Hi guys!! I’m going to be completely redoing my entire suspension on my ‘99 Ram sport. I’ve pulled the axel and was hoping someone could give me some suggestions on preferably a kit or something like that. I’m going to replace the rear springs with the 2500 springs. I’m looking for a heavy duty kit with shocks and shackles and everything else that I need. I wouldn’t be opposed to a lift kit either. I’m planning on using my truck to haul a trailer periodically in the 10,000lb range and probably putting a plow on the front. Any suggestions on what I should be looking at and where to start??

thanks in advance!!

 

Keep in mind, the 2500 springs are 3" wide, where the 1500 springs are 2.5", so, you will need spring perches, and the frame mounts as well, and using the narrower blocks is just a bad idea. Maybe a shackle flip to eliminate the blocks? The 3/4 ton blocks are two inches taller..... Between springs, and blocks, may end up with more lift than you really want. Maybe consider overload springs, or air bags instead?

Also, what is your truck rated to tow?? Being a 1500, I seriously doubt it is 10K...... probably more like 7K or so. Your suspension may be able to handle that, but, the real question becomes, can the brakes? (trailer better have it's own brakes, and they better work.) And then there are the legal ramifications of overweight towing....... Could be bad.

There are some upgrades you can do to your brakes, to make 'em work a bit better. Using 3/4 ton wheel cylinders in the back is one thing, I don't know if the LD 3/4 ton front calipers will work on yours though. Would be something to check into. (they have larger pistons in the calipers.....)

 

Since he already has dual piston calibers I think the LD calipers would be a downgrade

 

I didn't think the dual piston fellers came along till 2000?

 

I thought 99 and up got them? Who knows with all the changes lol

 

Not only that the rotor size is different also. If you plan on doing this you may want to get the 2500 master cylinder to. They have a larger diameter bore than the 1500's due to the larger calipers.

 

I was looking over at rockauto and found some heavier springs for the 1500 series. When I looked at the 2500 springs they were the exact same springs. 2.5” wide and a few different variants. Probably just put the heavy 1500s in and do some kind of a lift kit I guess. Not going to switch out breaks and all that. Any trailer I’m hauling is going to have surge breaks on it anyway. I don’t run heavy trailers without the breaks. Gotta be kits out there to beef up the suspension.

 

The 2.5 inch 2500 springs are likely for the light duty 2500..... the HD versions were 3".