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Thread: Best Shocks To Upgrade With?

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    Best Shocks To Upgrade With?

    I have a 2017 RAM 3500 6.7, 4x4, short bed, factory rear air load/leveling, 2-1/2" Skyjacker lift front springs, 35x12.5x18 tires.

    My question: Looking for smooth riding shocks, prefer Bilstein.

    Can't find anything for the rear.

    Can anyone point me in the right direction?

    2017 Ram 3500 SWB, 4x4, Aisin trans, tuning by Ray

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    Stewbuntu's Avatar

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    Re: Best Shocks To Upgrade With?

    Quote Originally Posted by kurtcaroselli View Post
    I have a 2017 RAM 3500 6.7, 4x4, short bed, factory rear air load/leveling, 2-1/2" Skyjacker lift front springs, 35x12.5x18 tires.

    My question: Looking for smooth riding shocks, prefer Bilstein.

    Can't find anything for the rear.

    Can anyone point me in the right direction?
    So the problem you will have is that unless you have something in the bed of the truck to level out and engage the springs the shocks will be useless.

    The bed doesn't really move much bc you need all that spring force for towing/loads. Thus they never really compress and release. If you lower to weaker springs for the empty weight it would then ride like a smooth cadillac but you will never be able to tow anything. I guess you could add air bags to get that "strength" back but then the shocks would be matched to that lower weight spring. So.... Then you would need adjustable springs.

    4runner Examples:
    On our 4 runner we have a pair of $1500 Fox 2.5 with dsc in the rear and a set in the front too. They adjust for a stiffer towing ride to weaker smoother caddy ride but that wobles side to side more also.

    Common:
    Instead of following the usual. When getting higher end shock most shops and people buy regular sized coil over shocks, get stiffer spring to accommodate for a heavier bumper, then crank the disk up to the height they need to level out the rig. This results in a stiffer ride like our trucks bc the springs they get are not the exact difference of the bumper so they are too stiff otherwise the front would sag down.

    Our rig:
    So we bought extended shocks, weaker springs and knowing they would be compressed a little more from the sag. The travel becomes the same bc they are longer shocks. The chance for coil bind is a little higher bc its compressed more dt the sag. But its longer so not really. In the end with a new steel bumper and the longer shocks it turned out perfect without adjusting the height disk.

    Research:
    It took me about a 2 weeks of nightly research and learning to design my own setup. I was on the site for the shocks comparing lengths, shaft sizes, etc. I Looked at similar models from Toyota like the Tacoma and Lexus GX460 and what their shocks were. Then shock companies will never talk to you, they are too big. The 1500 and even the power wagon would be the ones to compare to.

    Couple thoughts:
    I would say find your bed weight get weaker springs for the empty bed so that when you jump up and down in the bumper in moves all the way down but doesn't slam against the bump stop. Most good but more expensive shops will do a spring swaps until you find the right springs. Then get a pair of King shocks bc they will custom built for extended travelmor not, but the will be for your needs and someone will talk to you about the design. I chose fox bc the have a dual adjustment which would be a whole nother thread to write. Then get air bags that will do 3000lbs to get your tow/spring strength back. The shocks would need to be adjustable bc plain new ones would be to soft like a caddy for your towing needs so your back end would sway all over the place like when a Semi makes a small compact car sway side to side bc of the wind and weak shocks/springs vs the forces.

    In the end without adjustable you can either have a caddy feel or a stiff feel the stiffer is safer for towing. Thus why our trucks are so stiff they will actually skip around a corner that has some small 1" or 2" holes in the road.

    Easiest fix:
    You could also add 500lbs of water in a tank or something to get the perfect ride. Empty and slide it out when you need to tow. They make shallow water tanks that fit between the wheel wells and are about 4 ft to 5 ft round and go under the cover. To cheaply test it get an IBC tote they are 250 gallon x 8lbs per gallon then you could add up to 2000lbs.

    You want the tank to be full so it doesn't slosh around and change the way the truck rolls to the side from the water sloshing creating delayed reactions. Find your preferred weight with the ibc. Measure the gallons w a bucket as you do your final drain x the exact weight of water and buy bags of led or a tank that would work. My dad had three huge bags of lead in the winter for his old s10 to get traction in the snow.



    Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

    2012 2500 ST w/ manmual 4x4 from the auction w 16k miles - Upgrades so far - Leather, LED bed lights, HID projectors, Nav = Appradio3 w ARU unchained reloaded full touch screencast & tailgate handle backup camera, homemade front hitch and reciever w 12k lb winch, reverse lights, soft open tailgate, transfercase linkage mod, Ultra and deletes, folding back seat mod, Kicker hideaway under drivers seat, Fumoto valve and safety clip, new warrantied turbo at 16k. Rocker Aux panel switches, Ford fold away bed extender, inverter outlet mod, soon an overhead console. Pulling a 2001 Prokat 2200WA around on my days off.

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  5. Top Of Page | #3
    Crshanta's Avatar

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    Re: Best Shocks To Upgrade With?

    Couple of questions:

    What is your tire pressure?

    What do you haul/tow?

    What is the air bag pressure, if known and has rear ride height been adjusted?

    Stewbuntu, offered good advice.

    Need to address both springs and shocks or add bed weight.

    2018 srw 3500

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    Stewbuntu's Avatar

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    Re: Best Shocks To Upgrade With?

    Quote Originally Posted by Crshanta View Post
    Couple of questions:

    What is your tire pressure?
    What do you haul/tow?
    What is the air bag pressure, if known and has rear ride height been adjusted?

    stewbuntu, offered good advice. Need to address both springs and shocks or add bed weight.
    Yes I agree with where you are going

    Tires are your 1st shock absorber. FYI The new wrangler duratrac load range e have 65 psi not 80 psi and O think they were even higher load capacity than the Nittos I had.

    You will get a softer ride with lower PSI nut your mpg will go down and the tires can wear worse. Your back end will bounce like a trailer does esp around a corners with bumps unless your springs are engaged with weight.

    Ride a tractor for a day and your truck will feel like heaven tho!

    Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

    2012 2500 ST w/ manmual 4x4 from the auction w 16k miles - Upgrades so far - Leather, LED bed lights, HID projectors, Nav = Appradio3 w ARU unchained reloaded full touch screencast & tailgate handle backup camera, homemade front hitch and reciever w 12k lb winch, reverse lights, soft open tailgate, transfercase linkage mod, Ultra and deletes, folding back seat mod, Kicker hideaway under drivers seat, Fumoto valve and safety clip, new warrantied turbo at 16k. Rocker Aux panel switches, Ford fold away bed extender, inverter outlet mod, soon an overhead console. Pulling a 2001 Prokat 2200WA around on my days off.

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    Crshanta's Avatar

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    Re: Best Shocks To Upgrade With?

    Quote Originally Posted by Stewbuntu View Post
    Yes I agree with where you are going

    Tires are your 1st shock absorber.

    FYI The new wrangler duratrac load range e have 65 psi not 80 psi and O think they were even higher load capacity than the Nittos I had.

    You will get a softer ride with lower PSI nut your mpg will go down and the tires can wear worse.

    Your back end will bounce like a trailer does esp around a corners with bumps unless your springs are engaged with weight.

    Ride a tractor for a day and your truck will feel like heaven tho!

    Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk
    Yep.

    I am cheap and figured to start with the free mods, before burning the money tree.

    2018 srw 3500

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    Re: Best Shocks To Upgrade With?

    1. Tire pressure 55 PSI on Nitto Ridge Grapplers
    2. Tow a 5th wheel trailer and goosenecks,
    3. Factory auto adjustable air bags; automatically adjusts to the load,
    4. No rear lift added.

    Thanks

    2017 Ram 3500 SWB, 4x4, Aisin trans, tuning by Ray

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  13. Top Of Page | #7
    Crshanta's Avatar

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    Re: Best Shocks To Upgrade With?

    Hi Kurt,

    Here are a couple of suggestions.

    The tires are rated for 3970lbs at 80psi. Let’s round up to 4K to make the math easy, so at 55psi the tires are able to support 5500lbs per axle. Assuming the truck weights 8,200 in normal every day driving you have ((5500x2)-8200) 2,800lbs extra capacity, in which you could lower the air pressure by a total of 56psi. I would first bump down the front to 50psi and rear to 45psi. Then try another -5 all the way around.

    For the auto airbags, it might be beneficial to see if you can rotate the mount of level position sensor to recalibrate the desired ride height lower. That way you are effectively removing rear spring rate with out having to switch out the leafs. Here is a link to a different vehicle, but the principle is the same.


    If there is not an easy method for rotating the auto lever mount another trick, is to get and adjustable linkage like these:
    https://centercrosscustoms.com/produ...-for-air-bags/

    Both adjustments will require some user adjustment prior to towing.

    Like adding air back to the tires.

    The rear may squat a little more, but the factory autolevers will still function.

    2018 srw 3500

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