Used Ram in Rome, Georgia

In 2009 Ram did something no half ton pickup had done in nearly forty years. It took the leaf springs out of the back of the 1500 and fitted coil springs with a five link setup: two lower links, two upper links and a track bar holding the axle centered under the truck. The rest of the full size segment stayed on leaves, and Ram had the layout to itself until the Toyota Tundra adopted a coil sprung rear axle for 2022.

The point of it is what happens with nothing in the bed, which is how a half ton spends most of its life. Leaf springs do two jobs at once, carrying the load and locating the axle. Coils only carry. The links handle location and the track bar handles side to side movement, so the axle stays where it is put and the body settles after a bump instead of pattering on after it.

On the roads around here, that is not an abstract advantage. Most driving here happens on two lane county blacktop with patched seams and settled shoulders, and most of it happens empty, with a trailer on the back a handful of times a year. A coil sprung Ram makes that kind of driving noticeably less tiring. It is the half ton for somebody who wants the truck to behave like a vehicle on the days it is not working.