2002 Ram 1500 4x4 - BOUNCY and Jarring ride - even with all new parts

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MrMagoo

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Last year, I bought a 2002 Ram 1500 4x4, the previous owner had a 3" Body Lift on it. 165K, new transmission a few years back - I have receipts.

The ride was jarring and bouncing. Not enough to pop a drink out of the cupholder, but close to it.

Slow speeds are somewhat okay, just a rough ride. But highway, and anything over 40mph and its just bouncy. The wife doesnt like to ride in it without a sports bra, nothing can sit on the center console, it will jump off.

I plan to own the vehicle forever (it isnt my daily driver), so I had planned to do some maintainance anyway.

So here is what I have done (in general, not just to fix this bouncy issue, although it is strange that it did not have ANY effect on the ride)

Brand new Bilstein 4600 shocks all 4
Brand new Khumo tires
Replaced front: lower ball joints, upper control arms and ball joints, sway bar links, front axles , hubs w/bearings
Replaced rack and pinion, inner and outer tie rods
Replaced the u joint thing going from steering shaft to the rack and pinion
Replaced rear axle bearings
Royal purple replaced in rear diff
Have not yet serviced front diff

Here in a couple of weeks I will be putting in the 408 I built for it during covid, and it is kinda grinding on me that I will put that $5k worth of engine in, and it is still going to ride like garbage, and I probably wont drive it much, it really grinds on you to have this poor of ride quality.

I mainly use the truck for beach days (we live in san diego), and home projects w/light towing (for home projects)

There is zero ride quality differences between when I first bought the truck, and now that I have done everything listed above.

Does anyone have an opinion on what might be causing this , or what I should look to do to resolve. I am pretty handy, not afraid to do too much, I dont own a lift or anything.

I have inspected the body mounts - just to see if any of the 3" lift body bolts are lose , and they are all snug.
 
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MrMagoo

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I should also mention - I did have an alignment after both the tires were installed, and after I replaced all the front end components.
 

crash68

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What's the tire pressure? Probably don't need much more than 40 psi in the tires, check the door sill plate for the what the factory states. If your running other than factory size you'll want to do a chalk rest to determine tire pressure for best tire wear.
If your taking this onto the beach you'll want to air down to 10-20 psi for better floatation on the sand.
 
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MrMagoo

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Moderator - can you please move this to general discussion , as it is not “interior”?
 
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MrMagoo

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Crash- I’ll check tire pressure tomorrow , I have done both 35psi and 40psi
 

Daw14

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Is there a possibility that the springs have been changed,maybe rearched or off of a3/4 ton ? This could make for a harsh ride.
 
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MrMagoo

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(Note: I know this is a duplicate, I posted accidentally in [interior] for some reason and I couldn't get a moderator to move it).

Last year, I bought a 2002 Ram 1500 4x4, the previous owner had a 3" Body Lift on it. 165K, new transmission a few years back - I have receipts.

The ride was jarring and bouncing. Not enough to pop a drink out of the cupholder, but close to it.

Slow speeds are somewhat okay, just a rough ride. But highway, and anything over 40mph and its just bouncy. The wife doesn't like to ride in it without a sports bra, nothing can sit on the center console, it will jump off.

I plan to own the vehicle forever (it isnt my daily driver), so I had planned to do some maintenance anyway.

So here is what I have done (in general, not just to fix this bouncy issue, although it is strange that it did not have ANY effect on the ride)

Brand new Bilstein 4600 shocks all 4
Brand new Khumo tires - 35psi
Replaced front: lower ball joints, upper control arms and ball joints, sway bar links, front axles , hubs w/bearings
Replaced rack and pinion, inner and outer tie rods
Replaced the u joint thing going from steering shaft to the rack and pinion
Replaced rear axle bearings
Royal purple replaced in rear diff
Have not yet serviced front diff

Here in a couple of weeks I will be putting in the 408 I built for it during covid, and it is kinda grinding on me that I will put that $5k worth of engine in, and it is still going to ride like garbage, and I probably wont drive it much, it really grinds on you to have this poor of ride quality.

I mainly use the truck for beach days (we live in san diego), and home projects w/light towing (for home projects)

There is zero ride quality differences between when I first bought the truck, and now that I have done everything listed above.

Does anyone have an opinion on what might be causing this , or what I should look to do to resolve. I am pretty handy, not afraid to do too much, I dont own a lift or anything.

I have inspected the body mounts - just to see if any of the 3" lift body bolts are lose , and they are all snug.

I have done an alignment recently.
 

moezer

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Does this have tortion bars? If it does then they are prob cranked to also give the truck a lift and when they r cranked it if the keys have been changed to crank them more then the truck will start to be bouncy and stiff

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MrMagoo

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Moezer - I do not know if the torsion bars have been cranked. I do have 10.5 inches measurement from top of tire to fender in the front, and 11.5 from top of tire to fender in the back. The truck has a clear rake, which made me think the truck had not been leveled. I have plans to drop shackle the rear, and remove helper sprint (replacing with air lift, and ideally a sway bar at the same time). Here is an image of the torsion keys Unknown.jpeg
 

moezer

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That one key shouldn't be like that, not sure about the pic but looks lile u have a skid plate? See if the keys have been tourqed, I have a 2004 and have air bags in the back for towing my camper and I have tourqed my keys a bit to level it no bounce

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moezer

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They should be about 1/2 thread throwing past the brace

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Travelin Ram

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Let’s see a photo of the front suspension, showing the angles of the front CV shafts and suspension arms.

I’d also measure from the wheel center to the fender at rest, and with the truck jacked up by the frame with the suspension drooping. My guess is the PO torqued it up to increase ride height and there’s not much downtravel in the suspension. That’ll make a nasty rough ride.
 
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MrMagoo

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It will be a bit before I get get it to the garage to jack up, but here are some pics sitting level.

Unknown-1.jpeg Unknown-2.jpeg Unknown-3.jpeg Unknown-4.jpeg Unknown.jpeg
 

moezer

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Loosen that 1 wonkey looking key and see what's happening

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Travelin Ram

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I agree that’s normal CV angles. Does it seem equally stiff front and rear suspension?

The body lift makes me think the previous owner may have monkeyed with spring rates. I had a 1500 of that same generation and it rode very well.
 
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MrMagoo

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Hmm - can I wrench that funky key without using the torsion tool ? I have seen 2jaw puller type tools used?
 

moezer

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I agree that’s normal CV angles. Does it seem equally stiff front and rear suspension?

The body lift makes me think the previous owner may have monkeyed with spring rates. I had a 1500 of that same generation and it rode very well.
I think the body lift was done to avoid playing with the syspention

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MrMagoo

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Travelin- it feels (in my butt) to have a rediculous stiff front , and bouncy rear. Hard to tell , but it will make your thigh fat jiggle while cruising on the 15 as the lane has grooves.
 
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