2500 Ram Box air ride rocking back and forth with a 5th wheel camper

[MrThury]

I'm revisiting this thread to post my latest findings. I weighed both my toy hauler and my Jayco. The toy hauler loaded heavier than I have ever had it was 900 lbs over my pin weight. I expected that because I was hauling coolers and camping gear for 10 people. My Jayco was around 200 lbs over my tongue weight. Not as bad as I expected. I still couldn't say there was anything wrong with my truck because I was over max weight. Fast forward a month or two and I pick up a pallet of shingles weighing #1400 and put them in the truck. Any speed over 55 mph and it rocked so bad I about ran off the road. I now know for a fact it's the truck because I am under the 2034 lb limit. Took it to the local Ram dealer, they think it might be the shocks even though this problem started with less than 15,000 miles on the truck. They won't do anything because it's now out of warranty. I am taking it back to the dealership I bought it from because I originally brought it in when it was in warranty and they said they can run it under warranty because of that. Hopefully they can figure out something. Driving 50 to 60 down the interstate feels almost as scary as driving to fast when it's working properly. Had a lot of vehicles come close to running into me this last weekend.

 

[68PowerWagon]

Hopefully they can get it figured out for you. Please keep us updated.

 

[Bike_Pilot]

I'd suggest shocks and a Thuren rear track bar. Or trade it for a 3500. The inboard coil springs arrangement on the 2500 is not ideal for hauling much weight. Fwiw I put about 4,000 lbs of water in the bed of my SRW 3500 which is on 37" tires and drove it through the mountains in Colorado. The weight made almost no difference in how the truck handled.

 

[18CrewDually]

I'll start by recommending a 3500.
The issue with the 2500s in your case and most folks that feel the instability, is the truck's rear suspension by design. It uses coil springs/airbags that are mounted inboard (closer to center) in comparison to a leaf sprung truck like a 3500. This gives the "load" more leverage causing the sway or uneasy feeling.
One thing I've recommended in other threads, and it helps alot, is a large rear anti-swaybar like the one offered by Hellwig.

On edit I'm adding a picture below. The yellow line on the right is the center line of the airbag/coilspring of a 2500. The line on the left is where the leaf spring would be on a 3500. That's the difference in stability. A thick heavy swaybar ties the left and right together, making it more resistant to the roll.

 

[nlambert182]

When I ordered the truck I asked the salesman about the 3500. He thought I would be okay with the 2500. The tow ratings we found listed were 19,810 and 3180 for cargo weight. The cargo weight listed on the door of the one I have is 2034 lbs. The one camper I'm pulling is a Jayco Pinnacle that is completely empty including furniture. The other is a toyhauler with 2 big bikes in it. I'm sure I am overloading the pin weight with the toy hauler. The thing that aggravates me most is I could pull both of them just fine with my 2014 ¾ ton Ford diesel. Even my 97 ¾ ton GMC pulls them ok but does really squat. It just doesn't have the power when there are hills. I traded the Ford because I wanted modern comforts. The other thing that makes me question that there may be something wrong with the truck is that it started rocking extremely bad when I went over an overpass in a curve on the interstate with around 500 lbs of fencing in the bed.
Bottom line, I will be taking it to the scale and getting some exact numbers to see where everything stands.

Truck salesmen will always tell you that. So will RV salesmen. 9 times out of 10, they're wrong. They just want to make the sale.

You're way overloaded my friend. I towed a 14k fifth wheel with my 3500 and it leveled it. You need a 3500 (and realistically, a dually). You're in the range of a 2,800-3,000 lb pin weight (use the fully loaded advertised weight of the camper x 20% for a ballpark reference) on that rig. Could be more.

Depending on how much you've towed overloaded you could have other damaged components at this point causing the issues. It would be hard to tell.

 

[oe542bob]

18CrewDually,
The OP’s truck has rear air bag suspension, no coil springs.

 

[Zoe Saldana]

When I ordered the truck I asked the salesman about the 3500. He thought I would be okay with the 2500. The tow ratings we found listed were 19,810 and 3180 for cargo weight. The cargo weight listed on the door of the one I have is 2034 lbs. The one camper I'm pulling is a Jayco Pinnacle that is completely empty including furniture. The other is a toyhauler with 2 big bikes in it. I'm sure I am overloading the pin weight with the toy hauler. The thing that aggravates me most is I could pull both of them just fine with my 2014 ¾ ton Ford diesel. Even my 97 ¾ ton GMC pulls them ok but does really squat. It just doesn't have the power when there are hills. I traded the Ford because I wanted modern comforts. The other thing that makes me question that there may be something wrong with the truck is that it started rocking extremely bad when I went over an overpass in a curve on the interstate with around 500 lbs of fencing in the bed.
Bottom line, I will be taking it to the scale and getting some exact numbers to see where everything stands.

>When I ordered the truck I asked the salesman about the 3500.

Were his lips moving?

Seriously, you listened to the salesman?

Did you also pay the sticker price or more?

My friend, I'm not trying to be mean but really, 'the salesman'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[18CrewDually]

18CrewDually,
The OP’s truck has rear air bag suspension, no coil springs.

Yes, same design and negative effects whether it's airbag or coil spring. They're both inboard. Here's a picture to help with understanding. I added a picture to my original post also.

 

[rule18]

>When I ordered the truck I asked the salesman about the 3500.

Were his lips moving?

Seriously, you listened to the salesman?

Did you also pay the sticker price or more?

My friend, I'm not trying to be mean but really, 'the salesman'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ordinarily I'd agree, but the OP made it clear that his truck salesman is his nephew (post #11). I'd be pretty surprised if the guy's family F'd him, but I guess you never know...

 

[Zoe Saldana]

Ordinarily I'd agree, but the OP made it clear that his truck salesman is his nephew (post #11). I'd be pretty surprised if the guy's family F'd him, but I guess you never know...

Was there $ involved? If so, it is very passible his family F'd him.

 

[mrack]

IMO much of the time salesmen don't even know they're screwing people over. They're simply as uninformed as the buyer asking the question(s), and usually don't bother to educate themselves. In the OPs case I'd say it was likely an honest and very costly mistake.

 

[nlambert182]

It's likely just an uninformed salesman coupled with an uninformed buyer. Some of these salesmen have never even owned an RV nor anything that would require a truck to haul.

This happened to me when I had my 2012 2500 and why I am so adamant now with towing safely and within the limits. We wanted to move up to a toyhauler. Found a 42' triple axle toyhauler up in KY. Called the salesman and he assured me that my 2500 would tow this trailer like it wasn't there. At the time, I was un-initiated to the world of fifth wheels and heavy towing. I had been towing a small bumper pull for years prior.

Bought the camper over the phone and they installed a B&W slider hitch for me when we arrived. I immediately starting voicing concerns with the sag and the salesman assured me that they see trucks like mine hauling these rigs day in and out. The Cummins is tried and true. It will not leave you stranded. Slap on a set of airbags and call it good. Reluctantly, we hopped on I-65 and headed south.

The haul back to Alabama was white knuckle and THE most stressful trip I've ever made. This trailer empty (across CAT scales) was just over 17,000 lbs. From a power perspective, it was all there and then some. But from a towability/safety perspective... I should've been pulled over by highway patrol. We hit a storm half way home and I could barely control the rig.

This was almost an expensive mistake. Thankfully the owner found out, tore up my check, and drove to Alabama with a 3500 and picked up the camper and hauled it back to KY. He even gave me roughly half the money back for the B&W companion hitch for the trouble ($650) and let me keep it. He told me that the sales guy was new and just didn't know and instead of asking someone he was just happy to make his first sale. I shoulder the blame as much as him as well. If I'm going to be responsible enough to drag a rig this size out on the highway, I'm going to be responsible to understand and stay within the capacities of my truck.

I've not made that mistake since.

 

[dhay13]

Salesman rarely know all of the info or know how to translate it. I have ordered a few vehicles and was told 'you can't get that package' then I point it out to them and they say 'oh...ok'. In the case of towing I'd guess that maybe 1% of them actually understand towing weights and towing capacities to be able to offer reliable info

 

[2003F350]

It's likely just an uninformed salesman coupled with an uninformed buyer. Some of these salesmen have never even owned an RV nor anything that would require a truck to haul.

This happened to me when I had my 2012 2500 and why I am so adamant now with towing safely and within the limits. We wanted to move up to a toyhauler. Found a 42' triple axle toyhauler up in KY. Called the salesman and he assured me that my 2500 would tow this trailer like it wasn't there. At the time, I was un-initiated to the world of fifth wheels and heavy towing. I had been towing a small bumper pull for years prior.

Bought the camper over the phone and they installed a B&W slider hitch for me when we arrived. I immediately starting voicing concerns with the sag and the salesman assured me that they see trucks like mine hauling these rigs day in and out. The Cummins is tried and true. It will not leave you stranded. Slap on a set of airbags and call it good. Reluctantly, we hopped on I-65 and headed south.

The haul back to Alabama was white knuckle and THE most stressful trip I've ever made. This trailer empty (across CAT scales) was just over 17,000 lbs. From a power perspective, it was all there and then some. But from a towability/safety perspective... I should've been pulled over by highway patrol. We hit a storm half way home and I could barely control the rig.

This was almost an expensive mistake. Thankfully the owner found out, tore up my check, and drove to Alabama with a 3500 and picked up the camper and hauled it back to KY. He even gave me roughly half the money back for the B&W companion hitch for the trouble ($650) and let me keep it. He told me that the sales guy was new and just didn't know and instead of asking someone he was just happy to make his first sale. I shoulder the blame as much as him as well. If I'm going to be responsible enough to drag a rig this size out on the highway, I'm going to be responsible to understand and stay within the capacities of my truck.

I've not made that mistake since.

View attachment 529415

You found one of the few honest owners out there - the VAST majority would have simply told you 'oh well.'

The only thing that sales person was correct about was that your driveline wouldn't have any issues with it - your suspension not so much.

I have also found far too many sales people who are just out to make a buck. One tried to tell me my 'Wagon could pull a front-living full-weight fifth wheel...I was like no, no it can't. He was pretty adamant and I had to show him the door jamb sticker...and he STILL didn't believe it, so I walked.

 

[Zoe Saldana]

It's likely just an uninformed salesman coupled with an uninformed buyer. Some of these salesmen have never even owned an RV nor anything that would require a truck to haul.

This happened to me when I had my 2012 2500 and why I am so adamant now with towing safely and within the limits. We wanted to move up to a toyhauler. Found a 42' triple axle toyhauler up in KY. Called the salesman and he assured me that my 2500 would tow this trailer like it wasn't there. At the time, I was un-initiated to the world of fifth wheels and heavy towing. I had been towing a small bumper pull for years prior.

Bought the camper over the phone and they installed a B&W slider hitch for me when we arrived. I immediately starting voicing concerns with the sag and the salesman assured me that they see trucks like mine hauling these rigs day in and out. The Cummins is tried and true. It will not leave you stranded. Slap on a set of airbags and call it good. Reluctantly, we hopped on I-65 and headed south.

The haul back to Alabama was white knuckle and THE most stressful trip I've ever made. This trailer empty (across CAT scales) was just over 17,000 lbs. From a power perspective, it was all there and then some. But from a towability/safety perspective... I should've been pulled over by highway patrol. We hit a storm half way home and I could barely control the rig.

This was almost an expensive mistake. Thankfully the owner found out, tore up my check, and drove to Alabama with a 3500 and picked up the camper and hauled it back to KY. He even gave me roughly half the money back for the B&W companion hitch for the trouble ($650) and let me keep it. He told me that the sales guy was new and just didn't know and instead of asking someone he was just happy to make his first sale. I shoulder the blame as much as him as well. If I'm going to be responsible enough to drag a rig this size out on the highway, I'm going to be responsible to understand and stay within the capacities of my truck.

I've not made that mistake since.

View attachment 529415

I hopw you bought your next trailer from that dealer! He is a man of God.

 

[nlambert182]

I hopw you bought your next trailer from that dealer! He is a man of God.

I did, actually. He didn't have what we wanted so we waited and let him order it even though they had it here locally and bought it from one of his dealerships that are a bit closer to us. Great guy.

We are actually in the market for another smaller TT now (kids no longer go) and we will be driving past this dealership this coming Friday. We intend to stop back in on the way through and see what he has.

I'm doing the leg work right now to determine what the 1500 in my profile pic will properly tow so that we can identify what we need to stay within. People take tow capacities and such with a grain of salt and assume that just because it can physically move the rig that they're safe to tow it. I see folks argue it on this forum all the time. They also do the same on the rv forums that I'm a member of. We're called the "weight police". Call me what you may, but I for one don't want to risk mine or anyone else's lives on the highway because I am trying to justify my poor decision to properly size my tow rig.