dukabor
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I decided to create a thread on my research and plans for my 2020 Ram Crew Cab 6’4” suspension…
Not doing this for lack of information that is out here (and other sites), and there are some really great threads on here that go into these changes!! You all know who you are !!
I am no stranger to modified vehicles and suspensions, and feel I am quite capable, but by no means would I consider myself an expert. My age will show when I talk about heating and cutting coils in the 80’s, mini trucks on hydraulics in the 90’s, then into coil overs on hot hatches, and the ‘in process’ fully bagged 60’s C10…. Don't get me started on the lifts, but I digress…
I bought my Canadian 2020 Sport as a daily, but primarily to step into boat towing duties as required…. This turned into putting a lot of miles on travelling throughout the USA over the past year, went from 40k to 100k miles in a hurry… a couple little bumps and bruises but I have grown to really love and appreciate my truck. Thus, I am at the stage where I am taking care of some maintenance items, some minor body repairs and paint correction, and I am going to make the big move into the suspension as I will no longer be putting a heavy amount of miles on per year.
TLDR = I love this truck but that stink bug stance has got to go !!
Goal is to improve the stance, 3-5 (maybe even 4-6?), going to stick with 22’s and 285/45’s (maybe slightly wider?) with aftermarket rims, stocks will be the ‘winter’ setup. That being said, interested in creating more “sport-truck” handling characteristics, AND like many (or most) a line I will not cross is removing the towing capacity necessary to do this as required.
I have reached out to many out here and on other forums as well as direct to parts manufacturers and have been getting some great feedback, and waiting on more!
Ok, enough of the preamble…. And I will move into a ‘build’ thread once this all starts and will of course include all aspects of the truck beyond suspension.
Front suspension…..
There is lots out there on this, and common knowledge is after 2” the ride qualities deteriorates significantly, even the best coilover setup can only do so much with limited travel.
In order to retain travel the only two options are lowering spindles or lowering control arms. For spindles, there is much out there about Belltech and the 22” vs 20” wheel hub situation, and the impacts on clearance. There are several options for upper control arms, which honestly are required to retain camber and overall ride quality, but not many for lowers that are designed with a drop. IHC has them, and they have been tremendous in information sharing:
Their uppers and lowers are designed for a 3” drop on their own, and the balljoints they use are readily available by many aftermarket companies (Moog, Proforged etc) they use a K6292 upper and a K6541 lower, I believe this cross references to late 80’s to present GM trucks, so you know they will always be out there.
If you are able to achieve that type of ‘drop’ with control arms, it really opens up the opportunity on the shock/strut/coilover area to keep as much travel and tunability as possible, and dare I say, get down to 4” in the front with a good coilover setup! Now with a 4wd one really needs to be concerned with CV angles, and while there are companies out there that offer extended travel versions for lifted trucks, I have not seen it specifically referred to for 4wd’ s, but in theory they offer the same benefits. I am awaiting feedback on that front.
Here is a picture from IHC of a 4wd with their lowered control arms (IHC has been great in responding btw)
As I look at that picture and the CV angles i reached out to Trakmotive on their CH-86010XTT. They responded very quickly, and basically stated that in theory the same benefits their extended travel shafts bring to a lifted truck also apply to a lowered one, but of course, cautioned that they have not done any RD on the lowered side of the house and could not state if there would be any clearance issues.
(Maybe a good time as any to address the ‘why lower a 4wd that low?’ even at a 4” drop up front, I will retain more ground clearance than many Audis or Subarus, much less 2wd cars, and well, I will be driving on snowy and icy roads, this is Canada after all !)
With respect to shocks/struts up front, I am leaning towards a coilover setup, but have not fully decided that yet, and the answers to the control arm/spindle resolution will dictate the direction there for sure. From what I can see on the Ridetech coilovers, and am awaiting to hear back from them, they are a ‘minimum’ of a 1” drop, so if you combine that with the controls arms you are at 4”… if what I see around 2” drops getting front fender heights at around 34” or so, that may be (I can not believe I am suggesting this) too low… at least too low from the perspective of still maintaining sufficient uptravel for the ride…. I have no doubt one would be able to find a set of ‘stock height’ (at least to start) aftermarket coilovers (QA1?) that will put me at a better starting point….
Had a conversation with a tech at Ridetech… confirmed these are the only coilovers currently available for our Rams, and they indeed do start at a minimum of a 1” drop…. As an interesting note, he also stated their coilovers are going to be available through Mopar soon!
Also having thoughts about the front sway bar, don’t think I have heard much about potential better handling with upgrades there, but it is a thought.
Rear suspension….
This will be fun as well…. I currently have Airlift 5000 bags installed, and as you can see in the pic above, they are more than sufficient. I do not believe the ‘Durango’ bags or the 1000’s will be sufficient…. wake boats with added lead ballast are not light ! I would certainly like to hear real world experience on towing capacities with the 1000’s…
Thanks to Rockcrawler for his detailed experience on the Timbergrove CRM’s I am not sure that is the best route for me.
I am waiting to hear on how a rear coilover will work with a supplemental airbag system. And If the 5000’s I have now will work with the drop, or a smaller bag (timbergrove has lowering bags), plenty to dive into here…
Will for sure be upgrading the rear sway bar, I cant believe I have not actually done that yet!
Debating on adjustable rear links, but will replace the stocked stamped rear links. For link mounts, the cut kit from IHC seems to be the way to go, and have not heard negative feedback on their performance, though install can be a pain.
With respect to 2 piece driveshafts, I know there are spacers for the carrier bearings out there, but between that and adjustable rear links (like the Core 4x4 ones) can also alleviate driveline issues from pinion angle.
More to come, and I’ll reserve a couple posts beneath this for further data as it comes in!
Not doing this for lack of information that is out here (and other sites), and there are some really great threads on here that go into these changes!! You all know who you are !!
I am no stranger to modified vehicles and suspensions, and feel I am quite capable, but by no means would I consider myself an expert. My age will show when I talk about heating and cutting coils in the 80’s, mini trucks on hydraulics in the 90’s, then into coil overs on hot hatches, and the ‘in process’ fully bagged 60’s C10…. Don't get me started on the lifts, but I digress…
I bought my Canadian 2020 Sport as a daily, but primarily to step into boat towing duties as required…. This turned into putting a lot of miles on travelling throughout the USA over the past year, went from 40k to 100k miles in a hurry… a couple little bumps and bruises but I have grown to really love and appreciate my truck. Thus, I am at the stage where I am taking care of some maintenance items, some minor body repairs and paint correction, and I am going to make the big move into the suspension as I will no longer be putting a heavy amount of miles on per year.
TLDR = I love this truck but that stink bug stance has got to go !!
Goal is to improve the stance, 3-5 (maybe even 4-6?), going to stick with 22’s and 285/45’s (maybe slightly wider?) with aftermarket rims, stocks will be the ‘winter’ setup. That being said, interested in creating more “sport-truck” handling characteristics, AND like many (or most) a line I will not cross is removing the towing capacity necessary to do this as required.
I have reached out to many out here and on other forums as well as direct to parts manufacturers and have been getting some great feedback, and waiting on more!
Ok, enough of the preamble…. And I will move into a ‘build’ thread once this all starts and will of course include all aspects of the truck beyond suspension.
Front suspension…..
There is lots out there on this, and common knowledge is after 2” the ride qualities deteriorates significantly, even the best coilover setup can only do so much with limited travel.
In order to retain travel the only two options are lowering spindles or lowering control arms. For spindles, there is much out there about Belltech and the 22” vs 20” wheel hub situation, and the impacts on clearance. There are several options for upper control arms, which honestly are required to retain camber and overall ride quality, but not many for lowers that are designed with a drop. IHC has them, and they have been tremendous in information sharing:
Their uppers and lowers are designed for a 3” drop on their own, and the balljoints they use are readily available by many aftermarket companies (Moog, Proforged etc) they use a K6292 upper and a K6541 lower, I believe this cross references to late 80’s to present GM trucks, so you know they will always be out there.
If you are able to achieve that type of ‘drop’ with control arms, it really opens up the opportunity on the shock/strut/coilover area to keep as much travel and tunability as possible, and dare I say, get down to 4” in the front with a good coilover setup! Now with a 4wd one really needs to be concerned with CV angles, and while there are companies out there that offer extended travel versions for lifted trucks, I have not seen it specifically referred to for 4wd’ s, but in theory they offer the same benefits. I am awaiting feedback on that front.
Here is a picture from IHC of a 4wd with their lowered control arms (IHC has been great in responding btw)
As I look at that picture and the CV angles i reached out to Trakmotive on their CH-86010XTT. They responded very quickly, and basically stated that in theory the same benefits their extended travel shafts bring to a lifted truck also apply to a lowered one, but of course, cautioned that they have not done any RD on the lowered side of the house and could not state if there would be any clearance issues.
(Maybe a good time as any to address the ‘why lower a 4wd that low?’ even at a 4” drop up front, I will retain more ground clearance than many Audis or Subarus, much less 2wd cars, and well, I will be driving on snowy and icy roads, this is Canada after all !)
With respect to shocks/struts up front, I am leaning towards a coilover setup, but have not fully decided that yet, and the answers to the control arm/spindle resolution will dictate the direction there for sure. From what I can see on the Ridetech coilovers, and am awaiting to hear back from them, they are a ‘minimum’ of a 1” drop, so if you combine that with the controls arms you are at 4”… if what I see around 2” drops getting front fender heights at around 34” or so, that may be (I can not believe I am suggesting this) too low… at least too low from the perspective of still maintaining sufficient uptravel for the ride…. I have no doubt one would be able to find a set of ‘stock height’ (at least to start) aftermarket coilovers (QA1?) that will put me at a better starting point….
Had a conversation with a tech at Ridetech… confirmed these are the only coilovers currently available for our Rams, and they indeed do start at a minimum of a 1” drop…. As an interesting note, he also stated their coilovers are going to be available through Mopar soon!
Also having thoughts about the front sway bar, don’t think I have heard much about potential better handling with upgrades there, but it is a thought.
Rear suspension….
This will be fun as well…. I currently have Airlift 5000 bags installed, and as you can see in the pic above, they are more than sufficient. I do not believe the ‘Durango’ bags or the 1000’s will be sufficient…. wake boats with added lead ballast are not light ! I would certainly like to hear real world experience on towing capacities with the 1000’s…
Thanks to Rockcrawler for his detailed experience on the Timbergrove CRM’s I am not sure that is the best route for me.
I am waiting to hear on how a rear coilover will work with a supplemental airbag system. And If the 5000’s I have now will work with the drop, or a smaller bag (timbergrove has lowering bags), plenty to dive into here…
Will for sure be upgrading the rear sway bar, I cant believe I have not actually done that yet!
Debating on adjustable rear links, but will replace the stocked stamped rear links. For link mounts, the cut kit from IHC seems to be the way to go, and have not heard negative feedback on their performance, though install can be a pain.
With respect to 2 piece driveshafts, I know there are spacers for the carrier bearings out there, but between that and adjustable rear links (like the Core 4x4 ones) can also alleviate driveline issues from pinion angle.
More to come, and I’ll reserve a couple posts beneath this for further data as it comes in!
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