Very Rough Ride!!

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smoothee

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I apologize in advance for the length of this but I'm at my witts end here and don't even enjoy driving my truck anymore. This has been a long ongoing issue, that I will say started years after I installed my 4" lift so I can't blame it directly on that although it may have contributed.

The main thing I'm finding right now is the truck hits bumps very hard, almost feels like the front end is bottoming out and the steering wheel wants to come out on my hands. And at highway speeds when I hit a bridge joint it feels like the front tires nearly leave the pavement. I've had an alignment and wheel balancing done yesterday and the truck drives straight with no vibrations or anything otherwise. Steering feels nice and tight.

I used to be feel it more in the rear too, but not as bad since upgrading everything to Core and Hellwig sway bar and BDS relocation brackets. I did blow through a couple of sets of Fox and Bilstein rear shocks which I couldn't explain, truck only has 65k miles. There's still some shimmy there though.

I've checked everything over myself (and do my own work) and I've had the truck to several shops and none of them could find anything out of the originary. Several alignments and wheel balancing. I've played around with tire pressure, right now sitting at 30psi on my D rated Duratracs. This was happening before with my Toyo's as well though so I can't confidently blame it on the tires.

I swapped my bilstein 5100's for 6112's, added SuspensionMaxx sway bar links, replaced wheel bearings, lower and upper ball joints, tie rod ends, lower steering intermediate shaft, etc. I don't have any noises or clunks anywhere.

The weirdest thing to me is when I replace a failed part the issue goes away for a very short time until the new part is broken in. Eg. I just replaced the upper control arms last week and the issue pretty much disappeared for a few days. I could drive over washboards and hardly feel anything at all. Same thing happened when I replaced my LCA's, and steering shaft (which was shot). It rode beautifully for about a month. It's almost like there's still an underlying issue here that the new parts just seem to mask for a short time. I don't get it.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm ready to light a match lol. I don't expect it to ride like a Caddy especially being a single cab, but I know what it has rode like in the past. Also does this look like a quality alignment job?

I appreciate it!
 

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smoothee

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I don't think the truck is the problem.
I don't offroad at all, and am not rough on this thing believe me. The roads are real ****** around here though.
And that was before I did all the other upgrades to the rear. Which is why I'm thinking there's something underlying that caused that as well. I know it's definitely not normal for shocks to go like that, especially reputable brands. I didn't have any issues with the latest set of Fox or the Icons that I'm currently running.
 
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smoothee

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Rough Country. Have had it on for about 8 years. Have swapped out rear spacers for BDS 3" coils, added BDS track bar relocation bracket and rear upper control arm relocation brackets. And replaced the RC 4" strut spacers for BDS after I had some welds fail. All angles look great.
 

Gr8bawana

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I don't think the truck is the problem.
^^This^^
It's a truck. It should ride like a truck. People wanting their trucks to ride luxuriously are why todays trucks are made like wussymobiles.
I guess if you wanted a smooth-riding "truck" you should have bought one of these.

maxresdefault.jpg
 
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smoothee

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Get outta here with that ********. I know what a truck is supposed to ride like. I guess you missed the part where I said I know it's not going to ride like a Caddy. But I do know it's supposed to ride better than a 3/4 tonne and I know what it's driven like in the past and I want to be able to drive down the road without almost being bounced out of the cab. You have fun with that real "truck" of yours!
 
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G-Ride990

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Yeah something sounds messed up for sure.

I wonder if it has to do with your front sway bar? A member here has repeatedly recommended removing one of the front sway bar endlinks and taking my truck for a drive to see if I even notice a difference. Might want to try that and see if it does anything.

Did you torque the mounting bolts on your control arms with the weight of the truck on the suspension?

Can you post a picture of your rear panhard angle? Curious to see how flat it is.

Sorry I can't be more help. Sounds like you have checked everything already.
 

ram1500rsm

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The alignment could be better but it's not the root cause of the the issue. 6112's should not ride that hard even at max. So could be something binding in your suspension. I'm clueless cause our setups are not really that complicated to troublehoot.

measure the gap between the top of your tires and your fender
then Lift your front and put a couple of jacks under the frame, then let the front droop in the air
Measure tha gap again and post the delta.
See is something is binding, looking weird.

Now go practice some 4x4 on something where you can ride your front driver and front passenger tire up. one side at at time. see if something is binding, could be tire ramps for example, i just do it on rocks cause they don't move :)
48340711142_9cb9dafb6b_k.jpgUntitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr
 

kurek

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Man I'm not trying to clown you about how a truck should or shouldn't ride, the part that doesn't add up for me is "blow through a couple of sets of Fox and Bilstein rear shocks which I couldn't explain, truck only has 65k miles. " .. both of those are quality products and there's no reason they should fail that fast unless you're way overloaded, you're at the South Pole or you're involved in competitive motorsport.

Again not trying to clown you about it but there's something missing from this equation.
 
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smoothee

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Yeah something sounds messed up for sure.

I wonder if it has to do with your front sway bar? A member here has repeatedly recommended removing one of the front sway bar endlinks and taking my truck for a drive to see if I even notice a difference. Might want to try that and see if it does anything.

Did you torque the mounting bolts on your control arms with the weight of the truck on the suspension?

Can you post a picture of your rear panhard angle? Curious to see how flat it is.

Sorry I can't be more help. Sounds like you have checked everything already.
I've heard of guys running without a front sway bar on here, at this point it's worth a shot I guess. The funny thing is the ride improved for a few days when I tightened the end links a few more turns.

I torqued the control arm mounting bolts with full weight on the suspension.

I'll get a pic of the track bar angle tomorrow in the daylight. I appreciate your input man. I really didn't even want to post on here about it.

The alignment could be better but it's not the root cause of the the issue. 6112's should not ride that hard even at max. So could be something binding in your suspension. I'm clueless cause our setups are not really that complicated to troublehoot.
measure the gap between the top of your tires and your fender
then Lift your front and put a couple of jacks under the frame, then let the front droop in the air
Measure tha gap again and post the delta.
See is something is binding, looking weird.

Now go practice some 4x4 on something where you can ride your front driver and front passenger tire up. one side at at time. see if something is binding, could be tire ramps for example, i just do it on rocks cause they don't move :)
View attachment 463639Untitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr
The 6112's are only set over an inch and the 5100's before that only 1.4". I drove across the country 7 years ago, not long after having the lift installed and it drove just fine. Everything else stock. I even remember my buddy saying how good the truck rode for having a lift. Now when anyone drives with me they always comment how rough it is.

And I agree about the suspension shouldn't be too hard to troubleshoot. What I don't get is why it would be fine for a few days to a few months and then revert right back. And what I mean by fine is that it just skips over any bumps/ruts without feeling it. Whereas now it feels like it dips in every imperfection and just absorbs it. After I replaced the lower intermediate steering shaft the truck rode great for about 6k miles (also around the time I installed the 6112's). I've never noticed anything binding, but I will get measurements in the next few days to be sure. And I'm jealous of all those trails around you man!

Man I'm not trying to clown you about how a truck should or shouldn't ride, the part that doesn't add up for me is "blow through a couple of sets of Fox and Bilstein rear shocks which I couldn't explain, truck only has 65k miles. " .. both of those are quality products and there's no reason they should fail that fast unless you're way overloaded, you're at the South Pole or you're involved in competitive motorsport.

Again not trying to clown you about it but there's something missing from this equation.
I get it man. And I wish there was something I was leaving out. On the first set of Fox, I had one leak so I replaced it. Then I had the other start leaking so I replaced that as well. Then the first one again. I have heard that Fox don't like the cold and salt but I dunno. Then I went with the Bils and got maybe 10k miles. So when I said I blew through them I wasn't talking overnight exactly. But much quicker than should've been. So that was when I did a complete overhaul on the rear and haven't had issues with the shocks since. Like I said I don't offroad and hardly tow or have anything in the bed.
 

Gr8bawana

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Get outta here with that ********. I know what a truck is supposed to ride like. I guess you missed the part where I said I know it's not going to ride like a Caddy. But I do know it's supposed to ride better than a 3/4 tonne and I know what it's driven like in the past and I want to be able to drive down the road without almost being bounced out of the cab. You have fun with that real "truck" of yours!
4de8df208a00ac5e25076839d884e339.png
 

Troy Gillis

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Best thing I did for my regcab short box was put some weight in the box. I found the *** end would kick out like a donkey going over any type of bump, bridge seams. I got about 700lbs of paver stones over top the axle. Rides smooth.
 

kurek

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Best thing I did for my regcab short box was put some weight in the box. I found the *** end would kick out like a donkey going over any type of bump, bridge seams. I got about 700lbs of paver stones over top the axle. Rides smooth.

Is your truck lifted?
 

hodge-xj

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Post pics of your front suspension and rear suspension so we can get a visual.

There was a gent on the ecodiesel forum a while back that had this same issue, though he disappeared before we got an answer for sure. It looked as though the spacer lift was causing the suspension to bind early on droop and bottom out prematurely on compression. His geometry was all kinds of bogus.

And contrary to most opinions, these trucks ride like caddys properly lifted, but something for sure is amiss here. Pics will help get a visual and find the PN if you can for your rear shocks.
 
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smoothee

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Post pics of your front suspension and rear suspension so we can get a visual.

There was a gent on the ecodiesel forum a while back that had this same issue, though he disappeared before we got an answer for sure. It looked as though the spacer lift was causing the suspension to bind early on droop and bottom out prematurely on compression. His geometry was all kinds of bogus.

And contrary to most opinions, these trucks ride like caddys properly lifted, but something for sure is amiss here. Pics will help get a visual and find the PN if you can for your rear shocks.

Was hoping you would chime in Hodge, as I know you're particular about your suspension setup(s).

Was out of town this weekend, but will snap some pics this evening after work. I don't think it's related to any improperly spec'd components, or anything overly obvious with the setup but stranger things have happened I guess. The part #on the rear Icons is 216524.

During that 500 mile road trip I played with the tire psi some more, lowered the fronts to 28 which was as low as I was comfortable doing. Didn't make any difference really so will be bumping them back up around 33-35. The truck rode ok on smooth pavement, no vibrations or wander or anything like that. Steering felt nice and tight. Some rough spots in the road felt ok and others not so much. The worst being driving slow over any washboard type gravel road and on the beach. The wheel will jerk side to side and there's an audible clunk. I've read a lot about this clunk, but I've already addressed the upper and lower intermediate shafts. There is no play there. Unless my rack and pinion is going out? Even though no leaks and pump isn't whining.

Probably unrelated but I've also noticed a squeaking/creaking from the rear during tight right turns at very low speed, sounds like coil spring sort of thing. And I'm getting a humming at low speeds that I've got to troubleshoot further to figure if it's the tires. It sounded like front wheel bearings to me at first but I've replaced those now as they were starting to grind. I know Duratracs aren't the quietest but it sounded like a plane taking off at times on the highway lol.
 
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smoothee

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A few pics
 

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smoothee

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Few more
 

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ram1500rsm

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Don't know if it's pic angles but it seems the bushings on those SPmaxx links are getting crushed. Doubt it has anything to do with your issue though, just a thought those bushings may not last very long that way. they're not rubber like the factory they don't need that much compression. back off the nuts.
I don't see your sway bar angle, how does it look currently ?

As it was said, remove the sway bar and see how she rides.
 

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