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Bone shaking suspension

myemontana

Jr. Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2008
Messages
67
Loc.
Boise
Years ago I put the Cage 5.5 suspension in my bronco. It has always been a ridiculously rough ride. Tips to soften it up? Run one shock at each corner? Spring pack tips? Thanks the bronco is running full widths 60’s with 37’s.
 
Last edited:

.94 OR

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Jul 5, 2009
Messages
2,210
Loc.
Willamette Valley, OR
I had SkyJacker springs/add-a-leafs and shocks, circa 1989 in mine. Young and dumb, didn't realize it could be better. Installed new springs and Bilsteins 1 per corner. May not be what you want, but it is super smooth now.
 

Broncobowsher

Total hack
Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
37,077
How does it ride if you remove all the shocks? Really plush and floaty? That can be fixed with shocks. But if it still rides rigid with the shocks removed, shocks are not your problem at the moment.
 

SteveL

Huge chevy guy
Joined
Jun 24, 2001
Messages
11,969
Loc.
Hawthorne ca
If it's mostly up front extended radius arms soften it up quite a bit but add body roll. Jim makes some nice extended arms.
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
51,622
If you're not sure about taking all the shocks off (I'd do it and have done it) then take any one off of each corner and see how much it changes. Does not really matter which one by the looks of your setup, since they're all looking about the same length and angle and positioned next to each other.
But if one is longer than the other, leave the long one.

You might verify the part numbers of the existing shocks too, in case that leads to more knowledge.

Your tires don't look over-inflated, but the rears could probably work with lower pressures most of the time. This also serves to soften some of the harshness. Especially if the tires are high rated and have stiff sidewalls. If they're E-rated or more, they're stiff! Maybe read the max pressure and max load ratings on the sidewall and see where they fall in those categories.

How are the rear shackles installed? I could not quite see in the pics, but if they are stock and the open side is facing forward, they're on backwards. If they are aftermarket, then they are probably correct. This does not usually end up with a stiffer initial ride, but it can limit travel and ultimately effect the overall ride. All depends.

Do you like the ride height? You could remove leaves from the back to soften things up a bit. That will lower your height unfortunately, but that can be corrected for with (gasp!) blocks of the correct height.
Same for the coils, but yours look like variable rate versions already. Stiffer perhaps for being 5.5" of lift, but still very likely as good as they're going to get.

What is the rig used for? Looks like it's set up for some pretty serious use, but if you're mainly just bombing around on the road, these things can be changed without causing trouble.
Ultimately though, that much lift and those big tires are not that way for ride comfort.

Good luck.

Paul
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
51,622
Looks like an original style shackle and in good shape. And looks to be correctly installed from here.
Judging by the angle of the top where the bolt goes through, it looks oriented properly. Of course, a rear shot looking forward would put the proof to that theory, but I'd say they're correct.

They're certainly "open" at the top where the spring passes through, but if you look at the very back you should see that it's totally open where the steel was formed and only the edges face rearward. The back should be totally open, vs just the top facing forward.

So other than the bolts being too tight on the bushing shoulders as another possibility, they should not be contributing to your harsh ride.

Paul
 

Apogee

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 26, 2005
Messages
6,345
Loc.
Tangent, OR
I'm running a CAGE 3.5" lift, long arms, etc, with one shock per corner and it rides really well. It rides much better than the old-school 3.5 lift with add-a-leaves in the rear ever did, though it does have more body roll in the turns. Remove the extra shocks and see what you think...it's certainly not going to hurt anything. I would keep the forward shocks up front and the rearmost shocks in the rear, as they have the best motion ratios with your CAGE shock mounts.

If you ultimately want 2 shocks per corner, then the valving should be halved since you're running multiple shocks in parallel.
 
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