New shocks and ride is still harsh

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SpeedAgent

SpeedAgent

Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Threads
78
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275
A few weeks ago I replaced the original shocks with OEM from CDan and to my surprise the ride was only about 25percent better. My chassis has 178k miles on it so those shocks were bad news. I feel the slightest bumps and small deviations in pavement make the whole truck shake and shudder. What would you guys suggest to check for extreme wear and replacement? I'm not looking for Caddy cushy- just comfortable. Is this ride quality normal?

Thanks,
Chris
 
I finally had to replace my shocks and springs on my 92 after 275 k, everything was 17 years old, the shocks had leaked all their fluids out, and I had major sag from the original springs. It felt like riding in a hooptie, it would sway, you could feel every bump, horrible. I blamed it mainly on the springs. Maybe thats your problem, your a little saggy.
 
Chris,

How sure are you the springs are stock? Any indications the truck had regular offroad use or heavy towing? What year are we talking about? Did you give Dan the VIN to order the shocks? Is it possible to swap F/R shocks accidentally (you'd think I'd know having installed 3 sets over the years...)?

DougM
 
On vehicles this old, there is a good chance the springs need to be replaced as well. Also I'd replace all the suspension bushings & maybe the bump stops.
 
*No, I did not give CDan my VIN. My rig is a 94'. Are there different shock setups for 94's?
*Running 285 BFG AT's, not sure of my pressures at the moment
*I believe they are stock springs. Neither of the previous owners listed suspension upgrades
*No chance that the shocks are installed incorrectly. You can't swap front to back.

Springs may be the real issue. It feels like race car springs- real stiff and feel every bump. I guess that's something else I can add to my list.

Chris
 
LC springs are stiffer than the LX's (from what I have read here). If you wanted a more "plush" ride you could find LX springs.
 
On my 94, I was running 46 psi in some 285s, over the weekend we went wheeling so I lowered to 32psi which is what the drivers door tag calls for. This made all the difference in ride quality. Not sure if that is THE problem but it will help some. Good Luck sorting it out.:beer:
 
I think the door tag calls for 29, actually.

Speed - the tires no doubt contribute to an abrupt ride as from an engineering standpoint the tires are an undamped spring and the spring rate and shock damping rates (rebound and compression) are tuned for the stock tire and size. Stray from that and you change things - sometimes quite a bit. Most who put oversized offroad tires on don't care about the deterioration in road ride. If yours are LT tires vs the stock P designation then they're again moving another variable to the harsh end of the spectrum.

Interesting timing for this thread as my wife's 97 is getting all new factory springs and shocks in a couple months. I'll be calling Dan. It has about 70k on factory shocks I put on but the springs have 200k. I'm pickier than most about ride and rollover danger and have a b/g in suspension development. The ride has deteriorated significantly in the last 20k miles or so and to me it feels like a mismatch between the old springs and the relatively new shocks. I recall that the ride did not improve as much as I expected when I put the shocks on and attributed it to the older springs.

The truck has far more abrupt motions, especially repeat bumps and I think the main issue is what is called "packing up" the suspension from too much rebound damping. Weak springs/strong shocks. On the first bump, the spring compresses too far but is not allowed to rebound due to the shock. So on the next bump the spring is compressed and gives a hard kick when it rebounds. The weak springs are also less able to control the weight of these solid axles over bumps when a strong spring would. The truck also leans and sways in highway curves and continuously moves around in these curves in a disconnected feeling. Turning into a sloped driveway, it tosses the vehicle laterally, causing what we used to call "head toss" on the passengers where literally everyone's head gets tossed sideways.

Overall, the suspension no longer has the incredibly well damped ride and carefully tuned handling that I'm familiar with having driven many of these rigs new. It's impossible to communicate to folks here how well sorted they were when new and it was a regular source of amazement by our competitors and staff alike that this heavy SUV had such remarkable road manners. On the trail it garnered the same praise. Those of you who have a HG DVD from me will see bonus footage on the end of the disk showing an 80 on extremely rough terrain and you can see the suspension working like crazy under the serene body. It was an odd feeling driving it off a 1 foot ledge and having the body merely change angles majestically.

So, I'll be posting my result of this in May or so.

Interestingly, my 93 has about the same miles and it has not suffered the same curve of spring deterioration. Perhaps it is because I faithfully changed the shocks every 60-80k, or maybe the first gen springs were different. Dunno. But it remains at around 90% of its original ride characteristics and is obviously smoother and more stable even to a layman when compared to the 97.

So, you might consider putting new factory springs under it if you seek a better road handling package without giving up trail capability. Good timing since you already have fresh shocks. Also, check your tire inflation and see what it's like at 31/32psi. What load rating are the BFGs? I put E rated on once and sold them quickly due to unacceptable harshness.

DougM
 
Bushings and new springs should help a lot.
 
Checked pressures and they were 32psi all around. When time and money permit I'll start replacing bushings and looking into new springs.
 
IdahoDoug said:
Those of you who have a HG DVD from me will see bonus footage on the end of the disk showing an 80 on extremely rough terrain and you can see the suspension working like crazy under the serene body. It was an odd feeling driving it off a 1 foot ledge and having the body merely change angles majestically.

So, I'll be posting my result of this in May or so.



DougM
Click to expand...

What you describe is exactly how I envision an 80 should handle and ride. Unfortunately I've never experienced it. I'm always in two minds when considering suspension replacement for my recently purchased 80 series, as I have wasted thousands of dollars previously (on a different 80) on mostly aftermarket lifted suspension to get the ride you so elegantly described.

Is there anyway you can put up that video of the 80 on rough grounds on youtube or something as I would really love to see it, but don't really need the hg dvd (lucky us aussies got cast iron heads!)

Also if you know off the top of your head the toyota part numbers for coils and shocks? I've been looking at toyodiy but there are a couple of part numbers for shocks and it confuses me. I don't want to go to toyota and buy the wrong thing knowing it's going to cost me big dollars in the first place.
 
Running 36psi Load rnage E Tires and some old shocks taken off of another truck with stock springs, FABULOUS ride!!

With leaking shocks and 55psi in the tires the ride was atrocious...
 
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