New Truck - Worse ride

[Lafamaku]

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.

I picked up the truck in February. It was 5 degrees outside. That is one of many blessings of living in Minnesota. So perhaps the dealer did have them inflated correctly. But now that the snow is gone and its 70 degrees outside the pressure has increased.

[JKellerJr]

Yes, tire pressure will change based on temperature and altitude.

Your close enough that it shouldn’t be causing the front end floating issues. Something probably has to change in the hitch set up and I’m no help there.

Just curious, what does the door sticker say your exact payload is?

[Lafamaku]

Yes, tire pressure will change based on temperature and altitude.

Your close enough that it shouldn’t be causing the front end floating issues. Something probably has to change in the hitch set up and I’m no help there.
Just curious, what does the door sticker say your exact payload is?

The door sticker is 3126

[JKellerJr]

The door sticker is 3126

Thanks,

I was curious to what gas 2500's were at now

[Linndoren]

I drove a Ram 2500 for work and pulled my TT with a weight distribution hitch. I found that all of the Rams( after 100k my company swapped them out) rode rougher with a load. When hooked up to my TT it was noticeably rougher than with out. That was with a 2016, 2017, and both 2019s.

[robob1949]

Hello,
You might want to have the axles checked for alignment. We purchased a 2020 22RBE from a couple that bought it and only used it on weekends at a local campground. They never trailered it so they had no idea of a problem. Our first time out it did not follow and the passenger side was going at least 1' to 1'-6" out. We took it to a local RV repair store and they found the problem to be that the rear 1/4" hangers that were welded to the frame to hold the axle shackles was welded 2" forward on the right(passenger) side. They repaired it and it follows just fine now.
Good luck.
robob1949

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.

[Redapple63]

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.

Hi Lafamaku,

I read this entire thread and while I agree that your tires may be a bit over inflated, I don’t think that is your real issue when towing. Your original premise that it odd a hitch issue is a correct one. I had similar issues when I first set up my wd hitch. With your truck and trailer combo 65psi is fine. Set them all to that. I think what is happening is you are not getting enough weight back on the front axle. The best way to see what is happening is to go to a CAT scale with your truck by itself, then your whole setup both with and without your wd setup. That way you can see exactly what is on each axle, and how much weight is transferred.

Bill

[more tired since retired]

One suggestion is to purchase a BeterWeight (formerly Haul Gauge) module. It plugs into your OBD-II port and will give you information on if you are level, how your weight distribution (front to rear of truck and trailer) and help you get the best setting for your WD hitch. I've found the weight information is accurate to within 2% of weight as measured at Cat and Smart Weigh (weighed at each tire and without trailer). Great since I use it every time we make a change (carrying bikes on rear or loading water tank for boondocking). Customer support has been great.

Here is their website and we purchased our at Amazon.

https://www.curtmfg.com/betterweigh

[Lafamaku]

Hi Lafamaku,

I read this entire thread and while I agree that your tires may be a bit over inflated, I don’t think that is your real issue when towing. Your original premise that it odd a hitch issue is a correct one. I had similar issues when I first set up my wd hitch. With your truck and trailer combo 65psi is fine. Set them all to that. I think what is happening is you are not getting enough weight back on the front axle. The best way to see what is happening is to go to a CAT scale with your truck by itself, then your whole setup both with and without your wd setup. That way you can see exactly what is on each axle, and how much weight is transferred.

Bill

Thanks for everyone's reply. I spent a morning at the Cat Scale. I did the three weigh method as suggested above: Just the truck, Truck and Trailer without WD and Truck and Trailer with WD. As anticipated I had very little weight transfer to the front. So I adjusted the "L" brackets that hold the spring bars. Re-weighed everything again and this time we had much better weight distribution. We have a trip planned in a couple of weeks and we will see if we were able to solve the issue. Again, thanks for everyones input.

[Redapple63]

Thanks for everyone's reply. I spent a morning at the Cat Scale. I did the three weigh method as suggested above: Just the truck, Truck and Trailer without WD and Truck and Trailer with WD. As anticipated I had very little weight transfer to the front. So I adjusted the "L" brackets that hold the spring bars. Re-weighed everything again and this time we had much better weight distribution. We have a trip planned in a couple of weeks and we will see if we were able to solve the issue. Again, thanks for everyones input.

Looks like you may have this all figured out, glad you were able to work through it. Hope your trip goes well. Please come in back and let us know if this fix is it.

Bill