westyss
Explorer
It is hard to get a soft ride in these trucks, only thing that wasn't mentioned that made a big difference was shocks, good shocks that don't fade with use, maybe an external reservoir type to keep them cooler, they will get a work out.
I would like to say that I think I have my truck dialed in pretty well, both my wife and I have bad backs so a better ride was mandatory, especially from a stock set up. Right from the get go I knew from reading that these were not smooth riding trucks and mods were going to happen, this is what I did, keep in mind in the last ten years there have been many new venders to spend money on but in 2010 not so much.
Super singles, not for a smoother ride but once aired down will make a considerable difference. Mine are 19.5's so they actually need to be aired down, much too stiff a sidewall for the weight carried, I run 48 psi front and 68 psi rears. With those pressures extra tire wear will occur, just the cost of getting some comfort I guess. If I am driving freeways I'll bump it up 15-20 psi each end to reduce wear but for example once I hit the Mexican border those pressures go down, speed bumps are all over the place and reducing the pressure makes a HUGE difference.
It would seem like having some alloy 17's on there would make a big difference.
National air seats with all the adjustments, lumbar support etc. I find ours very comfortable, mine fit me like a glove. For us the air bag in the seat is filled up just enough to raise the seat an inch or two, not very much at all. The seat base needed to be modified on one corner to have it fit next to the engine hump near the centre. A few years ago the small shock absorber was not working any more and that made for a bad..... well I call it the "boingy boing! A new shock settled that down.
So after the seats the ride was still not good so I went with Aon progressive bump stops on the fronts, I didn't notice much of an improvement with those but I'm sure there is, original bump stops are pretty hard and close to the axle.
Then I located what I call a suspension guru, just an older guy who does big and medium truck suspensions and had him do his magic. He re-designed the leaf pack re using some of the leafs, re arched them, no changes to the location of the shackles, lifted the truck 2.5 inches ( he said that was pretty much the limit to be lifted before other items would need to be changed. like the cardan joint) placed some slippery spacers between each leaf spring and put on new shocks. The shocks at the start faded quickly and eventually got tired fast so put some Fox shocks on that so far have been good but do fade somewhat during heavy use in warm conditions ( again external reservoir shocks would be a good investment ).
I asked about removing some of or all of the leafs on the rear overweight leaf pack ( forgot the name of that leaf pack ) but he advised against it, said it will be needed to stop the wallowing with the softer leafs and I believe he was right, when I need to swerve hard the truck handles very well, just like a Porsche! Lol. At that time the suspension work was only $1,400, best bang for the buck! With so many trucks of various sizes on the roads there has to be a several spring shops around, in the little town I was in there were two with several more 30 km's further away.
What I have noticed is oddly enough having more weight aft of the rear wheels helps with the boingy boingy thing! When I tow my little boats on a trailer things smooth out more, the boingy thing is what seems to make the ride feel harsher and addressing that might help improve the ride dramatically, eventually once these shocks fail I will spring (pun) for a better shocks, maybe just up front too, not sure its needed on the rears.
I would like to say that I think I have my truck dialed in pretty well, both my wife and I have bad backs so a better ride was mandatory, especially from a stock set up. Right from the get go I knew from reading that these were not smooth riding trucks and mods were going to happen, this is what I did, keep in mind in the last ten years there have been many new venders to spend money on but in 2010 not so much.
Super singles, not for a smoother ride but once aired down will make a considerable difference. Mine are 19.5's so they actually need to be aired down, much too stiff a sidewall for the weight carried, I run 48 psi front and 68 psi rears. With those pressures extra tire wear will occur, just the cost of getting some comfort I guess. If I am driving freeways I'll bump it up 15-20 psi each end to reduce wear but for example once I hit the Mexican border those pressures go down, speed bumps are all over the place and reducing the pressure makes a HUGE difference.
It would seem like having some alloy 17's on there would make a big difference.
National air seats with all the adjustments, lumbar support etc. I find ours very comfortable, mine fit me like a glove. For us the air bag in the seat is filled up just enough to raise the seat an inch or two, not very much at all. The seat base needed to be modified on one corner to have it fit next to the engine hump near the centre. A few years ago the small shock absorber was not working any more and that made for a bad..... well I call it the "boingy boing! A new shock settled that down.
So after the seats the ride was still not good so I went with Aon progressive bump stops on the fronts, I didn't notice much of an improvement with those but I'm sure there is, original bump stops are pretty hard and close to the axle.
Then I located what I call a suspension guru, just an older guy who does big and medium truck suspensions and had him do his magic. He re-designed the leaf pack re using some of the leafs, re arched them, no changes to the location of the shackles, lifted the truck 2.5 inches ( he said that was pretty much the limit to be lifted before other items would need to be changed. like the cardan joint) placed some slippery spacers between each leaf spring and put on new shocks. The shocks at the start faded quickly and eventually got tired fast so put some Fox shocks on that so far have been good but do fade somewhat during heavy use in warm conditions ( again external reservoir shocks would be a good investment ).
I asked about removing some of or all of the leafs on the rear overweight leaf pack ( forgot the name of that leaf pack ) but he advised against it, said it will be needed to stop the wallowing with the softer leafs and I believe he was right, when I need to swerve hard the truck handles very well, just like a Porsche! Lol. At that time the suspension work was only $1,400, best bang for the buck! With so many trucks of various sizes on the roads there has to be a several spring shops around, in the little town I was in there were two with several more 30 km's further away.
What I have noticed is oddly enough having more weight aft of the rear wheels helps with the boingy boingy thing! When I tow my little boats on a trailer things smooth out more, the boingy thing is what seems to make the ride feel harsher and addressing that might help improve the ride dramatically, eventually once these shocks fail I will spring (pun) for a better shocks, maybe just up front too, not sure its needed on the rears.
