MrMagoo
Junior Member
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.
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.