i have an '04 1500 qc,4x4,long bed. the rear suspension likes to "bounce" alot along certain stretches of highway. i test drove another just like mine and it did the same thing so i know it isn't just my truck. the service dept. said it was probably just the highway and not the truck. nice try *******, this isn't the only vehicle i've ever driven (and somehow they have a 5 star rating). does anyone else have this problem or have a solution to it? would just new adjustable shocks fix the problem, or am i going to need new springs and shocks, maybe even convert to air bags and a 4 link? putting a load in the bed helps some, but doesn't cure it.

 

Well, it's a truck. That's what they do. So, yeah, it is normal for a vehicle with pretty much ZERO weight over the drive axle. I remembered this REAL QUICK yesterday while test driving my soon-to-be truck. The back end likes to "hop". My old Tacoma would do the same thing. I knew exactly where to time my shifts on the way to work for the smoothest ride possible!!!

I can't really think of any way to remedy the situation except to possbily put some weight back there.

 

Yeah, what he said!

As a kid I worked for a dealership delivering bare chasses and cabs to a truck outfitter. Without some weight in the rear they were bears, sort of the extreme of the pickup situation. However, you should be better off than those with regular cabs, I would think.

Put several hundred pounds in your bed and see if it drives more like you expect. If so, is the ride difference worth lugging around all that extra weight--or not? Your call.

There are certainly better shocks than OEMs, especially Dodges, imho. I've never been impressed in the past with Dodge's choices in this regard, but even the best replacements, though they may help some, will not give you a car-like ride by themselves. It is still a live rear axle supported on HEFTY leaf springs!

Good luck.

 

it's a 2004, not a 1974. it was almost $30k not $1500. my '98 f150 doesn't do it, there's a difference between being stiff and just plain bouncing. i'm going to go with a new set of rancho 9000's, i'll let anyone who is interested know the results

 

my Dak does it. I haven't isolated it but something isn't right. I know the pavement is somewhat washboarded out, but my 3/4 ton rides fine on it, so does my 5.0. And every other vehicle I'd ridden in. But the dak bounces like mad, and it's got light duty springs in back. Even with a 21' chris craft strapped to the back it did it, so I know there was quite a bit of weight on the tail end. It was actually worse, the dash looked like it was going to fall in my lap. If an 86 heavy duty with 5" lift springs all around can ride fine, there is no reason an 02 light duty shouldn't.

 

I've never noticed it in my regular cab. It rides very nice on the highway and the local streets, it rides stiff as it is a truck but it doesn't bounce. It stays straight and rides smooth. I have noticed that while going around a bend and going over bumps it will hop once or twice and the first time this happens it's a little scary, but you get use to it and know what to expect. But other than that it rides quite nice for a truck.

 

I have a solution to your problem, buy a Cadillac. Long bed 4x4 hmmmmmmm ya its gonna bounce a lil. just my 2 cents

 

Trying not to be rude or personal when i say this, BUT it is YOU PEOPLE that ruin trucks for the resty of us! They are trucks. want a truck? thats what you have to expect. They cant slap on and IRS suspension on a heavyduty truck at least not without driving up cost and sacraficing some other trait. (which would be most likely load capacity.) Car and Driver complained about an f150'ss ride a few years ago. Their complaint? "drives like a truck". [>:] they have to build these things as a compromise to the public. they have to count for the ignoramous thats gonna throw 4k lbs of rock in the back as well as the old guy with the bad hip. but they cant get both and have to meet somwhere. For most of us we accept this and if we have bad hips we drive a car. But for regular folk, they buy a truck cause thats what fits their need. Now, by no means am I saying you are stuck or that you have to sit there and deal with it! what im saying is quit complaing about the stock vehicle and go spend some money on some aftermarket products. Aftermarket products are aftermarket for a reason. The factory cant do it all ( and they have spent millions on R&D) and if you can buy the vehicle you should accept that fact as well. I am sure you could find a simple dampner change will make for improvment. If thats not enough i would suggest a custom set of leaf springs as the next cheapest answer. (tip: more thin leaves better than a few thick ones.) A good source to check out would be a local offroad/ accesory shop. youll be amazed at the time and money a good knowledgable salesperson can save you from because they have tried more than you have. I truly hope you can find a comfortable solution for yourself as these are very nice trucks but please dont place blame on the manufacturer for not meeting your personalized specific needs exactly. There are a lot of people out there that are just fine with the way it is.

Anyways please just keep in mind that we all have very differnt and very specific needs for our trucks and it cant meet them all.

And from rereading your post i stick to the above but am perplexed as you seem to understand more than an average person. certain roads can be more of a havoc than others. and those expansion joints suck no matter what your in.

 

I hope you weren't pointing that post at me - I know fully what to expect from a truck. I wouldn't mind if my Dak rode more like a truck, but it honestly feels like there's something wrong such as a blown shock. I've disconnected both rears and cycled both by hand and they seemed a bit soft to me, but I haven't done the fronts. When I get a couple hundred spare you better believe I'm going to swap them out... one thing at a time. I got rid of the OEM tires and switched to 15" oem alloys so I know they're not out of balance, plus it's smooth as glass sometimes but then others I feel like my belly is going to start whipping up a frothy puke for me. Seriously, the dash starts bouncing out of sync with the rest of the front end and it feels like a blown strut.

 

no not to you at all. and really not to the first poster either. Just to the general group of people that dont understand why the back of their truck is a more harsh ride than their car. it goes to the same people that fly around in suvs and wonder why they tip when they drive em too fast without understanding the physics involved ie momentum, inertia, traction acceleration, negative acceleration, yaw, pitch, centerof gravity, road conditions.... etc. I never had to be told that just becaus ei could travel in the snow and ice didnt mean i would stop better either.


A far as a bad shock, push on the end of the vehicle giving you trouble. it should comeback up evenly and controlled. Any bounce and that will clue you in quick that your shocks are no longer dampening at all. I have had it happen on my jeep (not stck well say) and my friends jeep (not stock) and reall bad on a friends explorer (not stock) diagonosed bad struts on my moms 90 bmw and a couple other cars. its pretty apparent. however you might have a weak one or one that is just bad form the start. perhaps its the rear one to close to an exhaust sytem?