New to RV Forum

[John and Marsha Standish]

Hi,

My name is John Standish, we live in Indianapolis and enjoy RVing with our 2012 Coleman 18' Travel Trailer

We pull it with a 1996 Dodge Ram 1500, 4.7 Liter V8, Automatic regular cab with long bed the truck is rated at 7500 pound tow capabiity, it pulls the 5500 pound trailer OK (4000 empty, 1500 in fluids and cargo)





I assume because of its age it sags in the rear when empty, when loaded it sags a few more inches

I would like to install air shocks to get the rear up where it was originally

Any suggestions on brands ?

 

[donn]

Air shocks are a bad idea.  They tend to break shock mounts.  Now air bags are a different animal and do work.  But a properly setup and adjusted equalizer type hitch should be all you need with that small of a trailer.

 

[mypursuit]

    "I assume because of its age it sags in the rear when empty, when loaded it sags a few more inches",    Wow, for a moment I thought you were talking about DW. 

 

[John and Marsha Standish]

The Equalizer definitly helps when I am connected to the trailer,  but I also want  the truck sit level when its empty

Does any particular air bag brand stand out as a clear choise ?

 

[SargeW]

If your 1/2 ton is sitting on coil springs, you can replace the coils a lot cheaper than adding air bags.  Shoot, for that matter if you have leafs in the rear it would be cheaper to add another leaf than air bags too.

 

[John and Marsha Standish]

want to follow up on all options, have any of you added another leaf to the rear springs (1996 Dodge 1500)

If so who is a good source and how big of a job is it ?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Most any spring & suspension shop could either replace or re-arc your existing springs to restore the original lift. Not usually expensive unless there are more bent/broken parts than just the leafs. Try the Yellow Pages or Google for 'springs' or 'suspension' in a town near you. Most cities of any size at all have a shop that specializes in that sort of thing.