Air ride suspension or not?

[Malco1]

I am currently towing with a F350 and don't have air ride suspension.. seem to have got along ok.. it squats a little bit with the 5ver Solitude 375res...

I am considering a Ram 3500 should I get the air ride or not??

Thanks

Timbrens are the answer, they require no maintenance and no air. Just replace the regular bump stops with them. Easy and cheap.

[JMCFAN]

AirLift improved my ride with my 372WD immensely... both with my 2013 and the new 2021

[5er Searching]

Timbrens are the answer, they require no maintenance and no air. Just replace the regular bump stops with them. Easy and cheap.

Was thinking of putting timbrens on my 2019 F350. Do you have them on your vehicle and if so how is the ride with a trailer on.

[Heavysledz]

Was thinking of putting timbrens on my 2019 F350. Do you have them on your vehicle and if so how is the ride with a trailer on.

Well, I know this is a bit of track but I have an older version of the air ride auto-leveling rear suspension on my 2015 Ram 2500. And I also have Timbrens and I will explain why...First off, the factory air-ride is nothing but awesome. Never had a single issue with it. I towed a 5th wheel with it for 5 years and not one issue it had a pin weight of around 15-1700lbs depending on how we loaded it up for a given outing and the truck would lift it right up with ease. I also have a slide in truck camper that weighs approximately 2500lbs wet and it also had zero issues lifting the weight. With the truck camper on the truck, there was too much body roll for me so I opted to work with Timbrens to find a setup that would work with the factory air-ride rear suspension to reduce/eliminate the body roll when I had the camper on the truck. Since my truck has 2 ride height positions, "normal ride height" which has a slight rake and then "Alternate Ride Height" which lowers the back basically leveling the truck. The tricky part was finding the precise height of the Timbrens springs to engage slightly when in the "Alternate Ride Height" position. Too short, and the suspension would slam on the bump stops when hitting a bump. Too tall and the axle would just sit on the Timbrens springs and the air-ride would keep letting air out of the rear trying to achieve the desired ride height. This made it feel like you were riding on your bump stops and was super bouncy....Timbrens ended up sending me almost enough parts to make 3 full kits and didn't charge me a dime for any of the extra pieces...they were amazing to work with and were very knowledgeable. I found the sweet spot and now have the best of both worlds....

So back to your question...Timbrens will definitely improve your ride quality and stability (sway control) when set up properly and when their is sufficient weight on the rear axle to engage them. HOWEVER, when the truck is unloaded and the rear of truck raises up to normal ride height, your truck will ride like it did before you installed them EXCEPT when you hit a large bump and the suspension compresses enough for it to engage the Timbrens springs, this can be somewhat violent at times depending on how hard you hit. The durometer (hardness) of the rubber used in the Timbren springs is much harder than your OEM bump stops and they engage much sooner as they are about 2-3X taller than the OEM bump stops. I live with it and try to avoid huge bumps so in the end, I am happy with both the air-ride and the Timbrens as they both do a great job at what they were designed for...

[Heavysledz]

I am currently towing with a F350 and don't have air ride suspension.. seem to have got along ok.. it squats a little bit with the 5ver Solitude 375res...

I am considering a Ram 3500 should I get the air ride or not??

Thanks

I have an older version of the air-ride in my 2015 Ram 2500 and it is awesome. For a 5th wheel setup, you can't beat it...it makes loading and unloading a snap since you can raise and lower the bed of the truck to limit how much you have to use your landing gear....if it were me and it was deciding between the air-ride and the traditional suspension, I would take the air-ride.