Mexstan

Question for all you long term Ram drivers. Where I live many of the roads are, shall we say, not exactly smooth. The cobblestone roads are pretty rough. I find that with no load my truck tends to be very 'choppy' at the rear end and jumps around a lot on this kind of road. When I throw in a couple of hundred kilos of weight the ride smooths out a lot.<br>I am thinking about throwing some sandbags behind the rear axle for when I have no load. Any suggestions for optimum weight without sacrificing acceleration or fuel consumption too much?<br>Anything else I can do for no load comfort?

phox_mulder

You could try letting a little air out of the tires in back.
(when not towing of course)

I found that 65psi front and 55psi rear was the optimum for my truck.
This was with the factory Michelins with an 80psi max. rating. (E rating)

Any less in the front, and was very squirly with all that weight on them.
Any more in the rear, and I got the bouncing rear syndrome.

Haven't found the right combo with my new ones yet,
50psi max rating. (D rating)

It seems that 50 up front isn't quite enough, but don't want to overinflate them.
45 in back seems to be best though, so far.


phox

Mexstan

Wanted to experiment before I answered this. Have been running the tire pressures at 45 psi all round for a while now. Today I threw in a couple of sandbags behind the rear wheels. Don't know what each one weights but know that I had to grunt to lift each one up onto the tailgate, and I am no 90 pound weakling. The difference in the ride is very noticable. Sure, on some bumps it still jumps around but overall the ride has smoothed out condiderably. On a long trip may take the front tire pressures to 55 as the tires look a little low. Will monitor tire temps and see.

spots

I remember talking to a fellow years ago who had the old style Dodge truck ('90 or '91 I believe) The ride was killing his back so he had a shop weld some elevator weights near the back bumper area. Made the ride good and he was very happy. Had another alignment done after the weight increase. I think he added 4 or 500 lbs. Don't know about fuel economy tho. I am adding air ride on the rear of my truck to keep my back in one piece. Keep the shock at the road.

Mexstan

Thought of adding permanent weights but there are times I could be carrying a full load so at those times want to get rid of weight. After you have installed the air ride and have tried it for a while could you please let me know of any improvement (if any). Thanks.<br>So far I can't tell if the added weight has done anything for my fuel economy. Accelaration seems to be about the same. Actually if has improved on the bumpy roads because I now no longer get wheel spin over the bumps. The weight may also increase tire life due to less wheeel spin on acceleration.

phox_mulder

Someone somewhere had a good idea for temporary weight for winter driving.<br><br>He had a pipe that he filled up with old tire weights (worked at a tire place I guess), welded both ends shut, then welded a reciever hitch or extension to it.<br>He could slide it into the reciever, and still have it available for towing.<br>It added 500+ lbs to the back end.<br>Didn't have to worry about it coming through the back window (like bricks or rocks or sandbags).<br><br>Once winter went away, he put it away till next time he needed it.<br><br>Just an idea.<br><br><br>phox

Mexstan

Good idea. If it weighed 500 pounds wonder how many guys it took to put it on or take it off??????? ???<br>That's a LOT of tire weights!!!

phox_mulder

I can't remember exactly how much it added, 500# just sounded like a good number .<br><br>He might have been exagerating as well.<br><br>phox

Hoss

[quote author=Mexstan link=board=10;threadid=12295;start=0#117810 date=1048042228]<br>Good idea. If it weighed 500 pounds wonder how many guys it took to put it on or take it off??????? ???<br>That's a LOT of tire weights!!!<br>[/quote]<br><br>I pick up 500 pound pipes filled with tire weights quite frequently. What's the big deal??

Mexstan

Is that whenever you turn green and grow out of your clothes??

spots

[quote author=Mexstan link=board=10;threadid=12295;start=0#118135 date=1048116800]<br>Is that whenever you turn green and grow out of your clothes?? <br>[/quote]<br><br>

FiverBob

Hoss,<br><br>I heard that Cummin(G)s owns Ford. Isn't that the way it goes? ??? ???<br><br>DurastrokeBob

Mexstan

[quote author=Hoss link=board=10;threadid=12295;start=0#118124 date=1048114791]<br>[quote author=Mexstan link=board=10;threadid=12295;start=0#117810 date=1048042228]<br>Good idea. If it weighed 500 pounds wonder how many guys it took to put it on or take it off??????? ???<br>That's a LOT of tire weights!!!<br>[/quote]<br><br>I pick up 500 pound pipes filled with tire weights quite frequently. What's the big deal?? <br>[/quote]<br><br>Hoss, remember this? You obviously will not have ANY trouble adding the extra weight.

Mexstan

Now that did not work as I intended. I tried to take a qoute from a previous post to add to Hoss's comment about adding extra weight. Not sure why the entire thread was posted. Oh well, will have to try harder next time to stir things up.

Hoss

I think you just replied to the old thread instead of the other one about my rough ride.