I've bagged a few trucks including my own and have been so impressed I'd never go add-a-leafs again. Too stiff when unladen.

I've never bagged a coil spring, but would imagine that buying stiffer coils would have the same result as add-a-leafs and give a sucky ride when there is no weight in the bed or not towing.

I would vote for bagging it...

 

How the taller coils would ride really depends on the design. If they did it right and built a progressive rate coil you could have the best of both worlds.

What kind of weight is he carrying anyways? I run around with 420lbs of sand bags all winter long and that doesn't even bring a 2wd to level.

 

The Timbrens are the ones that I got. I have a 4wd crew cab, and I pulled my tractor which weighs in around 4500lbs and it only made my truck sag a few inches. I feel if you go with bigger springs, they will still sag. You need a way to stop the back end of the truck from sagging. That's why I think the bump stops work well. They will only let your truck sag till it hits your rear axle. From there it can't go any further.

 

Oyen24... how are the Timbrens when the bed's empty? Are they fairly compliant? I had the Work-Rite bump stops in my '09 and had to take them out. They were fine with a load out back. But empty - sheesh. When I'd go over railroad tracks or rough pavement with an empty bed - you could feel the frame smacking down on the urethane stops and it made for a brutal daily commute. Had them in for a couple of weeks and couldn't take them anymore.

 

azdave ... same question i have had. their video shows mild movement while driving down the road but what happens over a bump/pothole/railroad track, especially in a curve.

i love my airbags because when air pressure lowered the truck has the great ride characteristics of stock, and this suspension setup is far superior to leaves... i especially notice is when hitting ruts/bumps in a curve at high speed, the rear end stays planted much better then my previous leaf sprung trucks (f150's, several of them)

the downside is remembering/access to airing up when needed, and will they eventually fail when needed or leak over time.

stiffer springs, unless done in a nice progressive rate, will make it worse all the time.

timbren could be best of both worlds, as long as there is enough travel to not effect empty/light load characteristics much, but not so much travel as to appear to sag badly.

also, another question is how to they work with lift/level kits? i have 2" front and back, so i guess i would have to use spacers to adjust the timbren?

 

I don't really notice much at all when the bed is empty. After I put in my leveling kit, I measured the distance from the bottom of my Timbren to my axle and I think I had about 6-8 inches, so I got an adapter that bolted on to the existing Timbren. Now I think I have somewhere between 3-4 inches between the axle and the Timbren bump stop. If I get the chance this weekend, I will take a pic of them on my truck and post it for you guys. I still have been looking around for a possible stiffer coil spring, but a stiffer spring will make a stiffer ride also. So I think I am going to stick with just the bump stops for now.
Now on my old silverado, I put in another leaf spring. Not the cheap $80-$100 add a leaf, but I went to a spring company and spent somewhere around $300 for the pair. IT added and extra 2000lbs to my payload. IT made for a little rougher ride, but the handling was find.

 

Just found these Heavy Duty coil springs from TufTruck Coils. Looks like they have 3 different coils for the 4wd ranging from 10%,25% and 50% more carrying capacity. Wonder how they ride, they would be an interesting mod. They have a few videos on you tube but nothing in action.

http://www.tuftruck.ca

 

Been looking around some more and found a new Firestone product available, it replaces the coils with airbags completely, but at a price of 1500$ it's not cheap at all. But man i would love to have them.

http://www.motorator.com/blog/mopar/...-2011-ram-1500

 

I agree, I've gone to Old Man Emu coils on my Grand Cherokee and even though they are about 30% stiffer than stock coils, they ride firm, but great on the open road. My winch on the front did in the stock coils over about two years.
I guess it's a matter of being able to find a good quality, after-market coil...

 

Don't know how much weight he is carrying, it's quite a bit. We're looking around trying to find some local truck scales to get both our trucks weighed. That will give us much better info about what to buy.

I will check out those TufTruck coils and see what I can find out about them. It would be better for him to have something like that installed instead of checking and airing up air bags. The load he has in his truck stays pretty constant so he's looking for a long term solution.

Thanks a bunch for everyones help and input!! Jim.