Just bought a 2500HD, 05 D/Max Crewcab Long bed 4X4 truck.

What are you guys doing about freeway driving on concrete roadways, when the expansion joints on the road cause the truck to gyrate & bounce.

When the roadway changes from concrete to asphalt, its rides like a cadillac!

I spent $42k on a new truck, that rides like this. I know its a truck, but I had been driving chevy vans for 20 years, never this bad of a ride.

I know its a 4X4, but this is getting a little ridiculuce.
It's bone stock right now.

What have you guys done to try to fix this problem?

i know exactly what you are talking about. I went from a Z71 to this thing that rides like a bucking bronco. I think it's because its a 3/4 ton 4x4 is why it rides so rough, but mine will almost jar your teeth out on the concrete freeways....asphalt is such a relief to hit........

Check your tire pressures. I know the door on the 2004s say to have 80 psi in the rear. You really only need about 40-50 psi unloaded. That smooths out the ride a little. Other than that, I heard new shocks make a world of difference. I only have a couple of spots that remind me that I have a HD truck. I think mine rides nicer now that I have the 285s on, but I still feel most cracks in the road.

Put the Bilsteins on, they make a huge difference!! Other than that, I assume you have a long bed? It is much worse in a long bed. I remember when I first drove my truck back from the dealership, I pulled over cause I thought something broke, haha, I could barely hold on!! I put the bilsteins on and bigger tires and I don't really feel it anymore. Also, driving 80+ really helps! It seems that once you drop under 70 it really starts to bounce.

Gotta find the happy spot with the bumps on the road... it's either ride them up and down like a buoy in the sea, or skim the tops like a speedboat. Being inbetween where the suspension clears but has time to travel some is where you're going to go boingy boingy.

I found that out with frost heaves :) If you hit them fast, hope theyre spaced right so your up and air comes down on the backside of the next or else you're going into orbit. It's easier to just slow down sometimes.

How many of those Vans were 2500's? Your driving a Heavy Duty rig that is meant to work and not ride like a Cadilac. You can achieve a much better ride by dropping your tire pressures but the main culprit is the stiff sidewall on your little 245/75R-16 tires that were designed to handle the 9200 lb GVWR your truck came with. Shocks will help too but the tires are the main culprit. Have you loaded-er up yet and hauled a load? Throw a ton of weight in the bed and you'll be amazed by how compliant the ride is. That's the trade off it's built to work. Drop you air pressure for starters and if you can't get enough comfort out of that I would recomend that you swap tires out before you spring for new shocks (no pun intended) because the crappy tires will remain to be hindrance in ride quality. I know most people don't want to put $$$ into a new rig to get it the way they like it but they don't make 1500's with Diesels... Yet!!!

Theres a spot on Highway 59 outside of Houston from Humble past Kingwood that will adjust your back even if you don't need it. I have hit my head on the ceiling of the truck. Of course i have ridden on this road in many cars and trucks, and no matter the vehicle it is just plain bad for any vehicle and driver. Especially when trailering i have to slow down, 70mph is not the right speed to survive the ride. It's not the trucks suspension its the quality of the road.

I went to Velvet Ride Shackles on the rear. Helped a bunch! Not quite 1/2 ton ride when emptyy but now the wfie woudl rather take the tuck on long trips the her Murano.

Theres a spot on Highway 59 outside of Houston from Humble past Kingwood that will adjust your back even if you don't need it. I have hit my head on the ceiling of the truck. Of course i have ridden on this road in many cars and trucks, and no matter the vehicle it is just plain bad for any vehicle and driver. Especially when trailering i have to slow down, 70mph is not the right speed to survive the ride. It's not the trucks suspension its the quality of the road.
LMAO i just drove that stretch on friday and hit my head too LOL........:lol:

Ditto what BurninMadMax posted, you're riding around in a machine built for heavy duty work. I installed Rancho 9000's on my dually and it made a world of difference. I'll drop the rear tires to 50-60psi unloaded, but leave the fronts at least 65psi or higher due to the amount of weight on the front tires (4400lbs+-). JJ :)

[QUOTE=Burnin Mad Max]How many of those Vans were 2500's?

All of them were 2500, or the old 30 series before that, I know I bought a heavy duty truck, heck this is what appealed too me, Bigger chassis, & most importantly towing capability.

Any of you ever own a 96-02 Chevy cargo van? Ever try to get it to stop, one terrible braking system I think GM ever put out. Everyone I talked to experianced the same symptoms. GM fianally put 4 wheel disc on the vans in 03, cured the problems. I was so tired of warping rotors on vans, heck my last van a 2002 chevy, I even went as far as buying cross drilled rotors to help this situation.

Now I am looking forward to being able to drive a work vehicle in daily manner that if it comes to a panic stop, it will stop.

I hope next week to drag out my powerboat, hook it up to the new truck, & see how she pulls that 8000lbs of beast, plus hoping that this will load it up & maybe calm down the bucking in the cabhttp://www.dieselplace.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Ditto what BurninMadMax posted, you're riding around in a machine built for heavy duty work. I installed Rancho 9000's on my dually and it made a world of difference. I'll drop the rear tires to 50-60psi unloaded, but leave the fronts at least 65psi or higher due to the amount of weight on the front tires (4400lbs+-). JJ :)I was wondering if they make the 9000’s for the dually I have them on my 96 GMC 4X4 and brag about them all the ti<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:PersonName>me</st1:PersonName>. Just Great shocks. Now I have to explain to the wife why I need new shocks on a new truck. :eek:

Well drove to LA on Wednsday the 20th, rough ride down, bounced all the way there on concrete. Thursday went to meeting, then brought meeting samples back home with me. About 600-700LBS of stuff, made a big diffrence in the ride home.

Friday, goofed off, went & pulled my 28Ft Eliminator powerboat out of storage, about 7000LBS, pulled it great. Cleaned up the boat, charged up 3 of the 6 batteries for it, need 3 new batteries for the year, fired up the supercharged motor on the boat, sweet music too my ears, man do I hate winter!

Pulled the boat back out to storage. Man am I happy with the power in pulling the boat!

Next question, how many of you guys have tried the Velvet Ride Shackles on your trucks, did they help the unloaded rides?

I'm new here....and the following is just my opinion. I wonder how people who complain about their new trucks ride....would've survived with the older "log wagons" of just a few years back?

All that I can say is that you're new Heavy Duty truck does ride like a Cadillac....when it's compared to IT'S competition....AKA....Ford and Dodge 3/4 and 1-ton trucks. I've driven, and owned, tons of all 3 manufacturers trucks and the GM truck is the hands down winner in the comfortable ride department.

I currently own a 2002 4x4 Reg Cab 3500 Dually w/the 8.1/Allison combo w/37k on it...and I love the ride it provides. It's pretty comparable to my '01 Tahoe that I just traded in....for what that's worth. I'm just a true believer in IFS for "on road usage". I've had many SFA rigs in the past...and my trail rigs will ALWAYS be sportin' a SFA...but otherwise I love the polished ride of the GM IFS HD's.

I've put several of my 88 and up IFS trucks through "living hell" and I'm aware of the design's weaknesses from first hand trials and tribulations ..... BUT.....they can take some amazing punishment and hold up. I've broke axle joints on just about every front SFA axle made (D44, D60, D30, D28-etc) ....but I've never truly outright.....BROKE an IFS outer shaft w/out it having prior obvious damage from torn boots...lack of grease...etc....that says alot to me.

Overall...I'm really pleased with GM's IFS and it's abilities. If you'd run the old 73-87 trucks in 4x4 lock....as much as we do our new trucks....OR....if you put nearly the identical miles on the older ones as we do our newer ones....you'd have to agree with me on the facts. Which are as follows;

1. Even if you don't like IFS...it will outlast the older axles with a good maintenance program.....and it still rides/runs great with HUNDREDS of thousands of miles on them. Ever drive a 300k 78 K20 or K30? I have....they have to be COMPLETELY rebuilt (drivetrain-wise) to be dependable...and they usually just feel WORN OUT....unlike the newer trucks of today.

2. Have you rode in an old SFA lately? They sound like a box of wrenches getting tossed out of your truck when you hit chug-holes, R.R. tracks, wash-board type bumps.

3. SFA's just get sloppy with a fraction of the usage that we EXPECT out of our trucks...nowadays.

Don't get me wrong....I LOVE the venerable Dana 60's....hell even the Dana 44's.....but nowadays......... I ONLY want those axles in my trail rig or maybe in a competitive pulling truck type of application.

ENJOY your new truck....and as far as I'm concerned...YOU DEFINITELY GOT THE "CADDY".

Aron

EDIT: SORRY SO long of a RANT ! :D

Wow. I always heard that the longer wheel base would smooth out the ride. Also, I drive a co workers' 3500 Ram TD600 dually a good bit, and his definitely rides better than my Chevy, even w/ the Bilsteins.

Theres a spot on Highway 59 outside of Houston from Humble past Kingwood that will adjust your back even if you don't need it. I have hit my head on the ceiling of the truck. Of course i have ridden on this road in many cars and trucks, and no matter the vehicle it is just plain bad for any vehicle and driver. Especially when trailering i have to slow down, 70mph is not the right speed to survive the ride. It's not the trucks suspension its the quality of the road.

Amen to this. That is one of the worst stretches of road I have ever driven on. It makes no difference which vehicle I am in. Although back in the early 90s, Southeast of Little Rock on that interstate was pretty ruff.

braz