Yet another in a long line of posts of people trying to beef up the suspension of their DAK for towing ridiculous payloads.....

My (S.O.) has dreams of going to a waterfront RV community for the cold months. In her quest for warmer weather, she purchased a #5700 bumper pull trailer last week while the truck was in the shop having the trans rebuilt and had it delivered.

Friday night coming back from picking up the truck rom the trans shop, I backed the Dakota under the hitch for the first time and let it down. The bumper just kept getting closer to the ground. It finally stopped a few inches from the grass. I grumbled and raised the camper.

Solution 1: Bolt-on Helpers

I went to my local parts store and bought Superior Automotive Leaf helper springs. See first set: http://sup-auto.com/catalogs/rideeffex.pdfThey may have raised the rear 1-2" with the truck unloaded but the bottom flat leaf really gets in the way of installing them correctly.

After lowering the camper onto the hitch again, it didn't seem to help at all(or not measurably).

So, now I'm hunting for options... I don't think the truck had a factory tow package so I don't know how many leaf springs it should have.

I also don't know if air ride shocks would help enough.

After reading what others have done by swapping 1500/2500 springs and/or changing the entire rear end out, I don't know what would be the most cost effective in the long run. I can't keep throwing money at this. Had I known the towing capacity was at the upper limit, I wouldn't have fixed the trans and probably bought a 3/4 Ton instead, but now I am stuck with the Dakota.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

First of all depending on your truck you may be exceeding the limit. Check out these charts to figure that out. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen-...ing-chart.html

Next if it is sagging it that much, maybe the trailer is putting on to much tongue weight. Depending on your Hitch you may be over the limit. A weight distributing hitch will put the weight on the frame over the entire truck and not the rear.

Can you flip the spring so it sits on top of the spring. I don't know if it works that way but try it.


Yes you could get air shocks. They are good for 1,000lbs. http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...0077&ppt=C0035

You can get coil over springs. Monroe Sensa-Trac

Or Add A leaf. Go to www.summitracing.com

You can get air bag helpers. 2,000lbs
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/AI...%7cYear%7c1995

 

I'm considering an airbag set for mine,but mainly for load capacity.I recently picked up a chord of firewood and the truck rode on the rubber bump stops.Figure the airbags will help prevent that in the future.

 

I have a Reese Weight Distributing Hitch Rated at 10,000 lbs, but I haven't hooked all of the bars and the sway control up.



I took pictures of the rear suspension. Maybe that will help clarify my dilemma and show how the helpers are obstructed by the lower leaf.

 

The trailer is tongue heavy if your bumper hitch is carrying more than 570 pounds...redistribute the load. If that doesn't help, trade it in on a 3/4 ton or you'll be doing the tranny again.

 

I decided to drop $300.00 on Air Ride add-ons with SummitRacing. Anyone have a discount code or should I call to get a discount?

 

Cool! Post up pics of the install.

As for codes try a simple www.google.com search. Tons out there, but most may be expired. The usual ones are 10% off or free shipping over $100.

 

Yeah, is our friend.... I did a cursory search and didn't come up with anything good before I posted earlier. But after looking for a while I hit pay dirt.

I found one for 15%. I tried some older ones first, but they came back with a 'not valid' on the confirmation page. I do have a gripe though. It didn't take the 15% when it went through to my Paypal. Hopefully it is just a glitch.

I will take pics of the install. I got a gauge, pump and relay so I can adjust the pressure in the cab. That way I don't have to carry an air pig, or hunt for a gas station if I need to air up. I may need a 3rd 'tee' though. I just thought about how I would let air 'out'. Hmmm...

I had it figured to tee between air bag cylinders then go to the front/cab where it will Tee again between the pump and gauge. I suppose I could put a release inline between the gauge somehow under the dash.

 

Update: The kit will arrive Tues. I am a P.O.'d at Summit since they shipped without any discount. If I didn't need the parts,I would refuse delivery.

 

Are you sure it was a discount code? There are customer codes and catalog codes. Those codes just say who received the catalog and which catalog you ordered from, and are not a discount code. I have seen several people post those codes up and call them discount codes. That is probably why when you entered it online it did nothing, due to it not being a discount code. So don't get mad at Summit for some persons wrong labeling.

If it was truly Summits fault for the code not working call them up. But I'm sure where you got the code was not a Summit advertisement ect. I'm sure it was someone posting on a forum of some sort and miss labeled it.