Shocks for Ram 2500 with camper?
- Thread starter ripperj
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Luckychase5
Adventurer
Bags for sure. I have a 3500 and still run bags. My trucks rear lowered about 1-2” with my camper and gear.
Thuren custom valves Fox 2.0’s for ram trucks. I’ve heard great things from many people about his shop. I’ll be getting some very soon from him.
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Thuren custom valves Fox 2.0’s for ram trucks. I’ve heard great things from many people about his shop. I’ll be getting some very soon from him.
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I don’t have bags, the camper is pretty light (under 1600)
The truck sits pretty level with the camper in it, I did consider bags, but talked myself out of them.
I spoke with Thuren, seems like a nice guy.I never got to having the $$ for his stuff. Wasn’t looking to drop $2k, maybe, not totally ruling it out, but his 2.0 need new coils, and then you decide to add arms and bars, next thing money is pouring out your behind
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The truck sits pretty level with the camper in it, I did consider bags, but talked myself out of them.
I spoke with Thuren, seems like a nice guy.I never got to having the $$ for his stuff. Wasn’t looking to drop $2k, maybe, not totally ruling it out, but his 2.0 need new coils, and then you decide to add arms and bars, next thing money is pouring out your behind
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Luckychase5
Adventurer
I don’t have bags, the camper is pretty light (under 1600)
The truck sits pretty level with the camper in it, I did consider bags, but talked myself out of them.
I spoke with Thuren, seems like a nice guy.I never got to having the $$ for his stuff. Wasn’t looking to drop $2k, maybe, not totally ruling it out, but his 2.0 need new coils, and then you decide to add arms and bars, next thing money is pouring out your behind
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Ya, I’m doing shocks, coils, and a track bar. $1400 out the door shipped. Not bad for quality
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Tex68w
Beach Bum
Thuren is the best shop for RAM/Dodge, they are on par with Carli in every way IMHO but they are more reasonable with their pricing. Smaller outfit than Carli so less overhead allows them to keep their prices lower than Carli which is a pretty big company in comparison. I ran Thuren on my PW and I just installed one of his kits on my 2021 3500, it's a lot of kit for the money. Bags will be beneficial, get the 5000lb bags, Daystar buckets and just manually fill them, worth every penny regardless of your payload capacity.
Regcabguy
Oil eater.
His coils are too soft for a truck with even a poptop. I had them with my Northstar. Great offroad but the truck would need constant correction on the highway. Bilsteins or 2.0 Foxes would be your best bet and a Hellwig swaybar works wonders for lean on the highway. Is the 1600# a dry weight most likely? With the Alaskan Timbrens might be the one to consider. Thuren sells very HD adjustable shackles for your leafs to dial in the height. My Northstar popup is !550# dry but quickly adds up with 30 gallons of water,propane,and stuff.I don’t have bags, the camper is pretty light (under 1600)
The truck sits pretty level with the camper in it, I did consider bags, but talked myself out of them.
I spoke with Thuren, seems like a nice guy.I never got to having the $$ for his stuff. Wasn’t looking to drop $2k, maybe, not totally ruling it out, but his 2.0 need new coils, and then you decide to add arms and bars, next thing money is pouring out your behind
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1stDeuce
Explorer
FWIW, Bilstein 5100's and Fox 2.0's are valved quite a bit differently... I have bilstein's on my truck and Jeep. They're great "performance handling" shocks, and good if you want to go faster than you should with stock suspension or a mild lift, they help with that goal. That said, the valving is not ideal for washboard or rough road surfaces, IMO, as the high speed valving is too stiff. Fox shocks are pretty much the opposite, as Fox tunes for a nice smooth but controlled ride, but if you push them fast in the rough, there is more risk of bottoming out with limited travel stock suspensions. Until that point, the ride will be smoother though. My experience is that Fox shocks just eat up washboard, and are very comfortable on the highway.
Unfortunately, the Fox 2.0's are expensive, and for my application, they limit droop travel severely compared to every other shock out there. I've heard about leak issues with Fox shocks in the past, but that was 5 years ago, and I would hope that by now they have that under control... For a while there was a rumor that Fox was buying a shock plant, and that they were going to begin offering normal, non-rebuildable shocks with Fox valving at a much better price than the 2.0's... Still haven't seen any of those, but if they come out, I'm ditching the Bilstein's that day...
I will also say that I've had airbags, and I took them off. Mine replaced the jounce bumpers, but didn't have jounce bumpers inside them... Not good. I found that they also made the back of the truck rebound to the point where it would almost hop if I was moving swiftly through something that compressed the rear suspension. I ended up adding a leaf to the pack, and I'm much happier. If you like the way your truck sits with a camper in the bed, I'd say leave it!! Hmm... I bet your truck is coil rear. Airbags in the coils might work quite a bit better than my bags with leaf springs setup... They did on my Jeep, anyway...
Good luck!!!
Unfortunately, the Fox 2.0's are expensive, and for my application, they limit droop travel severely compared to every other shock out there. I've heard about leak issues with Fox shocks in the past, but that was 5 years ago, and I would hope that by now they have that under control... For a while there was a rumor that Fox was buying a shock plant, and that they were going to begin offering normal, non-rebuildable shocks with Fox valving at a much better price than the 2.0's... Still haven't seen any of those, but if they come out, I'm ditching the Bilstein's that day...
I will also say that I've had airbags, and I took them off. Mine replaced the jounce bumpers, but didn't have jounce bumpers inside them... Not good. I found that they also made the back of the truck rebound to the point where it would almost hop if I was moving swiftly through something that compressed the rear suspension. I ended up adding a leaf to the pack, and I'm much happier. If you like the way your truck sits with a camper in the bed, I'd say leave it!!
Hmm... I bet your truck is coil rear. Airbags in the coils might work quite a bit better than my bags with leaf springs setup... They did on my Jeep, anyway... Good luck!!!
deserteagle56
Adventurer
I still run the stock shocks on my Dodge with the Bigfoot camper mounted on it.
But I frequent all the RV forums where people talk about their trucks and campers and how they are equipped. And the general consensus there seems to be the Rancho 9000 series works best because they can be adjusted for when the truck is loaded with the camper and then again when the truck is unloaded.
But I frequent all the RV forums where people talk about their trucks and campers and how they are equipped. And the general consensus there seems to be the Rancho 9000 series works best because they can be adjusted for when the truck is loaded with the camper and then again when the truck is unloaded.
Looks like the Thuren Fox shocks have a long lead time.
Regcabguy-I got rid of the Alaskan, I have a TC800, (same as you?) 1550 dry
The truck has leaf springs in the back.
I keep hearing mixed things about bags, seems like if my truck is level I shouldn’t need them??
Thx for all the input
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Regcabguy-I got rid of the Alaskan, I have a TC800, (same as you?) 1550 dry
The truck has leaf springs in the back.
I keep hearing mixed things about bags, seems like if my truck is level I shouldn’t need them??
Thx for all the input
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Tex68w
Beach Bum
Factory tuned Fox shocks are not the same as those you buy from Thuren or Carli, they have their own specifically tuned shocks that do work best with their coils/springs. I wouldn't recommend an off the shelf Fox to anyone. In no way can I see Airbags being a detriment unless you're trying to run 60+ in the desert and with a camper setup that's likely not the case.