Dodge ram suspension tech

I wanted to try and put together some helpful information for the dodge ram community. This page will be a work in progress, and please feel free to email me with suggestions
for this page. While I have a great deal of suspension knowledge and design background, I don't claim to "know it all", and each truck can have symptoms which will require
hands-on attention by trained and experienced alignment/suspension techs...



1.  Suspension overview....   When it really comes down to it, I think we all want our trucks to do it all, and do it WELL!  The problem is that a heavy high power truck which is designed     
to carry a lot of weight HAS to have stiff springs from the factory.  Stiff springs do not soak up bumps well, and never will.  In order for the factory to sell a truck which has a high GVWR sticker,
  the suspension will be stiff, and there is no cost effective way around it as far as the factory is concerned. Most of what I write here will be aimed at understanding how the Dodge suspension works,
and understanding how to improve the ride quality.


2. Springs overview....        Spring rate is the term used to describe the weight required to allow the springs to move, and the common unit of measure is pounds-per-inch. What this means
 is how many pounds of weight it takes to move said spring one inch. If a spring is described as a 400lb spring, it will take 400lbs to make this spring compress/deflect one inch. Standard(non progressive)
springs compress in a linear rate, which means every inch traveled takes the same amount of weight. If this same 400lb spring was compressed 3 inches, it took 1200lbs to do this...  400lbs
compresses one inch, 800lbs= 2 inches, 1200lbs =3 inches, 1600lbs = inches, etc....

2a. Why stiff springs don't work....   

3. Front springs ....  The front springs used in Dodge rams starting in 1994 are a fairly stiff rate.  Starting in 2003 with the 3rd generation trucks the rate actually got softer in the effort to gain a
better quality ride. Dodge also used many different rates from the factory, so you may or may not have the soft/stiff rate you think you have.

4. Leaf springs....   The rear leafs are a big problem when it comes to ride quality. If you look at any leaf springs and see that big thick flat overload spring right under the main                        
 spring pack, don't ever expect that same rear suspension to perform/ride well.  This same suspension can ride "OK" on small 1" or less bumps, but once you need the suspension to move more
than that, you have a problem.  The main issue is the fact that a 3/4" thick piece of steel is NOT going to move at all with the loads put on lightly loaded truck. This thick spring is also right under
the main leaf pack, and this causes other problems....

4a. Overload leaf spring bottom mounted...  In my opinion the overload leaf spring should be considered the stop in the rear suspension. If you can get that spring to move,          
more power to you...