Just recently after hauling several very large loads in teh bed of the pickup I have noticed that the ride empty is rough. Feels like the tires are out of balance, took it to the tire place and they balanced and rotated still no help. What could make the ride so rough?

What could make the ride so rough?

Perception?? The truck rides sooooo much smoother with some load in 'er. I know after I "empty it out" I ask myself, what happened?!?!?!

....and I am talking about ride quality here

same here its persived when you have weight in the bed it does ride so
much better than you take it out then wow what happen.:eek:

What could make the ride so rough?

platform spring. Mine are gone. Air bags in lieu of.

You could just flip yours and get similar results.

platform spring. Mine are gone. Air bags in lieu of.

You could just flip yours and get similar results.

Flip the springs? Got any pics? Could it still carry a load (i.e., 5th wheel) with flipped springs, or would you still need the air bags?

Joseph

Flip the springs? Got any pics? Could it still carry a load (i.e., 5th wheel) with flipped springs, or would you still need the air bags?

Joseph

You would want the airbags for a 5th wheel, to keep it from riding low. Also FWIW, I forgout to mention, I don't know how this would work on the 3500. It has the helper spring that the 2500 doesn't. Mine is 2500 srw.

A little more arch in the leaves and an extra leaf will go a long way to impriove unloaded ride. Chances are, you beat up on the springs a bit and now they sit that much closer to the "second stage" where they hit the heavy transfer leaf. Adding some clearance between these leaves (extra leaf and arch) gets you more travel in the lesser spring rate zone.

I would NOT remove, flip, or otherwise alter the heavy spring with the pads.

I agree with some of your suggestion John, it will raise his back end however, the 5th wheelers usually take issue with this I think.

It doesn't take much to make a nice difference and get the truck to "carry" itself further above the second stage. I don't have a 5'er, but I've pulled gooseneck and I'm plenty low for std height.

My 2005 has the extra leaf and rides as good or better than my 2002 with added leaf and arch. I feel both ride better than the 2002 did with std 2500 springs...

Hey Kennedy, what do you need to add the additional spring to a 2002 2500? You also mention re-arch of the springs? It also sounds like the newer trucks have a different spring pack than in 2002. Can you put the newer spring pack in or would that not be cost effective? I have a 2006 3500 SRW 4x4 and father in-law the 2002 2500 4x4 which sags a little more than we like with the gooseneck or 5er hooked up. The better unloaded ride would also be a benefit.

If I'm empty I just load up a few hundred pounds of sand at Home Depot and it smooths out the ride on those long bouncy highways.

I would like to have weight in the back at all times but it takes up valuable bed space when needed as well as not helping the fuel economy situation.