New cruiser rides like Crap! (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Oct 27, 2005
Threads
19
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Location
New Brunswick, Canada
I finally bought my first cruiser!

It's an 81 BJ42! And it rides like hell!!! I'm aware that a short wheel base rig sitting on leaf springs will never ride like my mom's Volvo! But mines just to rough!
It's rougher then my pal's YJ on busted shocks... after a day of wheeling my back hurts!

Can someone help me? I need your suggestions.

I think the previous owner added a leaf in the pack to gain height... it's seem higher then a stock cruiser, right? It's has 31 baldy tire on 16''wheels on pics

My intention was to put a complete 4''lift kit from Skyjacker (shakles,bushing, leafs, spring...) Will this help? Are they stiffer then OEM setup?

Need advice!
Thanks
 
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have you ever driven in any other cruisers that you can compare it to? if its a steering problem and you just want to do a overhual i'd replace the tie rods, tie rod ends, new shackle bushings, adjust the toe in. jack up the front end and check for play in the entire steering system
 
sine80 said:
Those shackles in the rear are a little long :eek:
Stock is long??


Can you get a pic of the front shocks???
 
should prolly sell it to me.. Keep the diesels in the family. A 40 is never going to ride great.. but i'd go with a basic 2.5 lift with some quality shocks. For now make sure the shocks are good and your bushing arn't toast. Also check to make sure the shackels aren't cranked down on the bushings.. That can give a harsh ride. And air down to at least 14 :)
 
40s aren't know for their luxurious ride.

put fresh OME springs and shocks on it and if you still don't like it, i'm sure you'll be able to sell it to someone who doesn't mind.
 
Hi All:

Ah! You beat me to it, Ige! ;)

-Alan
Seattle

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> betcha it¨s got ranchos
 
Hi All:

Seriously, it can be a number of issues - dead shocks, trashed spring bushings, shackle bolts too tight, "add-a-leaf" in the spring packs, and so on.

The "Rancho" crack refers to some old (1990s?) spring packs for the 40 Series that Rancho sold. These springs featured three thick leafs and a spring rate waaay too high for the weight of the typical 40 Series TLC! These spring packs have a reputation for riding like buckboard wagon!

I'd suggest that you start out by counting how many leaves are in each spring pack, and reporting back to us. Also, all of the leaves in a pack should be about the same thickness - if one leaf is quite a bit thicker it could be a "add-a-leaf" that a previous owner had inserted.

Good luck with your "new" Land Cruiser!

Regards,

Alan
Seattle
 
My 80 Bj40 also rides like sheet !!! It is SOA and what looks like stock spring packs, Looking at the shackles the bolts look to tight. I have not loosen them yet since I think the bushing must be frozen also and in need of replacement. I have new greasable pins and bushings he somewhere and will be replacing them soon, I can jump up and down on the front bumper at 230 lbs and get no movement so i am betting on frozen bushings.

Myrle
 
suspension system aside, it surely has issues. find a good spring shop in your town (go where your towns DPW trucks go for spring jobs) and have them look it over. like mentioned, get under it and look for cracked bushings and funk. are your spring packs seperating? it doesn't look like you have the "butt sag" that befalls the first set of springs. if the PO did an add-a-spring, it was proably because the sag had started to the stock spring packs in back.

does anybody else think the rear tire is a liitle tight to the front of the wheel well in the side view? that seems a bit odd to me.

what you certainly want to do, is a pass over the entire vehicle with your 10-14mm wrenches and sockets. find every head on your new truck, and give it a clockwise twist.that will familiarize you your vehicle, and i guarentee you'll find loose bolts. be careful you don't twist anything off. if you do, drill, tap and tread a new bolt in. and especially since it's a soft top, there's more flex possiblein the tub. maybe new body bolts/mounts...

the more you know about your ride, the more you have the upper-hand on it when it starts to act up. hopefully you're good with machines.

a tight cruiser is a happy cruiser.
 
they certainly can ride nice, even with the stock springs on my 82 it rode nice once I replaced the old 31" tires and replaced the shocks, also did the TRE's, center arm. Then I did OME springs and it rides very nice.
 
Landpimp said:
they certainly can ride nice, even with the stock springs on my 82 it rode nice once I replaced the old 31" tires and replaced the shocks, also did the TRE's, center arm. Then I did OME springs and it rides very nice.

Yeah, I had an Fj40 with a 2 1/2" Superlift system. It rode like a dream, very smooth... And with the top and doors off it was even quiet :D
 
Has the front springs been flipped? That front axle looks a little forward. That could part of the steering issue
 
Interesting that so many replies are trying to solve a steering problem when he posted that the problem is a rough ride....

If it has the short add-a-leafs, get rid of them. Generally the short ones are thicker in the middle and taper to a thinner section at the tips. Also look for any leaf in the pack that is thicker than the rest, that's a good clue its not stock. Stock packs should have 6 or 7 leafs. I think it was 6 in the rear packs and 7 in the front packs. If you want just an inch or so of lift (that's about what an add-a-leaf will give) then you are better off using stock packs and going instead with longer shackles to give the lift. Longer shackles will give better ride and articulation than the short add-a-leafs. There are some longer add-a-leafs available that might give better ride qquality but I've never used them.

Best bet is to install a complete suspension package: springs, shocks, shackles, bushings, ubolts, etc.

I can't comment on the ride of aftermarket springs but many others here have experience on them and can give their opinions.
 
miker said:
Interesting that so many replies are trying to solve a steering problem when he posted that the problem is a rough ride....

If it has the short add-a-leafs, get rid of them. Generally the short ones are thicker in the middle and taper to a thinner section at the tips. Also look for any leaf in the pack that is thicker than the rest, that's a good clue its not stock. Stock packs should have 6 or 7 leafs. I think it was 6 in the rear packs and 7 in the front packs. If you want just an inch or so of lift (that's about what an add-a-leaf will give) then you are better off using stock packs and going instead with longer shackles to give the lift. Longer shackles will give better ride and articulation than the short add-a-leafs. There are some longer add-a-leafs available that might give better ride qquality but I've never used them.

Best bet is to install a complete suspension package: springs, shocks, shackles, bushings, ubolts, etc.

I can't comment on the ride of aftermarket springs but many others here have experience on them and can give their opinions.

Exactly! The add a leafs are what is causing the stiff suspension/rough ride...
 

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