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2,000-lb Capacity. Convert your vehicle's leaf springs into a mechanically active suspension system. RAS adjusts to your load to level your ride. The system also increases stability, handling, and control by improving traction and reducing sway.
Features:
Specs:
All-In-One Suspension System
When towing or hauling a heavy load, you may encounter a number of problems that can make your driving experience difficult or dangerous, such as sway, body roll, or bottoming out. When your vehicle is weighted down, your factory leaf springs can't counteract these problems to the extent that they are supposed to. The weight will overpower the leaf springs and cause them to twist or flatten out. When that happens, they cannot support, level, or stabilize your vehicle effectively. Additionally, because your factory leaf springs are passive, they won't begin to tackle problems such as sway until those problems have already started.
Roadmaster Active Suspension (RAS) kits enhance those passive leaf springs by converting them into a mechanically active, all-in-one suspension system. RAS kits have variable-rated coil tension springs that automatically adjust to your heavy load. Other suspension systems only solve a few problems and usually at the expense of other improvements your factory leaf springs may need. RAS, on the other hand, is a unique kit that provides everything you want in a suspension system without any trade-offs. It eliminates bottoming out like air springs, reduces sway and body roll like sway bars, keeps your ride level like helper springs, and improves traction and braking control like traction bars. This improves your vehicle's stability, handling, and control while you are towing or hauling, as well as when your vehicle is unloaded. RAS also makes your overall driving and towing experience safer and more comfortable, which greatly lessens driver fatigue.
Each RAS unit has a powerful variable-rated coil tension spring that converts your passive leaf spring into a mechanically-active system. Once your vehicle is loaded, the tension springs immediately activate to absorb and support the weight. This allows your leaf springs to maintain their bowed position and keeps them from flattening out or flipping over, which greatly hinders their ability to bear a heavy load. The tension springs are variable-rated, which means that the heavier your load is, the more assistance they provide to your leaf springs. Because of this design, RAS reacts instantaneously, whereas hydraulics, air springs, and other suspension systems take time to react. And unlike your factory leaf springs, RAS stops sway and sag before they even start to happen. Additionally, when your vehicle is unloaded, the tension springs disengage, allowing your leaf springs to perform as intended without hardening your ride. RAS won't hinder your leaf springs' movement, nor will it cause any friction between any of the brackets.
When under a heavy load, leaf springs are especially susceptible to axle wrap, which can cause wheel hop. Wheel hop is when the tires lose their grip on the road, causing a jarring, up-and-down movement. Axle wrap occurs when the circular motion of the tires cause the leaf springs to twist or rotate. If the leaf springs twist far enough, wheel hop can occur. RAS stabilizes your leaf springs by absorbing the force of the load they're trying to support. This eliminates axle wrap and wheel hop, as well as prevents your vehicle from bottoming out. Because of this, less strain is put on your vehicle. And by reducing some of this wear and tear, RAS helps extend the life of your leaf springs, shock absorbers, shackles, and even tires.
When driving along a curve while towing or hauling a heavy load, the back end of your vehicle or trailer can start to shift with that weight. If your factory leaf springs have flattened or twisted under this load, they won't be able to prevent it from shifting. Because of this, your trailer will sway away from your vehicle. This makes driving challenging and dangerous, as it increases the risk of body roll, which is when your vehicle drastically leans to one side. This can often cause you to completely lose control of your vehicle. Body roll is especially prevalent with multi-passenger vans and vehicles towing long campers, trailers, or boats. RAS provides a much safer ride by reinforcing your factory leaf springs and stabilizing your load. This helps prevent sway from occurring and reduces the chance of body roll while cornering, turning, and swerving. RAS also lessens the rocking motion that happens during windy conditions or when a semi passes by on the road.
When your vehicle is overloaded, the bulk of the weight transfers to the rear axle. Your factory leaf springs then become overwhelmed by this weight, as they are not strong enough to support it. This causes the back end of your vehicle to sag and the front end to rise, which means that the front tires have lost some of the grip they need with the road. In addition to loss of traction, it can also cause poor headlight aim, unintentional swerving, and an extremely bumpy and uncomfortable ride. RAS bolsters your factory leaf springs and enables them to provide support for your load without compromising ride quality or comfort. This keeps your ride level from front to back whether you are hauling a load in the bed or towing a boat, trailer, or camper. RAS also ensures that your tires have the traction they require while braking and accelerating, which improves the overall driving experience.
RAS is also customizable. During installation, the coil tension springs can be adjusted to 2 different tension settings or anywhere in between for improved road handling and support. To do this, rotate the springs while keeping the threaded rod still. As you turn the spring, use one of the 2 included spacers as a gauge to measure the widening gaps between the coils. In order for the RAS units to work as intended, you must tension the coils to a minimum of 25 percent with the 1mm white spacer and no more than 40 percent with the 2mm spacer. The springs can also be independently adjusted to compensate for off-center loads such as a handicap lift.
This custom-fit kit comes fully assembled and is easy to install. Each RAS unit simply bolts onto your factory leaf spring with the included hardware, and drilling, welding, and cutting aren't required. First, position the eye hook bracket so that it wraps around the top of the factory leaf spring eye. Then the axle bracket secures under the leaf spring and around the factory U-bolts on the other side of the leaf spring pack. Once the maintenance-free RAS units are fully installed, you won't need to monitor them as you would with air springs.
RAS is extremely durable and corrosion-resistant. The units are constructed of high-grade alloy steel, and they have an epoxy e-coat on the coil springs to provide extreme corrosion resistance. The brackets on the ends of each unit resist the effects of water and other elements, and they have a salt spray rating of more than 800 hours.
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today, we're going to take a look at the Roadmaster Active Suspension Kit, part number RAS3611. The Roadmaster Active Suspension Kit is going to help to convert our basic leaf spring kit into a mechanically active suspension. This is going to provide great assist for vehicles with the rear leaf springs without compromising any of their ride quality. It's going to help to eliminate any of the bottoming out or axle wrap that we can sometimes get, which is going to lead to great improvements and road handling. It helps to reduce the sway and the body roll that we often we get during cornering. The Roadmaster Active Suspension Kit works with or without a load. It's going to absorb and dissipate any load force that we might have when our vehicle is loaded, and whether it's loaded or unloaded, we're going to have improved vehicle stability, handling, traction, and control.
Now, when we receive our suspension kit, it's all going to be preassembled, really easy straight forward installation. We've got both sides here. We're going to have our instructions, our warranty registration, and even our spacers so we can fine tune the system. The thinner one, that's going to give us a 25% improvement. The thicker one, that's a 40% improvement. Now, the system itself is going to have a few main components.
We've got our eye-loop strap. We've got our main spring here in the center. This does all the work, and then, we've got our axle brackets here where they'll mount onto the truck. Like I said, really simple installation. We're only going to have to take care of getting one bolt to install it on the vehicle.
Then, we can make our adjustments on our spring. Now, our eyehook, our spring, and our brackets are full epoxy-coated. This is going to offer us up to $800 of salt spray protection. Even if we're using them up North or here in the Midwest, we're not going to have to deal with a whole lot of rust and corrosion. The threaded rod, all of our moving points here, and our bolts are going to have spacers that are fully treated as well, again to help prevent rust, and then, we're going to have some high-quality fasteners here to use as jam nuts to get it all locked into place once we've got it where we want it positionwise. Here on our eyehook, you can see we've got our articulating ball/socket setup. The same thing here on the other side, a rotating bar setup here.
This is going to allow both of our leaf springs full maneuverability, so we'll never have any of those binding situations to where it's kind of bound up or our spring gets caught, anything like that. The axle brackets themselves are fully adjustable to fit a wide variety of vehicles. You want to use whichever one most closely matches your setup. To start our install, we need to take the tires off each side of the vehicle. The way we want to set it up is we want the tires to be up off the ground but we want it to be supported or resting on jack stands. You can use those on each side of the axle and also in the middle on your center differential, they'll instruct you to use a jack. Just follow the instructions, they're going to tell you exactly how to get it set up so you can do the work. Then, we want to take the center caps, each wheel is going to be a little bit different. It might look just like this, it might have a center cover, or whatever, but remove both rear wheels once you got your truck properly set. For installation, we're going to grab the spring pack so that when our hook is oriented toward the back that our main bolt comes into the top part of the bracket. You see there Then, we want our hook to go right around our eye on the back of the spring there. We'll grab a couple of either 3/4" ratchets or 19mm and let's take our bolt out that's here on the end. It holds our spacer into place. Take that on out. Now, what we want to do is get one of our 5 holes so that we can have our bolt and spacer here behind the U-bolt block. To extend this length, what we need to do is hold on to the threaded rod while we turn our spring toward us. Then, we can bring our bolt back in and we go through the arm on our bracket, and of course we want to put our spacer on there. Then, we'll add on our nylon locking nut. You want to be careful if you've got any sensors or any wires or anything like that, that we don't have it pinched in behind there. Then, we're ready to tighten down our bolt. Now, we're not going to tighten our bracket down so much as to where it actually sandwiches our U-bolt here. What we're looking for is to tighten it down enough to capture our spacer so it won't move. That's going to be oriented right there just underneath our spring and all the way back against that block. Then, we'll take the slack out of the system by doing the opposite of what we did to extend it. Now, we want to take another look at our eyehook here. We want that to be centered on the spring pack. Then, we'll feel our spring actually get tight while we're turning it. Right there, it's starting to tension up a little bit. Now you see everything is locked into place and it won't be moving. Now, it's time to make our adjustment. While holding the nut that's located here at the end of our threaded rod, we'll need a 22mm ratchet. We can come to the other end with our 12mm and start tightening our spring. As we turn our small nut or bolt located here on the end, we'll start to see the gaps in our springs increasing. Periodically, we're going to want to take our disc and check. These discs, white as we said is a 25% increase, the black is a 40% increase, and they should barely pass through those rings. As you see right now, they're not and we need to keep going with it. Here you can see our spacer just barely passing through there, so we know we've got it set properly. If we're looking for extra performance out of the system, we can switch from the 1mm up to the 2mm, and we want to follow that same process. Now, we'll head over to the driver side and repeat that same exact process. Now, we'll get our tires put back on here and torqued down to specification, and then, we'll go ahead test out that system and see how it worked. Now that we've seen how it works, how it can help us, and how to install it, that's going to complete today's look at the Roadmaster Active Suspension Kit, part number RAS3611.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (90 Customer Reviews)
2,000-lb Capacity. Convert your vehicle's leaf springs into a mechanically active suspension system. RAS adjusts to your load to level your ride. The system also increases stability, handling, and control by improving traction and reducing sway.
I bought this based on I think the same product I bought several years ago for a 1997 Dodge Ram 1500. At that time, I bought a kit for for a Ram 2500 and was very impressed. I put a truck camper on the Dodge and I don’t think it settled an inch and when I drove it I hardly knew the camper was back there at all. No sway and no handling problems at all. This time I bought the kit for a Nissan Titan, pulling a 25’ travel trailer (about 7000#). The truck rear still settles and is not in a level attitude in transit without the weight distribution hitch. The suspension kit makes it better but not as much as I expected. 565780
Jim - 10/02/2019Haven't towed or hauled anything heavy with it yet. Unloaded it does help with body roll in turns. The ride is slightly improved as the truck doesn't bounce as much. 519027
The product was very easy to install, and was very happy it didn't effect the ride of the 1/2 ton truck. Looking forward to see how it handles towing my 28ft travel trailer 690798
We received suspension kit yesterday. My husband installed immediately. It took him a little longer than expected. But he is so happy!!! His Toyota Tundra is driving and handling so differently.... in a good way. We have not hooked up to trailer yet but I'm sure we will be totally happy. Good product! 408485
arrived as expected. Extremely easy to install as the spring assemblies were completely assembled. Took longer to take tires on and off than to install spring assemblies. Effect on ride when towing has yet to be determined; I am expecting a big improvement in ride. 569774
ordered on tuesday arrived on friday Free shipping that was fast. Installed on Saturday morning. after I got the truck on the Jackstands took all if 20 minutes to install. haven't towed anything yet going camping this coming weekend will report more, truck rides better unloaded that before, great customer service 508437
I received the item I ordered on time. Very nice to deal with. I plan to order from etrailer in the future 459351
Roger - 12/11/2018I installed this kit on a 2017 Nissan Titan and can be installed very easy. The handling on my truck has improved tremendously. I would recommend this product to everyone. 528359
Bill - 06/29/2019Install was effortless I set to 20% have not put under a load yet. purchased for added stability pulling my flat bed trailer with my tractor. body roll is definitely better thank you. 607627
I've attached two pictures regarding the items I've recently purchased and installed upon my truck from etrailer.com 610664
Looks great, can’t wait to install them and see how they work. 471755
I order these on Friday afternoon and I received them Monday afternoon. I had watched the clip on installation before ordering and it looked pretty easy. The installation instructions are very self explanatory and they were easy to install. From the time I starter until I had the tools picked up and put away it was about an hour and that was with taking a few phone calls. My initial ride after installing these was very good. I drove over a fairly rough road and tracks. My real test will come when I hook up to my trailer and load my tractor or car. I may have to readjust to a heavier setting but it is there if needed. 438869
etrailer has amazing customer service and after talking through a few options for my 2015 Silverado Crewcab shortbed, we decided this product would be the best fit for what I wanted. The RAS comes put together and installs very quickly. It took me longer to get my tools rounded up and the wheels off than to install the RAS. I did set mine to 40% using the thicker gauge for the coils and it appears that added a little height to the back of the truck. No biggie as I planned on leveling blocks later anyway. The ride is definitely firmer and everything the product states about mitigating body roll, bumps and adding traction has held true so far. While I think the product is a little spendy compared to other options, it does more and is well worth the cost. I haven't had a chance to load the bed down yet, but the experience has been very positive unloaded. Thanks etrailer for excellent customer service and great pricing. 542212
Install was fairly easy, 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. Raised rear of 15 Silverado 1500 1 1/2”. Towed camper 50 miles, much improved. 525890
I installed the Roadmaster suspension kit about 3 weeks ago, and it's working exactly as advertised. Installation was very straightforward (the video was extremely helpful), and I'm very happy with the results. Prior to this, I had about 1 - 1.25 inches of 'squat', now it's 0.25 inches. Great product! 647061
Excellent product my son and I put on together in about 40 mins. Great product I would recommend again. 772019
What a difference!! I’m so glad I made the choice I did with this product. What an over all improvement I’m my truck, I use this truck to pull a mobile food truck “chunkysbbq” and the difference that it made in the suspension is well worth the cost. I feel more at ease when traveling from place to place with my trailer the weighs about 7500lbs. I recommend this very much for those that just want to improve there vehicles ride or if pulling any type of trailer. My truck did get lifted in the back by about 1” &1/2. I already had a leveling kit on it so now it looks much better with the clearance it gave me. 764991
Ez to install work great still road great. 2019 Nissan Titan 4x4 .long trips with 24 foot trailer for yard sale.Does not set on bump stops any more more grip on dirt roads with load.love it!!!! 763865
The RAS arrived on time and was super easy to install. It took my son and I about 45 minutes to install. It helps when you have all the right tools handy. The only thing I didn’t anticipate was the Allen wrench needed to reinstall the cross bolt in front of the leaf spring shackle. Fortunately, we had the right size on hand. So far so good. Haven’t had a chance to hook up to my RV yet. I’m optimistic it will take some stress off the leaf springs. 761972
Always used air bags prior to this. As far as my needs go the Roadmaster works better. It does all it claims to do. I’ve loaded my truck with a 700 lb atv and 900 on the hitch and stayed level. Ride is smooth and the system has beenn100% reliable for the 25000 miles I’ve had it on my GMC Sierra 1500. Great product. 735880
I ordered a Roadmaster active suspension they came packaged great the product was nice nothing wrong it was quick on getting them I will do business with these people again 726702
Works great. Makes my truck handle like a dream when towing. Rides very good empty to. 563287
Works great. Makes my truck handle like a dream when towing. Rides very good empty to. 556210
Review from a similar RAS in Vehicle Suspension
I have a 2016 F-150 4x4 with a 2 inch leveling kit and 305 tires. I am towing a 26RR Grey Wolf camper. I beleave it is 4992 lbs dry wait and 7775 lbs loaded. It is meant to be pulled with 1/2 ton trucks. Want to give all specs to be fair to the product. The product was easy to install. I adjusted spring to the black disk. When I hooked up the camper I notice my truck definitely squated less. The towing ride was less bumpy. That is it. It definitely did not improve fuel mileage. I am still at 8.5 miles to the gallon. That is on flat ground, I live in Florida. Still could not go over 65mph without camper feeling loose on the road. 3 stars for now until I tow other trailers. It was an improvement but not as much as I was expecting. Still going to go truck shopping for a bigger truck to solve my towing needs. Side note: truck looks great and rides way better without a trailer in tow. 2/22 inf 744719
Victoria B - 01/27/2020Review from a similar RAS in Vehicle Suspension
Product was very easy to install. Very well made. It took me about 35 minutes to install both sides once the truck was on Jack stands. Product did raise the rear of my truck a little. Can't say how much because I forgot to measure before I started. Truck still rides nice, no harshness or strange noises. I purchased the roadmaster active suspension to help eliminate squat and improve driveability while towing our 7500lb travel trailer. Hopefully I will get to try it out with the trailer soon. 595303
Aaron - 01/07/2020Do you have a question about this Vehicle Suspension?
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