Softer ride for a 2500.

[No F-bdy Bs]

Yeah, yeah "shouldn't have bought a 2500 for ride quality!" 

Yeah, well it's not my daily driver, but nonetheless Louisiana roads magnify anything over a half ton. 

 

Anyhow, I just got a 25' Z71 Custom gasser. 275 Goodyear Wranglers. The ride isn't nearly as bad as other 3/4 tons, but anything I can do to ease things up a bit would be ideal. Truck came from the lot with 75psi in all tires. Wondering what would be a good psi that would be a compromise between ride quality, and turning the tires into bean bags, and hurting mpg. 

[Another JR]

First place to start is lowering tire pressure if you are operating well below max load. It made a big difference for me.
 

I have 2021 3500 gas cclb srw with 18 inch wheels and the stock Michelin tires.  I run the fronts at 53-55 psi. I would run the rears at 55 as well but the tire pressure warning system alerts at 62 psi. I run at 64-65 rear even when my 1800 lbs pop up camper is in the bed, which gives me roughly 50/50 weight distribution.
 

On a 2500 I suspect you could run 55 psi on the rear with no alerts. Tire wear pattern looks good after 12 k miles, with one rotation, and the sidewalls run cooler than the tread on the highway. 
 

I assume in Louisiana you would not have a plow package, but if you have a camper package it will have stiffer front springs giving 400 lbs of additional front axle gross weight capacity. That can be modified back to the base springs for about $600 as a DIY job. I did that on mine after realizing I didn’t need or want the extra stiffness in the front springs. 

Edited January 21, 2025 by Another JR

[revrnd]

I run either 50 or 55 psi unless I'm hauling firewood or hauling my travel trailer & increase it to the placard pressures.

 

At 55 the TPMS gives low pressure warnings (2500HD).

 

Is there a camper special RPO? I've never heard of 1 in recent years. AFAIK, the VYU plow prep, is the only optional way to bump up front suspension rating.

Edited January 21, 2025 by revrnd

[Another JR]

It’s called the the heavy duty front spring/camper package.  I don’t know the code, but it’s in the current build and price tool on the web site. Costs $45.  Same as for my 2021. 

[No F-bdy Bs]

Any noticeable gain in the shocks? 

Mine came with the Ranchos. 

[Another JR]

I still have the original Ranchos on my 2021, so I can’t provide any direct experience on improvement from shock changes. This summer i will probably replace them with Bilstein 4600 or 5100. Others have said on this forum that installing Bilsteins gave a noticeable ride improvement for not much money. You could do a search. 
 

The truck is going to be stiffer than a 1/2 ton no matter what, but still will give a reasonably comfortable ride with the right tire pressure - especially the 2500. Put 1000 lbs in the bed and it will get even better. My 3500 rides pretty nicely with our 1800 lb camper in the bed. Empty it’s pretty stiff. 

[Epsilon Plus]

Shocks will do nothing as the springs are hard to compress in these trucks unless loaded heavy.

 

Cognito comfort ride torsion bars for front and rear leafs is the only"softening" suspension option at a -25% load capacity penalty. Large sidewall tires (35/37s on 17/18" wheels) running 45psi can help as well. You'll need something to relax the TPMS threshold so you don't get a low tire light doing that. Not sure about it there's anything for 24+ that do that though since they went to Global B electronics.

[Another JR]

My Ranchos damp out large suspension motion just fine. What they don’t do adequately is damp the bouncing of the axle due to the tire bouncing off of bumps. It’s not very noticeable for a single bump, but on certain interstate highway sections where the concrete joints are uneven and are spaced at the right distance, the shaking of the truck body from the repeatedly excited and inadequately damped axle motion from tire bounce is really annoying. A friend of mine assures me the 5100s will improve that a lot. We shall see. 

Edited January 23, 2025 by Another JR

[asilverblazer]

20 minutes ago, Another JR said:

My Ranchos damp out large suspension motion just fine. What they don’t do adequately is damp the bouncing of the axle due to the tire bouncing off of bumps. It’s not very noticeable for a single bump, but on certain interstate highway sections where the concrete joints are uneven and are spaced at the right distance, the shaking of the truck body from the repeatedly excited and inadequately damped axle motion from tire bounce is really annoying. A friend of mine assures me the 5100s will improve that a lot. We shall see. 

The resonance of the joints has to cause the suspension to begin compressing the springs because the joints themselves aren't a significant of enough bump to do it. To dribble a basketball (inflated tire) you have to push it back to the ground with your hand (leaf spring) at the correct time. 

[XY74]

I had a 2020 Chevy HC and put Bilsteins on it at about 35K.  I really liked the controlled feeling they had especially towing.  They were firmer than the plain jane stock shocks.  My 2025 GMC came with the X31 package with the Rancho's and it rides noticeably softer than the old truck. 

 

I was getting the same type motion Jon is reporting with the stock shocks (not Rancho), mainly noticed it towing over certain bumps.  Yes, the Bilsteins cured it.  

[AndrewF]

What are the part numbers everyone has used for the bilsteins? I can't find anything for the front of stock height trucks.

Edited January 24, 2025 by AndrewF

[revrnd]

10 hours ago, Epsilon Plus said:

Shocks will do nothing as the springs are hard to compress in these trucks unless loaded heavy.

 

Cognito comfort ride torsion bars for front and rear leafs is the only"softening" suspension option at a -25% load capacity penalty. Large sidewall tires (35/37s on 17/18" wheels) running 45psi can help as well. You'll need something to relax the TPMS threshold so you don't get a low tire light doing that. Not sure about it there's anything for 24+ that do that though since they went to Global B electronics.

I found out that the Launch Creader Elite even w/ a CAN FD adapter is unable to access the TPMS to adjust the thresholds on my 2024. A member here was able to use 1 to adjust an earlier T1XX.

Edited January 24, 2025 by revrnd

[XY74]

I used the part numbers off the Bilstein website.  Looks like I bought them from the Borg.  (amazon)

 

24-196437  front  24-196444  rear   4600 series

 

https://bilstein.com/en-us/products/

[newdude]

14 hours ago, revrnd said:

I found out that the Launch Creader Elite even w/ a CAN FD adapter is unable to access the TPMS to adjust the thresholds on my 2024. A member here was able to use 1 to adjust an earlier T1XX.

 

 

Vehicle architecture changed.  2020-2023 HD were still on GM Global A.  2024+up are GM Global B/GM VIP.

[AndrewF]

46 minutes ago, XY74 said:

I used the part numbers off the Bilstein website.  Looks like I bought them from the Borg.  (amazon)

 

24-196437  front  24-196444  rear   4600 series

 

https://bilstein.com/en-us/products/

Ah ok, I see you used the 4600 series.  Someone else above mentioned the 5100 series so that's what I was looking for.  Glad the 4600 series still has an improvement though.

 

Edited January 24, 2025 by AndrewF