How to add to my weight capacity

[abadassbowtie]

I have a 05 1500 and I was wondering if anyone has added anything to their leafsprings. I want to be able to put more weight in it with out making it squat too much. I would like to be able to get about 500-1000 more pounds out of it. Please tell me where you guys have bought something to do this.

[amac209]

the slickest way is to get airbags installed then you can remove the air for a smooth ride. the alternative to air bags is overload springs, they just clamp over the existing leafsprings. if you really wanna get fancy install airbags with an onboard compressor then you can controll everything with a button. regular airbags use a standard tire valve.

[jumpingjack66]

Try Monroe load levelers which are a coil spring over a shock design, i would think they would give you what you want with outm making your empty driveing to ruff. Gabrial also makes a shock of this design as well..Do not go to air shocks though as they will make your truck or any vehicle more dangerous to drive on wet roads...jj

[skipr]

Adding air bags, leaf springs...etc. will increase your load capacity, but remember your brakes, rear axle/diff., etc. are not rated for 3/4 ton/1 ton loads. You have a semi-floating axle (not a full floating) which means all the weight stress rides on your axles. With full floating weight rides on the axle case. So I wouldn't be going on long rides with more weight than your GVWR. Just my opinion

[abadassbowtie]

I would only be putting extra weight in coming from the sand or gravel yard like once A month which is like 2 miles from my house. And i really just want to beable to put in like 1500 pounds at once or a tad bit more

[jumpingjack66]

Coil over shocks wont do much i dont think with that kinda wieght, but you could have your stock springs rearked, they could also advise at that time about adding a leaf. Used to be about a 100.00 a spring, but this will effect you empty wieght ride. So would air bags and that would be alot of work putting it in and maintaining an air bag system. Especially if this a work truck...maybe try to find a pair of 3/4 ton springsfrom a junk yard. They are dirt cheap and they have lots of them...jj

[abadassbowtie]

I thought about the 3/4 ton springs I just wasn't sure they would fit and how much of a different ride it would make. I thought about doing add a leaf but it would ride rougher, Or what does anyone know about these supersprings they seam like the would work really good. http://www.supersprings.com/

[jumpingjack66]

check part numbers with a junk yard guru,or start a thread and gmMerlin should answer you with info on what springs you can put on it..Also i have tried numerous helper spring contraptions over the years and what ultimatly happens is they vibrate loose fall apart and you don,t find out till you have lost most of the bolts and brakets...I stopped screwing around with them and just started either rearking my stock springs, or buy a set of 3/4 springs. I would question supersprings claim of not effecting ride comfort. Anything you do back there is going to change ride comfort.. Personally i would just get 3/4 springs because they are designed to previde some reflection of a comfortable ride when you are driving empty. Besides putting heavier springs means you,ll be able to carry more wieght then your truck can take, so they should be pretty hard to break...jj

[speilman]

OK Just out of curiosity how do air shocks negativly affect the ride on wet roads? I've got a buddy with a 1500, who's got a set of air bags installed, When he's got them pumped up the ride is a bit harsh, but they allow him to pull a 12000 lbs trailer. When he lets the air out the ride does become much more comfortable. On a side note the airbags can be a pain in the ass unless you opt fpr the onboard compressor, or you're a carpenter/handyman and always carry a compressor with you.

[abadassbowtie]

He has a 1500 and he can pull 12,000 pounds is that even possible mine is not rated no wear near that rating

[speilman]

You're right his isn't rated for that either, actualy it's a 97 Ram, but I didn't want to mention Dodge here , but yeah regularly pulls a 10 yard dump trailer full of roofing shingles.

[J-Ri]

Being a Dodge, I'm supprised the tranny hasn't gone out. I know two people with Rams. One replaced his tranny, the other one still needs to.

Trucks can pull much more than they're rated to. If there's not too much tongue weight, it'll get moving eventually. I pulled an 18' dump bed trailer (and the Ford it was attached to) that was full of sand out of a beach. We estimated the trailer had about 14,000 Lbs of sand in it, plus the trailer's 3,000 Lbs, plus a 7,000 Lb+ Ford. That's 24,000 Lbs on a 9,000 or 11,000 (don't remember which, just pull whatever I need to) rated truck. I sure wouldn't want to pull that much at any speeds, but I got 'er out. Also, I had everything working for my truck. Grippy concrete, strap pulling down on hitch...

[jumpingjack66]

I'm was talking about air shocks ---not---air bags.Two diferent animals..Air shocks preventrear axil articulation and body roll so that when you make an abrubt steering input like to avoid sombody pulling in front of you on a wet road , instead of your axil being forced down on the road equally on both sides while the body is rolling, one side gets lite on the road surface or comes off the suface of the road completely,...causing a sudden loss of traction and you go into a flat spin maybe ending up on the shoulder facing the wrong way of traffic...been there done that.. Then after a very good mechanic told me why air shocks are bad bad bad I replaced the front left suspension of my car including the
A arms and bought some coil over shocks to raise the car past my fat tires which is why i was using the air shocks to begin with...I,m not sure if articulation is the correct word but what im saying is the body must be allowed to role to a certain degree which allows the car to keep more wieght on both tires in a steering input situation,ie dog runs out or deer or blue hair...or sharp curvey roads like here in the mountain state..Air bags on the other hand do not cause this to occure to the same degrree as air shocks.....jj

[jumpingjack66]

BY the way i'm specifically talking about air shocks on the rear axil just wanted to make that clear...jj

[jumpingjack66]

Also, I should mention that air shocks as a function of there design will cause this problem no matter how little or how much air you keep in them...I'll shut up now...jj