I have a 1999 Ram 1500 Quad cab 2 wheel drive with a 5.9, Automatic & Factory tow package. I have never towed with my truck and I recently bought a 2 axle car trailer. Rear suspension nearly bottoms out with my 2000 jeep wrangler on the trailer. Has anyone used Timbren overloads on a 1500 ?? If so what's your opinion of them ?? I will only be towing a trailer 10 to 12 times a year and only short hauls (less than 30 miles).

 

I have them, and so does dhvaughan. They are great, you will love them. Levels out the truck nicely when loaded heavily.

 

+1. as said.

also great for hauling firewood, lumber, etc.
for best unloaded ride, be sure and leave the 1 inch spacer out, so you have a gap for your springs to work in. if you leave the spacer out - be sure and keep it for if you change your mind.

for maximum hauling, put the spacer in. but - it creates a stiff ride all the time.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...installed.html

 

These look interesting, are there any pros / cons vs. airbags?

Edit; I did some reading and answered my own question.

 

^^ what did you find out? share it.

 

Thanks for the Information. I am going to order a set of timbrens and a brake controller. I hope thats all I need, I was looking at 3/4 and 1 ton pickups and really did not want to spend the $$$ when I Tow a trailer only about once a month.

 

post back your opinion on the timbrens.

also - don't tow in over-drive. not any... OD unit doesn't cool properly.
and consider a transmission cooler. they're not expensive, under $100.

 

Timbrens are a big improvement over traditional "helper springs" which can be downright intolerable when driving around without a lot of weight in the bed.

But I like the versatility of air bags, myself. Even without messing with on-board air, it's literally seconds to adjust the air in them from a simple Schrader valve. When you run them with just enough air in them to retain their shape, you don't know they are there, when you need big time leveling, just put some air in them.

Commonly made for either 2000# or 5000# of leveling strength, I can't imagine anyone needing the larger. I've had 2200# of river rock in the bed of my truck and only needed 40% air capacity to keep it level, while 30% capacity leaves it level when trailering a 7700# tractor/trailer combo. I have 2000# leveling capacity Air Lift, paid under $200 for the kit and it took me about 2 hours to install it in the driveway.

 

The airbags are very nice, but without an on board air system it seems like an inconvenience to me to air up / deflate for your ever changing load. Most times are planned, but there have been plenty of times I end up pulling or loading something unexpected... and suspect if I did have airbags I would have been at the gas station adding air all of those times.

At least the timbrens are ready to rock and roll 24/7 without the need to change anything. The design isn't complicated either... so you don't really have to worry about failure. With airbags you pray that you don't get an air leak. Only thing that kept me away from the timbrens was someones warning about hitting potholes and hearing "bang!" lol. The timbrens also don't help with initial sag which I was hoping to limit with the level kit. My coilovers work perfect for what I need. To each their own

 

It's not an issue for me, I carry a jump box with air compressor in my truck tool box, not to mention have a 110v compressor in the garage and a 220v in the barn at the farm. Also, I carry a small 12v compressor in my ATV with a tire patch kit (have had to use both on trail more than a time or two). So if I'm airing up to load the ATV, I can just pull the ATV up to the back and fill. The over-all volume of the bags is so small you can literally fill them from 10% to 100% in about 15 seconds.

Also, in my pic you may see that I welded the brackets on, you do not need to, as per the instructions you can bolt them on with the supplied bolts. I just chose to weld them.

Every load equaling system has pros and cons. I've done add-a-leafs before in other trucks I've had and know a couple of people with the Timbrens. In farm country Georgia, it's very common to know people with some type of system on their pickups. I've just found the air bag system I tried with this truck to have the least amount of cons, only ones being you need an air source and I guess the possibility of a bag breaking, which you almost never hear of.

On-board systems are great, if you use the bags regularly, from manual, in-cab, push a button right up to completely automated load leveling depending on how much you want to spend. I just don't use mine enough (maybe 6-8 times a year) to justify the expense...