My 97 1500 Sport seems to having some handling issues in the rear with weight in it...

Last weekend I put about 800 lbs of concrete in bags. They were centered over the rear axle. When I was driving down the road when I should have been going straight the rear end of the truck was sliding around left to right. It was not to the point where it was going to come around on me, just a slight side to side movement.

Has anyone ever experienced this with theirs? I installed my shocks 2 months ago and they have about 1000 miles on them. I was thinking maybe the bushing for the rear leaf springs are worn and need replacing. Any ideas?

 

Was the rear sliding or was it just really light in the nose, making it unstable? 800lbs is a lot for a 1500 to handle.

 

I suppose it might have been light in the nose. If I moved he wheel the slightest bit the rear was sliding though. With nothing in the back it goes down the road perfectly.

 

I've overloaded mine before (probably 1200+ gross) but the weight was distributed all over the bed (and cab). Rode ok ... but low. I've also had a bunch of weight over the rear axle and it got twitchy on me. I figured the combination of light nose and (rear) tire squirm was the cause. I didn't air up the tires first. You need to run them pretty hard with that kind of load.

I run 50psi on all 4 now.

 

Incorrect tire pressure could cause all of the issue. If you are running low pressures for a smoother ride and then put a significant amount of weight in the bed, the tires will get spongy and do what I call roll from side to side as there is not enough air pressure to allow the sidewalls to stabilize the tires.

I always use the recommended pressures from the tire company, not the vehicle manufacturer. The tire company designed and built the tires so they know best what the tires need. The vehicle manufacturer recommends different levels based on the design of the vehicle and it's suspension and the type of ride ( soft and smooth or hard and rough ) they figure the people buying the vehicle will want. That is why Firestone had so many blowouts with the Ford Bronco. Ford recommended way too low air pressure for the Firestone tires. The Firestone tires were not designed to run that low of pressure.

The next time you want to haul something, air up the tires to the recommended pressure on the tires and see how it rides. Should help out unless you have something broken in the back or you have loaded it wrong.

Also, the best way to load a truck is to get as much weight to the front of the bed that you can. The closer to the front tires, the more of the extra weight the front tires will carry and the less the back tires will carry. Simple mechanical forces at work here.

Good luck.

 

I also had to pick up a palette of concrete from home depot about a month ago, and the truck seemed like the back end was all over. I stopped and aired up the tires to about 45 - 48 psi and it rode 10 times better. Still a bit of weight for that truck, but she handled it nicely after i had more air pressure.

 

Amen to all that. I completely ignore the sticker on the truck and air up to where I like the ride (firm) but stay under sidewall printed max. Dodge doesn't know what tires I've put on this thing so how can they recommend pressures. You have to watch wear patterns though, and adjust accordingly.