2025 Ram 1500 Limited w/factory air suspension 2/4 or 3/5 drop in process

[ram h.o.]

I read through his post and several others multiple times, it appears he is using a sleeve bag from firestone with some 3d printed top and bottom caps that match the factory ones. Not sure I'm up for 3d printed components in that use.

I even see where you and probably 4 or 5 others are using the 4" crm kit with great results and one guy even has QA1 shocks. Clearly I am doing something wrong but can't figure out what. The kit was straight forward to install, I paired it with QA1 adjustable shocks but I can NOT get the uncontrolled bounce to go away. I even had my neighbor ride in it, he is also into rockcrawling, has a buggy with ORI's and is a vehicle junky in general like us. The first set of bumps we hit, I look over and he is bouncing from the seat to the roof uncontrollably...so bad in fact I started laughing. I decided to put the factory stuff back in to eliminate the possibility that I did something wrong installing the IHC kit, once I put the factory bags and shocks back in it rides great again. I can't make it make sense.

The ridetech coilovers came with 850 lb/in springs and the shocks set at 10-12 seem to ride and handle excellent, just a bit firmer than my stock airbags but I'm ok with that. I'd compare the front to the ride of my wife's BMW x5. Sporty and firm but not uncomfortable or bouncy. The rear feels like you're riding on a warmed up marshmellow (I can't even describe the feel, its that bad), and if you start adjusting the shocks then when you get to smaller imperfections in the road you can feel every one of them as if the rear is too stiff, but if you jump on the bumper its soft and bouncy. I was losing my mind chasing my tail so I gave up...for now!!! I may venture back into it after it warms up but for now just want to enjoy driving this truck.

The thing about just using the adjustable links is you can only lower the back about 1.25" before it will bottom out on the factory airbag (its a sleeve bag with hard plastic vertical walls).

 

[Rock Crawler]

That is so crazy.

 

[ram h.o.]

The sun warmed up the shop today so I decided to try the Timber Grove setup again...no spacers. I simply pulled the factory bags out and put these in place...leaving the factory shocks, track bar etc etc as is. The factory setup was riding SO SMOOTH AND STABLE with about 70-75 psi sitting at 38" fender to ground just as it came from the factory.

I decided to try a test...I set the psi in the timber grove bags to 75 psi to match factory setting which put the fender to floor at 36" (keep in mind this is 2" higher than it should be since it is the 4" lowering crm kit). My concern now is simply can it ride as good or close to factory???

I hit the same whoops, bumps, ruts and speed bumps as before with noticeably better results...the uncontrollable bounce is 90% less than it was and I think that if I was to swap the QA1 double adjustable shocks in I might be able to get it dialed in this time.

What doesn't make sense is why do I have to run such a high pressure and sit 2" higher than everyone else to achieve a reasonable ride quality?

You can see in the pic that the bag is sitting at 8" from top of bag plate to bottom of bag plate. Should be about 6"

 

[Rock Crawler]

When you ordered your QA1s, did you provide them with the three required measurements? When I ordered my RideTech shocks, I set the axle at my desired ride height, fully extended height, and fully compressed height, then provided them all three measurements. I’m wondering if the QA1s are not the proper length for proper travel on the lowered truck. If they are not, you may be fully extending or fully compressing the shock, which will obviously cause ride issues.

It makes sense that filling the bag with more air fixes the bounce. It’s because now the bag cannot compress and expand. It’s essentially stuck where it is. The extremely bouncy ride you had is a shock issue, not a bag issue. The bags, just like a spring, will cause the truck to bounce. The shocks control the bounce and tune the ride. When you lower the truck, you have to use a shock that is compatible with that ride height. You cannot use a stock shock with the truck in a lowered position, or it will most likely bottom out.

Running a 4” drop bag fully inflated will keep the bag from compressing and extending the way it is designed and will most likely cause a pretty stiff ride. Additionally, if the QA1s are the correct length, you may have issues using them with the truck 2” higher than the height they are intended for. For some reason, I just keep thinking that there is something about the shocks that are causing your issues. I could be wrong, though. It’s just what makes sense to me.

All of this is really strange. I can only assume that your truck being 4WD and air-ride, something is different enough to be causing issues with lowering. I measured my bags at my current right height and they are at about 4 1/2”. It’s really hard to get an accurate measurement, but that is pretty close.

 

[ram h.o.]

The first set of QA1’s I did not, but when I ordered the double adjustable set I called them and gave them all the measurements and even explained my issues, he was confident the double adjustables would fix my issues.

I’ll lower mine to 4.5” today and see what pressure it’s at and how it rides…I’m pretty sure it’ll look sadly deflated . If it is, I’ll try 4.5-6” and will put the QA1’s back on. I just wanted to see what it felt like with the factory shocks and pressure. Curiousity was killing me, my brain has been working OT trying to figure this out.

I’m 100% sure the QA1 isn’t bottoming or topping out. It has a o-ring so you can see how far it compresses (still has 2.5” left) and then I can put the truck on jackstands and see it drop several inches past full extension of the bag itself.

I really appreciate all your help taking pics & measurements.

 

[ram h.o.]

Test 1... 6" bag height, 35" fender to floor, 35 psi in both bags (1/4" lower on drivers side, full tank of fuel), factory shocks = Ride quality on whoops felt more than factory but not overly dramatic like before, speed bump seemed to settle in 1.5 bounces whereas before it was like 3 bounces and comically squishy, didn't feel small cracks in road. Overall a decent ride, def softer than I'd prefer but could live with this, still would need to tow boat and see how it handles. Only issue was hit the factory shock limit and bottomed out on decent size bump (I expected this due to length of that shock).

This result has me really wondering what will happen in test 2 with the QA1 shocks...out of all the previous posts and tests I never tried the factory shocks since they are so long and I was trying to go 34" height which would have that shock sitting about 1/4" from bottomed out. I know this...the factory shock is fairly easy to compress by hand and is also nitrogen charged and extends fairly easily as well. That same feel is about a 5 on comp & rebound of the QA1's. However in previous testing if I set the QA1 anywhere in the 4-6 range it either rode to bouncy or too harsh. There was no happy middle ground.

Test 2... install QA1 TD902 double adjustable, set to 4 compression & 8 rebound (someone on facebook is using these settings with good luck but on 4" maxtrac coil springs) =



Here is pic of bag at 6" with 35 psi. This looks more "correct" if compared to last nights picture of 75 psi. I'm just trying to test several theories for now. Will lower this to 4.5" after these test results...I have a feeling the bag will be deformed and flopping to one side and probably be rubbing or close to rubbing on top bracket area.