My Truck has RLC (Rides Like CRAP!) HELP!!!!

[broncoitis]

Ok there are better adjectives to describe how my truck but being that this is a family forum I will stick with CRAP in leau of the better alternatives. ;D

Here is what I am running as of now. WH 3.5in suspension lift with a 1 in BL factory radius arms in the front of the truck. I am running the flexy rockcrawler suspension from WH with the 11 leaf pack in the rear! For shocks I am using the James Duff shocks front and rear!

I was told that I have the shocks mounted upside down![ Oops!!!/B]

I will correct this error but could that oversight drastically effect the ride of the truck? I know that the short radius arms up front don't help and plan on replacing them with extended arms! Another, issue could be the 11 Leaf Packs which are designed for the extra weight of the hardtop and I am running a soft top.

If I could describe how my truck rides it would be that it drives like there is no suspension under it at all. This has to get corrected because I know this can't be the best ride even though it is a TRUCK!

Any thoughts are much appreciated!

 

[burntfish]

I run the 5.5 WH lift with dual front shocks on duff hoops and WH inboard shocks in the rear with wristed factory arms. I love the ride on mine. It flexes like crazy and runs down the road or gravel real nice. I am running a hard top, big bumper w/tire, kids in the back and tools.

 

[blackbeauty]

First I would take the shocks off and see how it rides without them on. I would do it on a road that I could go slow and had no traffic. That way you could rule out the shocks.
I had the Rancho 9000s on my full-size Bronco and on #5 it rode like the suspension was weld solid and on #1 it rode like it was on a cloud.
I have just about the same setup you have. but I got them used so I don't know if there is a break in period?
Another thought would be if you used poly or rubber bushing? The poly can really tighten up things?
I am by no means a suspension expert and I'm sure others will have better ideas. Just throwing out what came to mind.

 

[broncnaz]

Most likely you will need to flip them back over ther valving is what 70/30 so the ride may be bad that way if it was 50/50 you wouldnt see any differance. also most people dont recommend running oil filled shocks upside down.

 

[broncoitis]

First I would take the shocks off and see how it rides without them on. I would do it on a road that I could go slow and had no traffic. That way you could rule out the shocks.
I had the Rancho 9000s on my full-size Bronco and on #5 it rode like the suspension was weld solid and on #1 it rode like it was on a cloud.
I have just about the same setup you have. but I got them used so I don't know if there is a break in period?
Another thought would be if you used poly or rubber bushing? The poly can really tighten up things?
I am by no means a suspension expert and I'm sure others will have better ideas. Just throwing out what came to mind.

Good point about the poly bushings! As for the Rancho 9000's, I originally had those shocks to run on it but my car was stolen with them in the trunk!

Gonna try it without the shocks on there and see how that changes things. ;D

 

[broncoitis]

Most likely you will need to flip them back over ther valving is what 70/30 so the ride may be bad that way if it was 50/50 you wouldnt see any differance. also most people dont recommend running oil filled shocks upside down.

Naz,

Would having them upside down really cause them to ride on the 30 side of the stroke? Will check it out though!

 

[broncosbybart]

No it won't change a thing with the valving. They still work the same way. That said, a twin tube shock (like you have) has a valving orifice at the bottom. They need to be run with the shock bodies down and the shock shafts pointed up.

A monotube shock can be run either way.

I wouldn't bother running the vehicle w/out shocks. Waste of time, IMHO. Flip the shocks and run it. Most of your issues are probably stemming from the rear leaf pack.

 

[broncosbybart]

Oh, and not sure what you have on the back, but a heavy rear bumper and spare tire could help, if you don't have those already.

 

[bronconut73]

What tire pressure are you running?
That has a big effect on my ride. I am running the same set-up as you except I am running the long travel Rancho 9000's.
I only run about 26 psi in the front tires and 22 psi in the back tires. That may sound low for the street but it rides great has a perfect tread patch and still feels stable on the road.
Try it.

 

[DirtDonk]

How high does it sit in the rear broncoitis?
What pressure in the tires?
When you installed it, did you wait for the full weight of the truck to be on the ground before you torqued the fasteners on the springs and shackles?
And are you using new locking nuts, or did you torque them down to some high level?

I've recommended removing the shocks before too, but this time I don't think it's going to prove as much as it would normally do. No harm in trying it in the back (leave the fronts on for now though)
With a soft top and, presumably, not much else in the back (that right?) to weigh things down much, even our springs are going to ride stiff.

And yes, there is a HUGE difference in what one person thinks is a good ride and what another one does, but even a die-hard truck guy might not appreciate the ride in a lightweight Bronco.
Our springs are a good compromise between ride comfort, road handling, and load capacity. We can't reduce load capacity much from stock before people hate them, and can't make them too soft or the truck won't corner on the street worth a diddly doo.

Best thing would be to reverse the shocks first, like was mentioned. Just to make sure they aren't losing fluid at important points more than anything else. Depends on who's making the shocks for Duff, as to weather they will run upside down or not, but it's not just gas shocks that can get away with it. They'd know though, so if they recommended turning them back over (body side down, shaft side up, right?), then I'd do it.

Plenty of people like the ride our springs and shocks provide, but there are plenty that don't too. I've just recently had a guy tell me that his Duff shocks rode like crap too, but I don't really know what to compare that too, since he's never had any others on his truck. Might be personal perspective, might be old shocks freezing up, or it might just be how they ride.
But I know plenty of others that have run their Duff shocks for years and love them

If the shock test results show that it's the springs, there is a solution to that most likely. Remove a few leaves.
Brings us back to my first question about the height. If you're running light and the rear end is sitting high, you can get away with removing some leaves without any trouble.
The third leaf from the top, and a couple from the very bottom, and you might lose about an inch and it should ride a bit softer. Might be worth the trouble if it's not just the shocks.
But where ride quality is concerned, the shocks are HUGE factors.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

Regarding pressures, what bronconut73 said is absolutely true. The rear ends of these rigs are very light when nothing is hanging off of them. And the tires we use nowadays are capable of carrying way more than they're asked to.
I run the same 22 psi in the rear sometimes myself. Never more than 30 in all the years I've run different sizes and brands of tires. The fronts often run up near the max tire pressure for the lighter duty tires, but more often than not seem happy in the 30 to 32 psi range.
The rear is just not that heavy. From 20 to 26 psi is very common.

Every tire/wheel/vehicle combination is different though, so "your results may vary" rears it's ugly head again.

Paul

 

[broncoitis]

Everyone,

Thanks for the advice on the shocks and the tire pressure. I went ahead and flipped the shocks over with the shaft pointing up and the body pointing down and I think that it made a pretty noticeable difference with the ride. I will have to take a road trip somewhere to confirm the difference but so far so good.

As for the WH stuff, I have no complaints at all. Everything I have gotten from them is always top notch. Having Paul (DirtDonk) is just another feather in their cap! ;D

As for the tire pressure, I am gonna check that out because if my memory serves me right there is 30+ in the front and the rear. I am sure that will make a noticeable difference as well.

As for the rear leafpacks, I think that I am gonna hold off on that for now. I guess that I am being Lazy but don't wanna take that one on until some further driving/observations and I plan on putting a prerunner style rear bumper with a spare on the back eventually. Not sure about the HardTops fate as of now though.

If I can make it through this Hurricane Sandy that is about to hammer NJ we will see how these changes effect things.

I also have to put the poly mounts on the tailgate because that thing is pretty noisy as well and will definitely help quiet things down. ;D

 

[bknbronco]

Im not sure long arms will do anything but i have no personal experiance.

Mine started pretty stiff but i have 2000 miles on the new suspension and its getting softer. The rear hated dual shocks, but the front with dual DT3000's ant too bad. Id like to pull the rears and drive around with no shocks! For a while last fall i drove around without shocks and it was the best ride ever! Had a ton of torque steer and a bit of bump steer but rode rather smooth as i recall.

I been tossing around the idea of pulling the 3rd leaf from the top. I have a glass tub, no top, stock bumper, stock tank, not even a rear bench! I bet there is only like 150lbs on that rear suspension and thats with a full 12 gallons of gas! Two guys can easy pick the rear tires off the ground i bet. The only weight on my huge arched springs is a tailgate and some gas.

But how well do i want it too drive? Do i wana loose some lift for a bit more comfort? Since pulling a leaf out of the pack is basic 101 4X4 stuff, it might be worth the small effort.

Pull your rear shocks once and you might find a gentle beast under there!

I looked at some of your pics and from the few i saw it looks like you built a bad ass truck! Maybe your expecting too much form the suspension?? I dont think it can keep up with the interior unless you go rear coils or do something to get a flat leaf pack.

 

[bknbronco]

Why cant a guy do something like this?? Im always looking at these pics and thinking about my huge arch. Is this old school. Seems way easyer than coils. Sure coils would be way better, but this still should make ride twice as smooth and twice as flexable?

Im not sure what this even is? Just saved these pics.

I see thats the front now. Id still like to reverse my stock shackles to get lift without big springs. You could get 6"-8" of lift with stock springs!

 

[broncoitis]

bknbronco,

Thanks man! Been a labor of love and hate on getting it back to driveable. I flipped the shocks over and that has improved alot of things with the way the truck drives from the early indications. Seems to track MUCH BETTER on the road and the ride seems smoother. I gotta check the tire pressure as well and possibly lower that a bit in the front and rear.

I understand that I may be expecting too much out of this suspension for ride quality. The way I see it is that is just an even better reason to 4 Link the rear of the truck with coilovers! ;D

The Journey Never Ends!

 

[xcntrk]

Your problem might just be the shocks. Here's an easy tip, since you have to pull them off anyway to flip over, remove the rear shocks and go for a drive. See if the rear-end softens up. Granted you won't have any compression or rebound control so it might be a little bouncy, but this will tell you if those rear leaf packs are too stiff. Generally the 11-leaf packs are known for being super soft and flexy, so chances are the problem is your shocks.

Note; I would NOT recommend removing the shocks on the front. The front coils are far to bouncy to drive without any compression or rebound control and you'll be all over the road.

 

[broncoitis]

Your problem might just be the shocks. Here's an easy tip, since you have to pull them off anyway to flip over, remove the rear shocks and go for a drive. See if the rear-end softens up. Granted you won't have any compression or rebound control so it might be a little bouncy, but this will tell you if those rear leaf packs are too stiff. Generally the 11-leaf packs are known for being super soft and flexy, so chances are the problem is your shocks.

Note; I would NOT recommend removing the shocks on the front. The front coils are far to bouncy to drive without any compression or rebound control and you'll be all over the road.

xcntrk,

Thanks for the advice! Did that and the rear was ok in terms of ride. Flipped the shock over into the proper position and it seems to riide alot better by early indications. Gonna take a road trip this coming weekend and see if that was the issue. Hopefully that was the problem. I will give an update!

 

[burntfish]

One thing I did to break my WH springs in was to park it at night flexed out all the way for a few days. Worked great for me.