There are plenty of suspension offerings on the market for the 5th gen Ram 1500 platform, ranging from cheap to expensive. In this thread, I will be detailing why I chose Fox 2.5 for my build, procedures of installing and dialing in the ride, and a review of the build as everything came together. If you are interested about my background, experiences, and story, you are more than welcomed to visit my build thread
here.
Parts Used
- Carli Boxed Upper Control Arms: CS-RAM15UCA-09
- Carli Rear Springs, Rebel HD...
just copy my old homework and you're done
if you're always heavy like I am, then:
one easy rule of thumb is take whatever that is on the market, (ie, the Fox 2.5) and minus 1" and that will be your new height. For example, Fox 2.5 come at 2" lift, that is for non Offroad Group/ non Rebels, so they gain 2" lift. On Rebels, because you have 1" from factory, you will only gain 1" with the stock Fox 2.5.
Another method of thinking is, disregard what Rebel's 1" come with and start from regular truck's 0" lift. The logic is, most of the legit kits use stock 0" lift as reference, and once you remove the stock suspension from your rebel you start from 0".
But whatever you choose, do not go over 3" because that CAN mess with your CV.
Also do NOT do pucks/ spacer lift. (here:
Technical Tuesday: Suspension Lift vs Pucks - Why Pucks/ Spacers are Never Good Ideas)
Also, as someone who's done plenty of lift kits for customers, these are the brands you should consider based on your budgets:
- Lower cost
- Bilstein 5100 or Ironman 4x4 FCP plus whatever else is needed (more on that)
- *note: ironman 4x4 FCP is not that wellknown in the Ram world but they are great actually - tried it on a customer's truck in the desert and it actually performed better than 5100 due to the oil volume and piston design.
- Medium cost
- Carli 2.0 Commuter Pack
- comes with everything you'll need, but downside is they are based on Icon 2.0 shocks... and Icon tend to prematurely leak a lot. I'd like to think Carli does their own QC but we shall see about that)
- High cost
- Stock Kings or Fox 2.5 DSC, plus whatever else is needed
- Ultimate
- Carli 2.5 Performance Pack (comes with everything you'll need, takes out the guesswork completely) or
- Thuren Kings (tuned specifically for YOU - how YOU drive, the type of terrain YOU drive on, how YOU want the ride to be, your constant load, etc. But will need to buy some other things separately. This is the Ultimate function over budget option before going full custom)
- Full custom
- Long travel kits with fully custom welded parts that require cutting your front shock buckets and lower arm mounts for longer lower arms and bypasses. This is the ultimate option that allows you to run 200+miles a day in the desert but on-road performance can be seriously impacted)
All others are brands that I'd stay away from due to bad experiences (rides, quality, etc)
Things that you will need:
- UCA:
- use Carli or Thuren.
- Avoid Amazon brands despite the price tag. Icon is popular, their tubular ones are fine but a royal pain in the rear to put together. Their billet ones sheared on my customer's rig less than 6 months after install and that's not the only story i've heard.
- Rear springs:
- choose whatever that can get you to the height you want.
- You can use spacers here, since it's solid axle and not coilover but I honestly don't recommend.
- Personally I ran Carli Rebel HD before and now I'm on Clayton 2.5" Triple Rate HD due to weight.
- Rear arms:
- entirely optional.
- If your bushings are shot or on the way out, then change them out.
- If you party a lot on dirt, change them out.
- I didn't change mine because... I'm so heavy on the rear axle that the weight actually helps with keeping the arms in check when I party on dirt. Some people swear by Core4x4, but if I was to change mine I'm going Thuren because Thuren actually test them in the desert before releasing them.
- Rear sway bar end links:
- change them out because you're lifting the rear.
- I use Carli ones and they are fine.
- Rear sway bar:
- Entirely optional.
- People say they make a difference but again, I'm so heavy in the back it doesn't really matter. Also I set my rear Fox 2.5 to full stiff (high and low speed - because i'm too lazy to change the settings every time I hit dirt) so that helps with mitigating body roll in the back.
- Front sway bar:
- optional.
- some say they make a difference but with the current heavier rated springs in the front i have very low body roll. Even with the stock Fox 2.5 with low speed at full firm I have very low body roll as well.
- Front sway bar end links:
- optional, imo.
- If your ball joints on the end links are shot then change them.
- SuspensionMaxx make good ones.
- Front lower arms:
- if your lower arm bushings are shot or the ball joint is shot, change them. If not, leave them be. Not difficult part to replace.
- Front brake lines:
- you shouldn't need to change them unless you're doing Carli 2.5 Performance.
- Check with Thuren if you will need them if you go Thuren.
- All others, you will NOT droop your front enough to require them
Things that you may or may not need:
- Tie rods:
- check for damages or wear
- CV axles:
- check for damages or wear or noise.
- If you are replacing them, go with extended travel ones.
- I have the stock ones now for 40k miles and at least 10k is on high speed dirt - i run my truck hard on dirt. just waiting for them to go and i'll get the extend travel ones, or if i move on to a power wagon then that' will be the next guy's problem)
- Sway bar bushings:
- If they are making noise, change them.
- If they are shot, change them.
- The poly ones are better
- Lower ball joints:
- Change them along with the arms
- Lower arm bushings:
- Change them along with the arms, make life a lot easier than to press them out
- unless you have the person working on your truck then, by all means change the bushing only.
Yes it is a long list and yes, it gets expensive. If anything, going back to stock is probably the lowest cost way to do things correctly lol
