Truck Sag.

[bluehaven]

Torklift upper and lowers helped ours. We have a camper that weights close to 5000lbs. and we tow a car on a trailer. No problems. We have a 2017 Ram 3500 dually.

[LJPierce]

As others have said, air bag the rear.


I did that on my 04 Ram 2500 4x4 Diesel and it worked great.


I also have a 63 gallon aux tank so it sort of became mandatory I do something.


Also, as others have stated, check to make sure that although your hitch assembly may be centered over the rear axle, the pivot point should be slightly in front of the rear axle.


Be sure to mind the cab to trailer clearance. Moving it too far forward may not allow you enough room to turn tightly.


Just my 2 cents.

[FiddleMusic]

As others have said, its all speculation without having ACTUAL weights. If you already know how to do this, great! Otherwise, here's how I do it. First, take the truck without the trailer to a scale and get the front axle weighed, the rear axle weighed, and total total truck weighed. Load up the trailer and truck with as much stuff as is usually carried, and tow the trailer to the same scale. Have each truck axle weighed again, the truck total weighed again, have each trailer axle weighed, and have the trailer total weighed. With these weights and the load stickers on the truck and trailer you can figure out where you really stand as far as axle and chassis loading.

With that much sag I suggest checking the measurements of the hitch location in the truck bed. As others have said, the centerline of the hitch pin should be directly over or in front of the centerline of the rear axle. As I recall my old Ford F250 long bed wanted it to be a couple of inches in front of the rear axle centerline, my current Duramax standard bed wants it right over the rear axle centerline. Check the hitch installation instructions for your particular truck and hitch, and check the measurements to make sure the hitch was installed correctly. The hitch pin centerline should never be behind the rear axle centerline, unless you have a sliding hitch, and then only when the hitch is slid back for better maneuvering in campgrounds or tight areas.

Hope this helps!

[TheKassman]

First thing you should is the pin placement of your hitch. The pin needs to be 1" forward of the rear axel. Even 1" aft of the rear axel will cause the symptoms you are stating.

[vmyoung61]

Check out Timbrens. Much cheaper than airbags and require you to do nothing. We had them on our '14 Ram dually. They didn't affect the ride at all when unhooked, because the springs didn't touch them. When we hooked up the Big Sky, they gave it the little extra rise that we needed.

[JYR]

Originally Posted by nclauser

I have a Dodge Ram 3500 dually, pulling a GD toy hauler, when hooked up the rear end sags & the front is raised, I've seen other truck/5vrs on the road where the profile is level throughout. How can I achieve the same profile?, I've checked my truck manual for any suspension changes I can make but they're only for off roading, is there an adjustment I can make to the hitch and or pin box? Thanks for any input.

Look up on YouTube and google. Timbrens. I use them on a very heavy 5th wheel and only get 1.5 inch rear sag. Compared to prior it was almost 4 inches. Just a suggestion. It did wonders for my truck and rig

[RVing family]

Originally Posted by CDWatkins

Air Bags

That is what I was gonna say .. We have a 2500 crew cab long bed and we put airbags on (no not my MIL and her SIL hehehehe) on it and it travels level now ...

[NeilV]

Originally Posted by TheKassman

First thing you should is the pin placement of your hitch. The pin needs to be 1" forward of the rear axel. Even 1" aft of the rear axel will cause the symptoms you are stating.

Ditto: You need to dot all the i's and cross all the t's with actual weights and measurements. Even if the rear axle is not technically overloaded you do not want your center of moment on the hitch pin to be behind the rear axle. Receiver hitches get past this with torsion bars to equalize the load forward of the rear axle while on a fifth wheel you do it by hitch pin location.

Adding air bags without first making sure of the exact situation is a really bad way to deal with it since its a "Maybe" type fix in Maybe it will also work for you but then again Maybe it won't.

There are reports on the evening news too often because of people guessing and just throwing the part or solution most vocally lobbied for in a forum at the problem.

First ensure that the hitch pin is actually set to be forward of the rear axle and then once that is verified as correct have the rig weighed to ensure there is enough weight on the front axle to guarantee good steering performance even in a heavy crosswind or other poor driving conditions.

Everything speculated on paper and via mental exercises needs to be verified in the real world with actual weights and measurements.

[BikesAndGuns]

Originally Posted by nclauser

I have a Dodge Ram 3500 dually, pulling a GD toy hauler, when hooked up the rear end sags & the front is raised, I've seen other truck/5vrs on the road where the profile is level throughout. How can I achieve the same profile?, I've checked my truck manual for any suspension changes I can make but they're only for off roading, is there an adjustment I can make to the hitch and or pin box? Thanks for any input.

This is one of the reasons we have an Andersen Ultimate hitch. You can easily adjust the profile of your rig and properly balance it. If you have your truck checked out and don't have suspension issues, that would be my recommendation.

[consolenut]

Real.world weights and advertised are totally different always under rated. My rig advertised is 4600 on the pin. but its closer to 5100 and 5900 loaded and empty holding tanks. $12 to get on the scales is a wise investment.

[Gordon Dewald]

All trucks suspension compresses when loads are put on them. If you put a load on and it compresses more than expected it is good to find out what the reason is. Maybe it is (1) your expectation or maybe it is (2) normal or maybe there is (3) something wrong.

If you can eliminate 1 and 3 you can deal with ways to beef add support so you are riding level. I believe one of the reasons trucks ride slightly high in the back without a load is so the truck is level when approximately half of the capacity is loaded.

Our toyhauler with a total weight of 17856 had a pin weight of 2645. It was a triple axle.

[richndonna]

Over weight??? To much weight towards the front making your tongue wt to heavy.

[DryCreek]

Originally Posted by vmyoung61

Check out Timbrens. Much cheaper than airbags and require you to do nothing. We had them on our '14 Ram dually. They didn't affect the ride at all when unhooked, because the springs didn't touch them. When we hooked up the Big Sky, they gave it the little extra rise that we needed.

Best advice yet.

They've worked like a charm for years on our 2003 Dodge Ram 2500.

[mwedge]

Originally Posted by nclauser

Thanks to all for your input. For those of you who wanted more info such as year, weights etc., Truck is a 2013 Dodge ram DRW , rear axle is rated for 9,750 lb , pin weight is a mere 3,250, camper dry weight is 16k, max load is 19k, no we haven't weighed ourselves yet but wife and I crunching numbers assume we r no where near max, I know what some of u must b thinking, anyway, we r only in our 4th year of pulling, truck only has 51k miles on it, only 6 yrs old and and she's like new. Truck sags about 4" to 6"(estimate), leaf springs look fine. Tire pressures r spot on. So, in closing, some of you say it's only a matter of airbags and risers, those if u wanting more info I look forward to your continued interest.

Well your getting lots of feedback that's for sure.

I'd like to just clarify a few things, some have already been mentioned.
- rear axle rating is NOT the payload capacity. Rear axle, axle ratio, springs, OEM rated tires and brakes all effect GVWR
- payload capacity is determined by several factors, and will be different for the same top level models (ex: Ram 3500 dually - 4x4, gas, diesel, single cab, extended or CC) Payload charts are published for combinations from OEM.
- the OEM published payloads are made with the assumption (unless otherwise stated) that the load is evenly distributed in the bed or on a cab and chassis from BC behind the cab to EOF end of frame. Think of the amount of sand or gravel spread evenly in your bed. This distributes the weight between the front and rear axles. A properly loaded truck will normally transfer the payload to the both front and rear axles. Removing weight from the front axle can effect braking and steering as well as headlight adjustment.
- fifth wheel loads are point loading and absolutely depends on the position of the pin in relation to the rear axle
- Properly loaded vehicles should not squat excessive but this can be difficult to achieve with different or veritable payloads. Concessions or modifications usually have to be made depending on the limitations to achieve a safe and acceptable.
- I have used different solutions depending whether the load is permanent or temporary/intermittent. The key is to try and maintain reliability, ride quality, stability and minimal maintenance or operator intervention .
Permanent would normally get stiffer main springs, with Timbren in place of the bump stops if the vehicle would see some rough service.
Temporary loading, depending on the frequency, we would increase capacity of the overload springs, Timbren in place of the bump stops or airbags.
On my F250 I have airbags with onboard air. I have the 2 bags plumbed independently with a crossover line and ball valve. Bags can be isolated if required