Adding air suspension to Ram 1500

[Bhkh226]

Hello fellow streamers,
I have found myself in a bit of a pickle. We have a 2013 Ram 1500, just the basic ST, 5.7 hemi. She does a fine job pulling our 28' international, however, when hooking up she drops 4" at the receiver and is now causing me to "bottom out" where we park. This just started since installing a new propride 1400. I am thinking of installing a air suspension assist. Has anyone come across this problem?? Can anyone recommend a system that won't have me selling my first born to pay for it?

Have a wonderful weekend and stay safe!!

[dkottum]

We used the ProPride 1400 on two Ram 1500's and it does a great job of distributing the approximately 1000 lbs hitch weight of our fully loaded Airstream. We can load our two 3900 lb GAWR axles evenly with it, and the truck sits close to it's unloaded position at the wheel wells. No air bags needed at all. Your hitch weight should also be no more than 1000 lbs with the ProPride stinger in the hitch head and scale placed under the stinger where it goes into the truck's receiver. That may be the first thing to check.

But it sounds like the w.d. bars are not getting enough lift to transfer the weight. We had to put as many washers under the receiver tilt rivet as will possibly fit to get the back of the stinger tilted downward. This will also make the w.d. bars tilted down at the back, and help ensure you get the lift you need for weight transfer.

You can measure wheel well heights to get a pretty good idea that you are transferring weight when cranking up the bars, but with everything loaded and w.d. set, weigh it at a CAT scale to see what your individual axles are actually carrying.

It's not just the Airstream hitch weight a w.d. hitch must lift to transfer weight, it is also gear carried in the truck's bed behind the rear axle. This is a half-ton truck, load the heavier stuff forward and manage your weights to prevent axle overload.