Hello everybody,
Just signed into this site and already I got a question!
I live in LA, and got me a mighty Dodge Ram. Completly against the grain of all these dang, small sputtering gas saving....vehicles. I call it the living room on wheels, and love it. So every once in a while I get to go about 70 mph on these crowded freeways.
That's when this little annoyance happens. The truck starts doing this hopping from the rear. Now if I am singing, well hey, instant vibrato. Then my slightly over stuffed belly starts to shake like jelly. Anywayz, do you think some traction bars would help this out?


RC

 

Does it always happen at 70 or do you feel like it is the road? So is it when you hit uneven pavement that it bounces?

 

welcome to DF... couple of things will help, one is about 50~100 lbs of weight in the bed... I solved my problem with a tonneau cover (love them), made the ride better over the choppy freeways... 2nd is shocks. Edelbrock makes an IAS performer shock that is self adjusting, this shock helped out some with the rear end... Bilsteins are also good but I think the eddy's were better for what you describe.

 

The bane of the leaf sprung live rear axle...

 

yea, try a little weight in the back, right between the tire wells and see what that does first, cause that's a free fix...

 

Thanks everybody for the input. The dealer told me that these and other fullsize pick-ups do this hopping between 65, and 75. Their answer was to also drop a load in back, or if not that, then either go slower, or faster. Now isn't the sound of a screaming 4.7 or 5.7, music to the ears?
It is amazing how fast I can pass folks up and then stop the big beast real quick if I have to.
I really think I like this truck. I was going to trade it for the challenger when it comes out, but I think I'll wait a while. I put some nerf bars on it, and a tonneau cover also. It is like the hotrod I always wanted to build. A helluva motor! I just got to figure out how to upload a picture of it.
Thanks again,

RC

 

Okay, so it's not just me...

I'm in sunny SoCal also, I don't get the vibrato, but if I'm going over 70mph on a sweeping turn that has an elevation change in the middle of it (i.e. in the middle of the turn there's a concrete bridge that crosses over a four lane road), the truck gets squirrely. I can actually feel it understeer initially, then the rear and comes out and we're back on track again. First time it happened it freaked me out, was going about 80mph and I corrected for the initial understeer, only to be surprised again by the oversteer that shortly followed. After a while I figured that I just have to hold the steering wheel steady through the transitions and everything will come out okay. Used to have a '00 Sierra, it was much better behaved on these wonderful freeways. But it had a 'glass shell on it and a softer suspension, not to mention 16" wheels with lots of sidewall. So it absorbed anomalies in the road about as well as my wife's minivan.
Now that I'm used to the handling of this Hemi, I simply love it. I just didn't expect it to react to freeway imperfections like the '87 Vette I had in another life (pre-wife-and-kids). It is the first street vehicle I've hadsince the Vettethat actually has aninterestingpersonality.

 

weight in the bed, and make sure the rear tires are not over inflated. there is a tire decal in the drivers door. if ti says 80psi for the rears, thats at full load in the bed..drop it to 65 or so. less hoppin, vibratin, and sloppiness on transition ramps.