There is certainly no shortage of niche truck suspensions in the aftermarket these days, each one designed for a certain type of customer. There are suspensions that can make your truck look like the ultimate desert racer. There are show truck suspensions that provide massive amounts of lift and eye-catching components. There are even truck suspensions that are designed purely for rock crawling. However, what about a well-engineered, properly tuned suspension system that is designed for the people who rely on their truck every day in the real world? What about all the people who want to install larger tires on their truck without sacrificing payload, ride quality or handling?
This was the inspiration behind the AEV 3” DualSport Suspension System for the 2013-18 Ram 3500. We wanted to design the ultimate “real world” suspension system –one that allows greater performance off-road, while also improving driver comfort and vehicle handling characteristics on the road and maintaining the factory load carrying capacity.
As with all of AEV’s expedition-ready suspension systems, the DualSport Suspension for the Ram HD is FMVSS No. 126 Compliant. FMVSS No. 126 is a rigorous standard set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that tests new electronic stability control (ESC) systems by subjecting it to various maneuvers designed to evaluate its effectiveness in preventing loss of control and skidding, including evasive lane-changing maneuvers at highways speeds.
The DualSport Formula
AEV’s 3-inch 2013-2018 Ram 3500 Suspension System focuses on optimizing geometry and custom shock tuning to deliver the best on and off-road performance. This starts in the front end, where Rams come standard with dozens of different spring rates on HD trucks, depending on powertrain, wheelbase, and more, so offering a generic “gas” or “diesel” spring would have been a huge compromise in ride quality and/or load carrying capacity. AEV retains the factory front coil springs mated to 3” cast aluminum coil spring relocation spacers to achieve the additional lift height. This takes advantage of the full range of factory spring rates and frequencies while still providing the necessary front end lift.
Steering geometry is corrected by way of AEV’s High Steer Kit, which includes a custom no-drill AEV drag link, AEV track bar and raised track bar tower. This system provides significant improvements to steering precision and handling by correcting the roll center height of the front suspension. Bringing the steering geometry back into factory alignment reduces body roll, bump steer, and roll steer, all major contributors to the loose or sloppy steering and driver fatigue commonly associated with many lift kits.
For many of the same reasons that we chose to retain the factory front coil springs, spring spacers are included with Ram 3500 suspension systems to provide the necessary lift height without sacrificing ride quality or load carrying capacity. AEV also includes a set of bump stop spacers, rear track bar relocation bracket, sway bar end links and a new power hop bracket (if applicable). The OE leaf springs are retained and new cast iron blocks are installed to provide 2” of lift in the rear on Ram 3500 trucks. New u-bolts and bump stops are also included.
AEV/Bilstein 5100 series shock absorbers are included with all DualSport Suspension Systems. These shocks feature a custom tune developed jointly by Bilstein and AEV engineers exclusively for AEV’s DualSport Suspensions Systems. By utilizing digressive valving, the AEV/Bilstein 5100 shocks offer substantial low-speed dampening. The dampening decreases as vehicle speed increases, providing a great ride quality over a wide variety of terrain.
Front Axle Relocation Kit
The factory radius arms are repositioned for optimal geometry, moving the axle forward 1.0”, which was engineered to use a 37″ tire. This provides a more neutral impact response, while also allowing more clearance for larger tires. A billet aluminum front driveshaft spacer is included to accommodate the new front axle positioning.
