pack or the full progressive spring pack, the only thing you'll notice is ride quality improvements and your weekend load isn't going to overwhelm your new rear springs.

Now there is a percentage of the market that invests in high-performance aftermarket Dodge Ram Suspension systems and still needs additional payload / towing capacity... those of us who are pulling 5th wheel toy boxes and still want to use their tow rig as a play toy, including catching some air. Well, we have a solution that actually offers the ride quality improvement, incredible off-road performance and MORE payload capacity.

Increase The Dodge Ram Suspension Capacity

Well that leaves the best of both worlds... long travel Dodge Ram Suspension and 1-ton towing and payload capacity. Airbags that will cycle the same specifications as any of the shocks we offer and are rated to 100 psi. Just to dial in the scenario, these bags are on a Dodge Ram 2500 Long Bed with a Dominator 3.0 system that regularly tows an airstream travel trailer with a tongue weight of 750 lbs. Just 15 lbs in the bags keeps the truck's attitude level.

With the addition of the long travel airbags to your Dodge Ram Suspension system from Carli, your truck will sit level with more weight than law will allow you to legally carry. So at this point, you have more than O.E.M. load carrying capacity with your top of the line suspension system that you can go hit the whoops with too. Shown to the right is the standard long travel airbag system in kit form.

Dodge Ram Suspension: Carli Suspension Shock Options