New Truck - Worse ride

[Lafamaku]

Hi, I am hopefully confident that the collective wisdom of this group can help me.

I have a MLE22 which we absolutely love. I have an E4 hitch set up. My previous TV was a 2019 Ram 1500 Limited. We loved the truck and the ride wasn't too bad, however, the truck only had 1400 lbs of cargo capacity and once we were loaded up with 2 people, full tank of gas, a bed with firewood and a cooler full of beverages, I only had about 40lbs of cargo capacity left. (Verified at a CAT Scale). The truck certainly had the power, but I was uncomfortable with the marginal cargo capacity left. So, this early spring I upgraded to a RAM 2500 Limited with 3200 lbs of Cargo Capacity. I reset the hitch set up because the new truck is about 6 inches higher than the old one.

We just got back from a 10 day camping trip and the ride was worse than the old truck. It seemed to be a bit squirrely on the front end and didn't want to track straight. So, I am thinking I have a weight distribution issue. I am running about 86 PSI on the rear tires and 75 PSI on the front. I did not adjust the hangers on the trailer for the spring bars. I am thinking I need to raise them up to force a bit more weight distribution. I was hoping with that much payload I wouldn't have to worry.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for your insights.

[stroguy]

I also upgraded to a Laramie Ram 2500 for our MLE. My gas Nissan just struggled to pull everything efficiently. In the Nissan I used a Trekker WDH. It was ok but I always hated the clunk sounds and the springiness of the ride. That Trekker would not fit the raised receiver of the 2500. So I went to the Andersen WDH with sway. It was an incredibly smooth ride as well due to a lot more shift of the weight using the adjustable bolts.

It sounds as if you need to move more weight forward on the front of the Ram. I am not familiar with your E4 setup. Sounds like it has adjustability.

I measure the height of the MLE frame at the rear and the front. Then adjust the Andersen for a small dip on the front measurement. Maybe a half inch.

[trailrydr]

Got similar ride before leveling out our F150 for our 5er. In our case, not enough weight distributed to the front axle. So, we added a airlift dual path airbags with compressor to our truck and leveled the truck when towing.

On our tow behind carhauler, had experienced it too when hauling our Jeep TJ on it to off road events. Same thing, put a equalizer hitch which help with weight distribution and kept the truck level. Front ends can feel squirrely if the truck isnt riding level.

[uwskier]

WDH setup is a good place to start but...

Is that the recommended tire pressures? How does the truck feel/handle going down the road unloaded at those pressures? Reason I ask is I just switched to Load Range E tires on my half ton and figured I would run them with much higher pressure than my old P metric tires. Driving down the highway felt like sitting on one of those balance balls. Crazy squirrely until I dropped the pressures WAAY down. I run them at 40 on all corners now when not towing, and 65 in rear, 40 front when towing the RV. Night and day difference.

[trailrydr]

WDH setup is a good place to start but...

Is that the recommended tire pressures? How does the truck feel/handle going down the road unloaded at those pressures? Reason I ask is I just switched to Load Range E tires on my half ton and figured I would run them with much higher pressure than my old P metric tires. Driving down the highway felt like sitting on one of those balance balls. Crazy squirrely until I dropped the pressures WAAY down. I run them at 40 on all corners now when not towing, and 65 in rear, 40 front when towing the RV. Night and day difference.

We run our Hankook load range E tires at 50lbs all the time. Truck handles fine with the exception of a little harsher ride. But the tracking and stability is well worth it, towing or not.

I also installed a Hellwig anti-sway bar too. Between the bar, tires and dual path air bag setup our half ton handles the road like a race truck, no leaning or sagging in turns or lane changes when towing or not. Plus, it only took 15lbs of air in the bags to level it out with our 5er.

[JKellerJr]

I am running about 86 PSI on the rear tires and 75 PSI on the front.

I can't help with the hitch set up but if those are your cold air pressures your over inflated on the rears. The max on e rated tires is 80lbs cold and you won't need that much with the weight you're carrying (unless you loading the bed up the the 3,000+ payload capacity). The fronts usually don't need to be at that high of a pressure either. What does the door sticker say?

[Wileykid]

I am running about 86 PSI on the rear tires and 75 PSI on the front.

That is high pressure for your tires, what does the door sticker on the truck say to run. Both my 2500 and 3500, the front tires are 65 psi cold, rear are 80 psi for max weight towing. Max cold pressure on all the tires I have had are 80 psi cold, which should not be exceeded.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[alias100]

My wife and and have a similar setup, a 2021 22RBE and a 2021 Ram 2500 Crew Cab Hemi. We started with this setup so I don't have a basis of comparison, but with our Anderson hitch our ride is very comfortable and stable. We run 65 in the rear, 60 in the front. I have played with the weight distribution feature on the hitch, but that is pretty easy. Our truck is a Tradesman, which I bought both because I am cheap and it offers the greatest payload, 3186 lbs. I don't even have to think about how much we are pulling and carrying as we are at about 50-60% of both towing capacity and payload. You should be in about that situation.
I think you will just need to do some adjusting of your hitch, but with that truck and trailer you will be able to dial in the ride. I think dropping your air pressure would also help out.
Good luck.

[Lafamaku]

Thanks for everyone's replies. Very helpful. As an FYI, the Truck PSI was driving after 4 hours. So not cold. The sticker on the door says Front 65, Rear 70 for cold tire inflation. I am going to work on my hitch setup and make sure I am inflated correctly. Right now, after sitting in the garage overnight I am at 77 rear and 72 front. it was my mistake. I assumed that the dealer would have inflated them correctly. Again, thanks for all your replies.

[alias100]

I assumed that the dealer would have inflated them correctly.

When I picked up my Ram 2500 last year I was very disappointed in the rough ride so I checked the PSI of the tires. The dealer had set all 4 to about 90 lbs PSI. Once I dropped that the ride improved. Still a truck, but much better.