springs or leveling kit

[01cummins4ever]

I have been looking for a good bumper for a while and ran across this one the other day on C/L in grand junction, and practically stole it for 750.00. Its brand new never been mounted. its got a winch mount so ill be adding more weight in the near future. as you can see in the pic truck is sagging about an inch or two, so to level it back up would a leveling kit be a wise option or should I just buy oem replacement springs. These ones have about 280k on then so I'm sure they are getting a little week. Ive heard to stay away from those poly spacers but don't know, I've never dealt with the issue

[Me78569]

i'd do spings myself, but a leveling kit should work too...  I don't like the idea of a leveling kit, but really not a huge issue.

[Mopar1973Man]

I say springs before levelling kit. Levelling kit will require you to look at the front alignment and track bar adjustments and possibly start down the road of front modifications.

Personally I like my levelling kit the best. Always level...

 

Edited December 3, 2015 by Mopar1973Man

[01cummins4ever]

Ha! That works too. I always thought these trucks need more weight in the back

[AH64ID]

I am not sure you can find a good spring in the 1-2" height as all the decent springs I have seen are 3" which means longer control arms and shock too. 

I personally have a 1" spacer and I think it's about perfect. It is made by Top Gun Customz. 

[Wild and Free]

Go with the factory OEM snow plow package springs the part number ends as 988AA, I did these on my 02 with the addition of the ranch hand and it actually sat at total stock height with these springs and bumper. with the stock springs and bumper I sagged about 3/8-1/2 inch over stock. Ride difference for me was not really noticeable.

[CTcummins24V]

30 minutes ago, Wild and Free said:

Go with the factory OEM snow plow package springs the part number ends as 988AA, I did these on my 02 with the addition of the ranch hand and it actually sat at total stock height with these springs and bumper. with the stock springs and bumper I sagged about 3/8-1/2 inch over stock. Ride difference for me was not really noticeable.

Ditto. I put plow prep coils in the front and it lifted it about an 1" or so. Front is little stiffer but not noticeably. 

[The_Hammer]

Something to remember is that it doesn't take much lift at all to make an adjustable track bar a needed upgrade. Also, the ride will be rougher unless you install some extended control arms. This is due to the steeper angles of the control arms caused by the axle arcing back towards the cab.

I'm running 2" coil spacers and needed an adjustable track bar to center my axle up. I'm also going to build some new control arms to push the axle a 1/2" foward of the stock location.

Bottom line is that you can dump some money quick getting things set up right, even with just a couple inches of lift.

This is how it sits with spacers and add-a-leafs.

[01cummins4ever]

I think about 1/1/2 should be about right to get it back to level, I googled part #52113988AA and got a  Mopar dealer from Illinois called liberty auto, they had the coils listed at 120.00 but that's probably each, I don't know but Ill call them tomorrow. It looks like about 200 -250 is the going price for them upgraded coils. I

 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Wild and Free said:

Go with the factory OEM snow plow package springs the part number ends as 988AA, I did these on my 02 with the addition of the ranch hand and it actually sat at total stock height with these springs and bumper. with the stock springs and bumper I sagged about 3/8-1/2 inch over stock. Ride difference for me was not really noticeable.

ya I think I will go with the snowplow coils and see where it gets me, if need I can add spacers later but hope not

[Wild and Free]

On my 05 with the ranch hand I added the 1.5 inch leveling spacers and it raised it about 3/8" over stock and now sits almost perfect level now. Nothing else done and it rides and handles nice.

 

When I measure height I always measure from center of hub to bottom edge of fender to get a consistent measurement at the center line of the front axle. Not sure where everyone else measures from but in my opinion I think the raise should be measured from centerline of hub to a set point on the body to be accurate.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Wild and Free

[The_Hammer]

@Wild and Free

That's how I do it as well. 

[AH64ID]

1 hour ago, Wild and Free said:

On my 05 with the ranch hand I added the 1.5 inch leveling spacers and it raised it about 3/8" over stock and now sits almost perfect level now. Nothing else done and it rides and handles nice.

 

I have wanted a bumper for a long time on my 05, but they are so freakin heavy with the stock bumper I haven't wanted to do one. My front axle empty weight is right around 5K and I am easily over 5,200 when loaded without a trailer. The upgraded BJ's and wheel bearings help but I am not sure what the weakest link is anymore.

Edited December 4, 2015 by AH64ID

[The_Hammer]

How heavy are yall's bumpers? I take mine off and on by myself without a jack. 

[01cummins4ever]

I think mine is around 250#, I put it on myself but a floor jack was a necessity!! I think it took longer to get my stock bumper off than it took to mount the new one.

[The_Hammer]

I'm not sure what mine weighs, it only squats the front end about a 1/4". It's a tough bumper, it's been hit a half dozen times or more by dickheads who can't walk a straight line let alone drive in the wally world parking lot. I've come out of the store and found white, blue, yellow, red, green, and grey paint on it multiple times lol. 

[01cummins4ever]

Its the four legged traffic around here that worries me.

[Wild and Free]

I think overall the full ranch hand bumper is around 200# heavier than the stocker, according to the web site mine weighs 275#.http://www.ranchhand.com/catalog?setcookie=true

44 minutes ago, AH64ID said:

I have wanted a bumper for a long time on my 05, but they are so freakin heavy with the stock bumper I haven't wanted to do one. My empty weight is right around 5K and I am easily over 5,200 when loaded without a trailer. The upgraded BJ's and wheel bearings help but I am not sure what the weakest link is anymore.

Don't you mean 7k? My 1500 hemi weighs in @ a wee over 5K empty.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Wild and Free

[AH64ID]

39 minutes ago, Wild and Free said:

 

Don't you mean 7k? My 1500 hemi weighs in @ a wee over 5K empty.

 

Just the front axle weight. I am about 8500 GVW empty. 

 

The FAWR is 5200# and, in my experiences on my 05 and dads 06, is very easy to exceed. I haven't ever found what the weak link is, or what was changed to get the 5,500# rating for 2010-2012, if anything. I know there some knuckle changes to improve the turning radius but amok the bearings and BJ's are the same. 

 

200lbs of additional bumper will add more than 200lbs to the front axle since it is forward of the axle. 

Edited December 4, 2015 by AH64ID

[dripley]

38 minutes ago, Wild and Free said:

I think overall the full ranch hand bumper is around 200# heavier than the stocker, according to the web site mine weighs 275#.http://www.ranchhand.com/catalog?setcookie=true

Don't you mean 7k? My 1500 hemi weighs in @ a wee over 5K empty.

I am curious about the weight myself. Mine has never seen 5k or anything near it.

[AH64ID]

35 minutes ago, dripley said:

I am curious about the weight myself. Mine has never seen 5k or anything near it.

2nd gens are quite a bit lighter. 

IIRC the 2nd gens prior to 00 only had a 4850 lb FAWR, and it went up to 5,00 in 2000.