I need a way to make the truck ride smoother. It is just a beast on road, off road, and even moderately loaded.

I would like to be able to take the truck off road, and not have the crap beat out of me. Nothing serious, but basically dirt roads, light 4x4 use. Not "for fun" off roading, but rather racking up a few hundred miles of dirt roads out in Co and Ut to get out in the woods. Also the regular roads around where I live are pretty crappy anyway.

I also must keep the weight carrying capacity of the truck.........

I was thinking air bags with onboard air and an in cab controller. Has anyone else done this? How many leafs do you remove to add something like this? Whats the cost like? Ive already got Bilstein shocks.

I might also like the ability to carry more weight in the bed with less sag when I need to.

Can I have my cake and eat it too?

TX!

Also, the truck is stock ride heigth, and will need to remain the same. Stock tires, but someday Ill go up to 265's.

tx

Heres my take.

Bigger tires without too much bigger rims. This gives you more of an air cushion.
So 265/285 on 16" rims.

Better shocks. Ranchos are adjustable but my Edelbrocks helped a bunch as well. American made to boot.

Reduce rear air pressure from 80 to 55. You do not need 80 PSI unless you are fully loaded.

Keep 3-500 hundred pounds in bed.

Crank the tbars or lower the rear. My truck was more comfortable when I was not leaning forward in my seat. I hated feeling like I was tipping forward all the time.


Well these things helped me out. I am sure there are other solutions.

Ya, Ive got the stock tires up to 70 PSI. I just dont want to have to raise and lower the pressure so much. Maybe onboard air would help that out too. I have got heavy (2000 lb+) in the bed weekly, so it would be hard to keep moving pressure around. The stock rims should be good for a 265 tire, no?

Tbars are all the way up, front tires are wearing pretty well.

Ive acually never run the tires at anything lower than 70 psi, maybe I would be suprised............ I just like the good mileage.........

Tire pressure is your best bet. I keep mine at 70 front, 80 rear cause I haul too often, i'm even too lazy to take the 80 out of the bags but I just live with the truck ride. When I've driven longer empty, I go to 55 on the tires and 5 on the air bags and it is night and day.

How much did the bags set you back? How many leafs did you take out (if any)? You think that tire pressure has more to do with it than airbags could? Im going over some pretty big bumps, not just little ones......

If I was going to take the PSI out of the tires, Ide need onboard air anyway. Out there in UT theres some places where it would be best to run 20-30 psi in the tires for sand.

Anyone have an idea on what onboard air might cost?

Thanks!

I tow a 3000 pound trailer with about a 150 pound tounge weight ( single axel enclosed). I have a 600 pound camper shell and 2 hundered pounds of junk in the bed. I scaled at 7545 without the trailer.

I have done all of this for 30k with the factory aluminum rims and a 265 tire. 60-65 PSI front and 55-60 PSI rear. No problems with nice even tire wear.

Are the Revos the same tires that are on the Super Duty's stock?

Ill pry be looking at that or the LTX AT for new tires.........

So the concensus seems to be that airbags would be a waste?

Can someone reccomend a good onboard air kit?

tx

When you say onboard air kit, are you referring to an air ride suspension, or airbags? I have airbags with an onboard compressor.. takes a little while to air them up, it's not instantaneous. I also know someone who removed a leaf for a better empty ride, also has blisteins, and is quite happy with the ride. Removing a leaf would give you a better empty ride, but you would definately need bags then if your loading 2K regularly. I would remove a leaf and add airbags if it were me..

My .02

I was hoping for a compressor and small tank, enough to do tires and airbags. (Maybe an airhorn later down the road....) When I say onboard air, Im talking about a tank/compressor to air up/down the bags.

Which leaf would I remove? The overload leaf dosent do much until Ive got at least 750 lbs back there.....

Surely someone has done this before..........

one.....final......bump

One place you said truck at stock ride height , another you said t-bars cranked all the way up , can't be both . If the t-bars are all the way up , do a search on "cranked t-bars" . Some good info on how to deal with front shocks , they need spacers or longer shocks. Also info on flipping rear helper springs and adding air bags. As usual there is more than one opinion , which is good , so you can make up your own mind .Enjoy the read

Good idear.....

The tbars are cranked, and bilsetins are installed. I think that 75% of the rough ride is coming from the rear............

You will be surprised how much 70 PSI of pressure in the tires affects the ride when the heat starts coming up. Came home monday, keep about 63 to 65 in tires. Had them balanced two weeks ago, that is when the handling changed radically. Wanted to jump over every bump in the road, steering felt skittish, thought I had busted a shock or busted a leaf. Checked air pressure, 81 hot, next morning, 75 cold. Tire tech was trying to do me a favor by airing them up. Got great mileage, almost 20 on daily ride of 110 miles round trip. Dropped them back to 65. Michelin LTX 265/75R16 E load range. Thought I needed E range for towing my 9000lb trailer. 65 feels a lot better, and still get around 19 MPG. Try it, it will make a world of difference. If not, hasn't cost you a thing in the world.

Ya, they are at 60 in the front, and 50 in the rear........

I just dropped the Tbars two cranks, Ill see if that makes a difference.......

The only other thing I can think of is that the tires on it are stockers, and bald.

manny-You don't tow heavy enough to worry about the tires being aired up all the way, and being load range E. Go buy some new tires in 265 or 285 and run them at 50 psi. The change in ride will amaze you. Most 265 and 285s are only load range d, but some such as mine are actually rated for more weight than the stock 245s were. For pulling your little manure cart and kubota around they are fine. I have hauled way more than that no problem. Next time we haul hay I will get a picture. 8 round bales, total with trailer around 16000, on a bumper pull trailer that really should have a 3rd axle farther forward, and the tires don't bulge much at all. I never air them up more.

to help make the ride better in the rear, either flip your overload spring, or remove it altogether and install airbags for the weight carrying capacity, I don't know why GM designed these truck to sit so close to the overload spring, when going over expansion joint on bridges your spring pack contacts them, therefore your ride becomes jarring.

Nar, the stock tires are at 50 psi right now.......Would a bigger tire at the same psi be any different? I dont tow heavy, but I routinely have 2-3500 lbs in the bed.......thus the higher pressures. Thanks

I wonder if adding some sort of a spacer between the overload and the rest of the springs would do any good? Do you think it would cause them to slap or something when they touch on a big bump?

I was looking at the cognito front end leveling kit. I lowered the Tbars down to about 1.5 inches up over stock. I just dont think that will have any impact on ride.

lower the t-bars(it WILL help), go to a 265/75/16 load range D @65 psi front and 45-65psi rear (according to load), Rancho 9000 shocks. Also, consider this...Cal-trac bars will help a BUNCH with the "jitter" that an unloaded bed will give, but doesn't help with the big bumps. As far as air bags go...they will make the ride worse. Primary Air has a nice kit to improve ride QUALITY but not QUANITY. It comes with a compressor and hose if you want it. ...Not sure about the spring-flip thing:) . Good luck!! Ed.

Get some Ranchos and put some weight in the bed. I hauled 25 bags of mulch in mine this weekend, under the snug top and boy was it smooth!!! Just about didn't unload them! Might have to go back for some more and leave them in. :)

Manny

Ticki2 gave excellent advice. If your bars are cranked (with no extended shocks) that's 30% (maybe 60%). If tires are over 40 (empty) that's 20%. If the overloads aren't flipped over yet, that's 40%. If the gas tank is empty, that's 10%.

Onboard air is easy to do and worth your consideration, going from heavy load hi-way, to empty sand. You'll find it quite worthwhile to have the airbags if flipping the overloads. Stability, safety, comfort. Just leave em at 5 psi when tooling around empty.

Bigger tires will have more sidewall, so they have more room to flex and absorb the bumps. Makes a lot of difference. When you don't haul stuff, do you have anything in the bed? My truck seemed to ride rougher with nothing in the back the first couple days I had it before I put my toolbox and tools into it. A little weight seems to help.
The overload and the main springs are held together with a tie bolt, it wouldn't be a good thing to take them part and put something in between. Then when you were loaded your springs would negative arch and stress them at the ends, eventually leading to sagging ride or breakage. Remember how front stock springs on an older 73-87 gm 1/2 ton look after they get old? You don't want that.
To see if the cognito would help, have a look at the stops under the upper a-arm. Do they look like your a-arm has been hitting the stop? If it has then the added travel gained from the cognito kit would help, because hitting the stop would obviously make for a harder ride than not. Also look and make sure your sway bar end links are still attached. When I had my 1/2 ton cranked up 3 inchs it snapped both sway bar end links and then it rode really bouncy/clunky.

MannyTranny,
I pull a 5th wheel with about 2500 pounds on the truck. The truck only dropped 2" with the load but the ride was very harsh. I installed the Firestone airbags to correct the problem. With the 5er on the truck, I air the bags up to 65 psi. This just puts a small air gap between the overloads and the regular springs. Made a huge difference in the ride as the springs are allowed to flex normally and the weight is distributed directly from the bed to the axle instead of being carried by the entire rear suspension.

One important note, if you install manual air bags, i.e. no controller in the cab, do not connect the air bags together on a common line. Each back should have its own input. If you attach the bags together then as the load changes it will deflate the one bag and inflate the other bag instead of making the bags independent.

Dale