I have a 2001 Dodge RAM 2500 4 X 4 with long bed and a top heavy Okanagon truck camper on it. I bought this Camper from a dealer at the East coast in 09 and he assured to me that my 2500 HD is built strong enough to carry that heavy unit - but it is not!

I added aftermarket airbags from firestone, exchanged to heavy duty shocks and then finally I added a Roadmaster Anto Sway bar in Augiust 09. This bar worked great in the beginning, but it lost its strength already after 2 months...and now my unit is swaying again like a boat on the ocean.

Does anybody has an idea what I can do? I ve heard about Anti Sway bars for the front axle or has anybody an idea if there are kits available to add overload springs or something? I need the best solution, no matter what it costs.

I cant affort to upgrade to a 3500 Dually, (extremly eypensive here in Canada) so I d appreciate if somebody could help me out with a good idea.

Canadian sources are very welcome, would save customs trouble....

Martin

You could upgrade your tires to a higher load rating which will give you thicker sidewalls. This will reduce any sway coming from the tires. The higher the load rating the better.

I have a Dodge 3500 dually (yes very expensive here in Canada... if you can find one) which has E load rated tires all around. I was also getting lateral sway from my camper so I added the Stable Loads from Torklift. They force contact of the overload springs as soon as the camper is installed which also helps a lot. I have not added air bags yet but I don't seem to need them. I am sure they would help a lot if I did.

http://www.torklift.com/p.php?w_page=stableload

You can also try Supersprings which will help some too:
http://www.supersprings.com/

The only other this I can think of is free - load your camper with all heavy stuff as low as you can get it - on the floor if you can.

I don't think its possible to completely eliminate lateral sway but all of this should help. Good luck!

I too have a 2500HD that had tons of sway.
Highergrade tires, and the Stable Loads did a great job making it manageable. Not perfect! But definatly manageable.
My next move is to go to a 19.5 inch rim and get load range H tires.

http://www.torklift.com/p.php?w_page=stableload

This helped my ride out. Im going from a 35" tires down to a 33" tire.

Timbren rubber coated coil springs that replace the standard spring bump stops may also help. I used them on a F250 HD and they stopped the sidesway on corners.

Neverhome

If it were my truck I would swap out the front coil springs for a pair of 3500 (1 ton) springs.
It's all about mechanics....leaf sprung trucks (up front) don't sway as much, but also ride harsher. Fully loaded rigs will always rock and sway side to side. We need to modify all four corners with overload springs/airbags, heavy duty shocks and over-sized sway bars to counter-act the sway. The down side is a stiff ride when unloaded....I think it comes down to how you want your rig to perform and compromise between loaded and unloaded.
Just my 2 cents...

Im in the same boat as you. I have a dodge with an okanagan 90w. I have a hellwig sway bar that is made out of spring steel. Your roadmaster is not spring steel which means exactly what you said it lost its strength. I have stable loads from torklift and timbren rubber overload springs. I still have some sway and my deduction is that it is in the E load range tires. I am going to up grade to 19.5s (www.ricksontruck.com) as soon as i can afford it. Also I am gonna try some supersprings. I started carrying this camper from bone stock and the most improvement for the sway so far is the hellwig sway bar.

The problem on my truck is that the brackets which are supposed to hold the stable load pads (the yellow rubber things ) from Roadmaster - are missing on my frame. There are some Dodges they have them and some which dont have them, unfortunately I dont have them. But as I said, its a 2500 HD.

I asked the guy who added 2 more leaves into my rear suspension and he just said that it is ilegal to weld something onto the frame, otherwise it would be my first choice to install those stableload pads.....

I think that 60 % of the sway comes from a too weak suspension and 40 % of the soft sidewalls of my tires. I think to upgrade to those 19.5 heavy duty trucktires like drjay suggested will help a lot.

But what can I do with the stable loads? I mean I have them already..... but in fact I dont know any McGuyver out there who can modify my frame or weld those overload brackets on? Or is there some kit available on thze aftermarket. You guys in the US have all kinda fancy stuff which we do not even get across the border up here in Canada....


Martin

forget the stable loads from torklift get supersprings. stable loads are for overload springs it doesnt sound like you have any. www.superspring.com. supersprings will do way more for you than the other trust me i have the other.

The number one cause of sway is not enough air pressure in tires. Air them up to max rated pressure - all four of them.

I have a GMC 2500 Sierra with air bags, loaded with a Lance 821 with slideout, very heavy, think about this, when the truck sways to one side it applies pressure on the airbag pushing the air into the otherside airbag making the sway even worst. Two weeks ago I installed a manuel ball valve between the two airbags so when I fill my bags the ball valve is open for the pressure to be even between the bags then I close the ball valve so that the air can not be forced into the other airbag when the truck sways. Just got back from a 2600 mile trip going over mountains and swaying alot it sure helped with the problem of swaying it's not a complete cure but it did improve on it.