hi. I have a truck with a truck camper on it. if I have to put on the brakes hard my front sags.i know that's normal but what can I install on the front suspension to improve this. I do have new shocks.is there something else I can put on like heavy springs or air bags ?. I do have air bags in the rear. dodge ram 1500

Sounds to me like your for and aft center of gravity is too far forward. Your north-south Cg needs to be just ahead of the centerline of the rear axle with the camper loaded in the truck and all gear on board and can be adjusted by moving heavy items around in the camper.

You may also be putting too much air in your bags causing the weight transfer to the front axle. When the camper is loaded you want the bed rails to sit level and not have the rear end up, like an unloaded truck with no load in the bed. Check it with a bubble level with the truck/camper sitting in a level spot like a concrete parking lot or driveway.

thanks I will check it out

I used to have the same truck model and year. I think the Max payload on that was only around 1000-1200 lbs. (GVWR is around 6500 if I recall and your truck probably weighs around 5000lbs. That only leaves 1500lbs payload not including passengers, gear etc)

Your Laredo (which is an awesome camper BTW) is easily over 2000 lbs dry. Probably more like 2500 when loaded up. Your almost certainly way over spec for your truck. Assuming you don't want to buy a new truck I'd say get new shocks all the way around (Rancho 9000's are awesome) and heavier capacity springs for the front at least.

hi. I am pleased with the camper it seams to be well made. its a 2001 with aluminum siding. the manual says it ways 1460 lbs.i have air bags on the back, I will look in to getting new shocks thanks for your info

Never believe what the sticker says because that weight is based on a bare bones camper with no water. propane or gear aboard. I bet you are over 2000 pounds
Any truck (or car) when braking, transfers the weight to the front axle, that is dynamics plus 70% of your total braking capacity is on the front brakes.

The only accurate way to determine the actual weight is weigh the truck itself on a certified scale like a CAT scale, then put on the camper (with your gear, full propane bottles and FW tank full and weigh again and subtract the first (truck weigh) from the second weigh.. I bet you'll be amazed at just how much you really weigh.

My 2014 Palomino stickers at 1800. It actually weighs 2200 ready to go camping and if I really load up the truck I can push 2500.

In my opinion, people buy too little truck and expect that truck to handle loads it wasn't designed for and component life suffers (shocks, brakes, tires, transmission and fuel mileage).

I would never haul ANY truck camper in anything less than a 3/4 yon truck and a optioned put camper needs a 1 ton and possibly a DRW pickup to be safe.

Always remember, it may go down the road fine, but in an emergency situation, like a forced panic stop, it's not gonna happen. You'll either hi the person in front of you (assured clear distance) or kill a pedestrian, I don't want to do either.

I firmly believe in having too much truck versus not having enough. and in reality, most 1/2 tin trucks today are glorified grocery pick up vehicles and not much else. People but them with tiny beds but the have to have 4 doors.

I don'y get that. I've never owned a truck with a bed under 8 feet and don'y want to. The purposed of a truck is to haul cargo not he cool.

Go weigh it. I bet you'll be amazed.

I will go weigh it, there is a cat scale near by. thank you for your advice

I have F250 4x4 6.7 diesel with Cirrus 820 camper, both new. E load tires. Added air bags and torque lift stable loads. I know I'm overweight, but too late now. My question is what can I do to reduce side to side sway? Add a leaf spring? Swaybars? I get contradictory answers from the shops I have consulted with.

1. Run the tires at maximum inflation (cold pressure) and keep them there, checking regularly. 2. Load the camper low, IOW, keep the Cg as low as possible. When traveling, keep the heavy items on the floor and fill your FW tank full. 3. You already have a swaybar. Shorten the links slighily (will take some experimenting), the links are threaded and adjustable. You can also change out the factory cheap rubber bushings on the swaybars (ftont and rear with urethane hard bushings, that will help too,. Finally, as a last resort, you can add billet wheel spaces on the rear wheels to increase the track width a bit. You can get them on E-Bay in various widths.

Your best improvement and cheapest will be lowering the Cg (center of gravity) as low as possible bu loading everything heavy on the floor and filling the FW tank.

You are well over weight no doubt. Nice campers but like a Lance, are a tank.