Question about Handling with air suspension & off road vs Air suspension only

[Cabin]

Hello and thank you to everyone posting on this site. I'm in the market to buy a 2021 Ram limited, trying to decide about adding the off-road package. 95% of the time will be using for transporting family on road, but do plan on occassional hunting trips (3-4 times per year) and transporting kayak. This will be my first truck, previously drove a VW passat, so I'm used decent handling. Wondering if the off-road package will noticeably degrade handling on highway/street driving? Any other recommendation to improve handling with aftermarket additions, e.g. swaybar, etc?

 

[ShadowHawk]

the off-road pack does add some nice features like the all-terrain tires and skid plating, which does add weight and the AT tires will have an impact on handling since it's not specifically designed for just one surface. To be fair, the tall sidewalls will give you a little more bump cushion compared to the limited's 22in wheel options but it shouldn't be a drastic difference since coming from a Passat, you'll notice the truck is...well...not a Passat and will never handle as well as one since it's 3.5 tons of metal.

I've done my fair share of aftermarket tinkering on cars in the past; however, with the air suspension and overall complexity of these trucks with the air suspension, I personally don't see an anti-roll/sway bar doing much but causing the tires/suspension to take more of the lateral load than intended/design. Not sure what it will do long term to the air shocks and CA bushings.

Outside of lowering the truck (which you can leave it in aero mode, which does help MPGs and a little handling), there's not much to make it handle better and carve corners, and at that point, the air suspension would be tossed out and cause all sorts of mayhem.

That being said, the limited's and Ram 1500's in general are some of the best, if not THE best, driving/riding trucks on the road and in the 1/2 ton class.

 

[SpeedyV]

Hello and thank you to everyone posting on this site. I'm in the market to buy a 2021 Ram limited, trying to decide about adding the off-road package. 95% of the time will be using for transporting family on road, but do plan on occassional hunting trips (3-4 times per year) and transporting kayak. This will be my first truck, previously drove a VW passat, so I'm used decent handling. Wondering if the off-road package will noticeably degrade handling on highway/street driving? Any other recommendation to improve handling with aftermarket additions, e.g. swaybar, etc?

I would argue that the ORG upgrades the handling on these trucks in terms of stiffness and 'planted' feel, with the tradeoff that it's just a bit more rough. But the air suspension takes away most of the roughness, especially over large bumps. So they're a great combination. In fact, after driving vehicles with each of those options, I ordered mine with both. I did add a Hellwig swaybar, as even the ORG can't take out all of the air suspension's sponginess in the corners. It's probably the best bang-for-the-buck modification you can make on these trucks.

 

[Cabin]

Thank you both for your replies.