2018 Rebel Air Ride Suspension Nightmare

Thanks Vshni, this is super helpful. I’m new to this forum, just happened across it in my search for a solution... there’s not much out there posted on converting so I consider myself lucky to have landed here. I combed over that entire thread you linked me to and found answers to most of my questions. You’ve given me real hope that there’s a fix for this, I do love my truck and hated the thought of getting rid of it. Thank you!

Vshni knows what he’s talking about. He’ll shoot you straight from what I’ve seen. I pulled my air ride out less than a month after buying mine with only 8700 miles on the odometer. I was having issues with alfaobd not connecting to my truck from my pc. Vshni jumped right in to help. You’ll get more mechanics tell you it can’t be done despite the thousands of us that have done it. I actually had a custom shops head mechanic argue with me about whether or not the truck had air tanks under it. He then got pissed after looking under the rear and seeing them. I felt trapped for a moment as well because I knew the work could be done but I couldn’t physically do it at the time having just had surgery and everyone saying it’s impossible. It’s not, it’s simple. When you find the right person to do the work it’ll be worth it. I’ve nearly completed my build and since adding the new unlocked pcm and tune Along with the bds lift with coilovers, 37s a hidden winch, etc, etc etc the trucks a beast and has taken down two 1st gen raptors and held its own against a 2nd gen for a good shot. Don’t let the naysayers get you down or pressure you into sticking with the air ride or trading it in and taking a huge loss just to buy another truck. Swap it out and sell any components still good. I made a little over $2,000 on my air ride stuff on eBay. Long story short, it can be done, it should be done “in my opinion” and you’ll be glad when it is done and you have a great truck that no longer makes you worry whether or not it’ll be drivable in the morning.

Man, that is one tough looking truck! Kudos on all the upgrades!
I married into a Chrysler family, my father-in-law retired from Chrysler so most of us own their products. I gotta say I was truly shocked, not to mention disappointed, that they denied my arbitration claim to replace the truck but did offer us $2000.00 which was laughable at the time but in retrospect, that 2 grand would have covered some of the parts so we should have jumped on it. This truck is the 4th Ram pickup I’ve owned since 2002 and all of her predecessors were dependable. This one’s my favorite of all the vehicles I’ve owned so I’m definitely not going to get rid of it after learning this fix can be done.
I too want a suspension lift that’ll accomodate 35 - 37” tires. My hubby and brother-in-law will be doing the work but we aren’t sure if other modifications will have to be made if we lift it more than 3-4 inches (drive shaft for instance). Did you have to make changes other than the suspension components with that bds lift and 37’s?

Thanks! I’m a mopar guy myself, it was meant to be a replica of the TRX concept truck and then went in a different direction after having issues getting the fiberwerx fenders and rambox rear to match up cleanly so I scrapped that plan and just focused on making it a naturally aspirated rebel to take on 1st gen raptors on their own turf. It’s fun when a Ram has to recover a Raptor!. On to your questions: The bds kit 671f has the coilovers and rear springs included. Only other thing you need are rear spring isolators. Basically little rubber pads that sit on top of the rear coil springs. They were $18 from the dealership but can be ordered from numerous parts stores. The coilover kit is adjustable from 4-6”s and comes preset at 6” of lift. The kit comes standard with 3” lift springs. That will leave the truck level. The 5” springs can be substituted for $50 to give you a almost factory rake. No one will mention this to you but it’s important to decide if you want the rake or not before hand because to buy the 5” bds lift springs after the fact will run you around $900. There’s also an option for a 2” lift block. You don’t want that. That’s for trucks with factory coils that want the Cali lean. So decide, level truck equals 3” standard kit or factory stance equals 5” substitute. Once the lift is done, remove the air ride / compressor fuses and you start the truck. truck cycles through the start up screen, you’ll get 1 “ding” and a brief “service air ride message”. That can be fixed with alfaobd, where you go into the body computer and tell the truck it never had air ride, no more error message! Alfaobd can do a lot more cool things for the truck so it’s a great tool to have and vshni can tell you all about that. It’s just a matter of deciding your ready to cut your air lines and be done with the headache. If you can, lift the bed a little and remove the air tanks while your doing everything else. Then pull the compressor that’s behind the passenger rear tire by the bumper. Cleaned up a little those could get you around $500-$800 on eBay. Each air ride sensor $55-$75. Front air struts $400-$800 for the pair. Rear air bags $250- $400pair. Rear shocks $50-$90pair. Ram air ride parts are like gold on eBay due to all the failures and dealer price gouging. All of my parts sold to different buyers and all within 2weeks. Then sell your factory wheels/ tires locally on Facebook market, if you still have decent tread on the tires, $600-$1200. After all that the price for bds/ fox coilovers doesn’t seem so bad. Now as far as 35s or 37s. 37s require slight trimming of the plastic wheel well liner which is no big deal. A razor knife cuts it pretty easily.