New member with an air suspension issue-considering cutting my losses

[SK 2016 limited]

I have a 2016 Laramie with air suspension and have posted my experience with this system a few years back. I added air line anti freeze into the system and have been going on 2 winters in Saskatchewan with temps well into the -30's driving this truck everyday and have not had any issues since.The issue is usually not a part failure but moisture in the system that freezes in the cold and causes any one of the known issues we have all had. This is very easy to do and it works. You can change all the parts repeatedly till your blue in the face, out of money,sick of taking it in or all of theses or like I say manage the problem by thinking outside the box for a solution like I had to. As a side note I am a former Chrysler Tech that spent many years working on the products in some of the coldest weather and often the solution for cold weather problems lies with alternative methods as opposed to parts replacement and complaining about Ram.Ram doesn't care about the small percentage of these trucks overall that have cold weather related problems and certainly won't initiate a recall especially when its not a part failure concern. I received negative feed back last time I posted this solution(that will dry out the seals, damage the bags and Blah Blah Blah) so I will share with anyone that contacts me more details otherwise I don't have time to listen to frustrated Ram owners who wish to despute this method that I have had good success with. It will cost you a little time and around $20 for this airline antifreeze and will save you world of grief.Or have fun spending 3k you likely don't need to and end up with and inferior ride your choice fellas cheers

 

[Logjammin]

Well I did what I said and cut my losses. One day of wrenching, about $830 and I’m free of this headache. It was great while it worked (140K) but too unreliable. I replaced the front with Rancho quick lifts which levels the truck. The rears got New variable rate coils and Gabriel mono tubes. I also cut off the jounce bumpers and replaced with some different slightly shorter ones. Ride is just fine and frankly the front seems more “stable” with a bit less lean on sharp corners. I’m quite happy with it. I used the video on the Monroe kit to guide me. The only thing is I get the service air suspension message when I start for a few seconds. I can live with that…not even worth buying the Alpha OBD to delete it in my opinion.

 

[gofishn]

Same thing I woulda done except Billsteins

 

[Fullboardmax]

Mine acted up once last winter and has been acting up again this past week. I'm probably just ordering the kit with bilstein 5100's and moving on. Thought about trading in. But trucks are stupid expensive.

 

[Logjammin]

No argument on going Bilstien. I was in a hurry and couldn't find enough info on what coil/strut #s for the front end. The air delete/strutmasters kits seemed easy but quite a bit more money than my rockauto.com parts cost. The parts I went with were a simple solve to my problem and frankly I don't plan to keep the vehicle too much longer anyway. All in all I'm very pleased with the outcome. Now if I could just sell the compressor I wasted a butt-load of $ on and any of the other parts I gutted. I remember being leery of this system when I purchased the truck and I still say, it was great wile it lasted. That said...never again. I like the "Limited" trim level but I'll never get the air suspension on any truck again.

 

[Dreyton]

I have a 2016 Laramie with air suspension and have posted my experience with this system a few years back. I added air line anti freeze into the system and have been going on 2 winters in Saskatchewan with temps well into the -30's driving this truck everyday and have not had any issues since.The issue is usually not a part failure but moisture in the system that freezes in the cold and causes any one of the known issues we have all had. This is very easy to do and it works. You can change all the parts repeatedly till your blue in the face, out of money,sick of taking it in or all of theses or like I say manage the problem by thinking outside the box for a solution like I had to. As a side note I am a former Chrysler Tech that spent many years working on the products in some of the coldest weather and often the solution for cold weather problems lies with alternative methods as opposed to parts replacement and complaining about Ram.Ram doesn't care about the small percentage of these trucks overall that have cold weather related problems and certainly won't initiate a recall especially when its not a part failure concern. I received negative feed back last time I posted this solution(that will dry out the seals, damage the bags and Blah Blah Blah) so I will share with anyone that contacts me more details otherwise I don't have time to listen to frustrated Ram owners who wish to despute this method that I have had good success with. It will cost you a little time and around $20 for this airline antifreeze and will save you world of grief.Or have fun spending 3k you likely don't need to and end up with and inferior ride your choice fellas cheers

My fix for the freeze up of suspension is I bought a 80w battery blanket off Amazon and wrapped it around the compressor and air valve assembly block then cut the cord. and then feeding through the frame underneath spliced an extension cord to it. I came into the rear cab at the floor storage box. Installed a plug and can now plug it into my dash when travelling or house outlet at home, Has worked for the last two winters, Oh and a winter front as well.

 

[LouM]

Interesting take on the issues.

 

[LouM]

Junk. Not fixable. If you live in cold climate 32 or under. You will have problem rest of the life of the truck. I dumped my 2017 limited long horn and bought a 2022 Laramie without air.

Amazing, wonder how mine has managed to keep working.

 

[Jeepwalker]

There's a whole layer of extra components to fail on an air ride system. Sooner or later some will. Lucky you got 140k out of yours. A guy has to be his own 'Master Tech' or spend a ton on service. Some EV's are using air suspensions too due to their battery weight, so expect to see it more commonly. Won't that be a headache for EV owners down the road?

Glad you found resolution. What's your next truck going to be ...if and when you upgrade? (5th gen?)
.

 

[Zac1]

Just to be clear I am talking about norm not exception. You can search Ram air suspension. I stand my ground, it is pure junk.