pilotamis

Im getting a truck camper and am curious if I should upgrade my suspension to help carry it. My sticker for max payload is 2036 lbs and we'll be right at it or slightly over when we're all set. I know that I can't increase my max payload, but I'm upgrading to E rated tires and changing the brakes out to a brake designed for towing. Would handling and driving improve with suspension upgrades? Our plan is to spend the next year exploring Baja and mainland Mexico. Additional ground clearance and a better ride definitely won't hurt.

mass-hole

I would do air bags or similar to help stiffen the rear suspension, and new shocks for sure. The stock shocks on these trucks are terrible. Bilstein 4600 or 5100's are very popular.

Maybe a rear sway bar since you will have a lot of weight high up in the air.

pilotamis

Flamingtaco

You'd need to be dragging your *** through some real gnar to blow a bag, the goodyears are pretty tough and you pretty much have to be overlanding through rough brush or being an idiot flying over trail debris to get something up there with enough force to poke a hole. The H2's rear is air suspension, and damaging them on the off-road forums isn't much of a thing. I'd be more concerned with high speed road debris. The springs pretty much block everything for bags that sit directly over them.

If you want durability with a bit more difficult adjustability, get a RAS kit.

mass-hole

I dont have first hand experience with the Fox's. I do believe they run a stiffer spring than stock so it likely would help stiffen the ride a bit, at least in the front.

The bilsteins utilize the stock springs, but run more compression and rebound dampening, so it is "stiffer" but the ride actually ends up being quite a bit smoother due to the superior control of the springs. I would argue that the rear shocks are more important than the fronts.

I bought my AirRide Ridecontrol bags first, because the truck would sag with just some sleeping bags, camping gear and two dogs in the back. My headlights would be shinning in peoples eyes. The bags helped level the truck, but then I was noticing that it was bobbing around because of how underdamped the shocks were so I went out and got the Bilstein 5100's. The two combined make for a nice ride loaded.

That said, I was running nowhere near the weight you are talking about. I have put a crap load of crushed stone(>2000 lbs) in my bed and was able to almost level the truck, but the RideControls were maxed out at that point. If I were you and was gunna be running nearly 2000 lbs of payload for extended periods, I would consider a higher capacity bag.

Add-a-leafs are fine, but they are not gunna be able to fully support the weight of a camper I dont think. if you are talking 1500 lbs or so, the leafs I have seen are not rated to "add" that much capacity so you would still see a good amount of squat.