Trying to do something to soften the ride on these crappy concrete freeways here, The wash board effect is a killer.


I have heard Pros and Cons about Velvet Ride Shackles,


I was hoping to put Rancho 9000's and the Velvet Ride Shackles to see if this would help?


I was told the Ranchos would be better then the Bilstiens for this, since they are adjustable. Anybody have any experience with the Velvet Rides? Any Info would be appreciated.

The velvet ride schackles will lower your ride height 1 to 1.5 " in the rear. You will have to accouunt for this with add-leafs or blocks.


I researched these in depth. Every post I read about them the people commenting said they made no differnece. Give them a try and let us know.


I have never personally used this product. Just reporting the info. I dug up.

I know of a set that was installed on a Ford. As Bronco said, it did lower the truck and 1" or so. In some cases this could be a good thing. The biggest difference I could see was smoothing out the joints on concrete highways. I have thought about a set myself, along with a set of air lift bags.

I have to talk on the cell phone all day for work, and with certain Freeways I have been told I sound like I am having a nervous breakdown, they say my voice sounds like I am yodeling.


I originally thought Air bags might be the ticket, but most say they are to help with weight more then anything. I have a install date at the end of April because the Rancho 9000's are severly back ordered.


Hope this helps, I don't like the idea of lowering the back end an "1, I like it set just like it is, so I will try and use blocks or whatever to keep it the same height. Was hoping to hear better news,

Shocks will help a little. Also, what is your air pressure? Dropping down from the reccomended 80 to something like 55-65 will help a little as well. I also keep a few sand bags in my bed year round. Helps with traction and smoothes the ride a bit. Edited by: Bronco

I have the velvet rides and the rancho shocks. They lowered the truck enough to make it sit level and they do help the ride.

Hello, I have had a set on my 02 2500HD, and now I have put a set on the 04 2500HD.They will lower the rear rake angle to where the truck is near level ( front to back) by lowering the rear end by 1.5". The ride quality is improved, but this is somewhat more subjective as to the degree of improvement. Personally, I think the freeway concrete expansion joint flutter (empty) is improved but the "larger" bumps are about the same. It is the type of thing that is hard to give a quantified improvement number, but you can feel a subtle difference. Along with the velvet ride mod, I did something else that made a big improvement on the empty ride quality, and that was to remove the big lower secondary leaf spring and to de-arch it aprx 1/2 inch at each end. I had to take them off the truck, and then to a spring shop for this, and then re install them. But the net effect is when the spring works, it has to compress just a little further before the upper leafs contact the second stage. There is more "light load travel" in the spring pack after it is reinstalled and better overall ride quality at or near empty. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gif


Sir-col

I installed velvetride shackles on my 3500 and, like Sir-Col, I feel they helped with things such as highway expansion joints. As for big bumps, like potholes, I am not sure I notice much of a difference. They did lower the rear of my truck so it sits more level (it is still a little higher in the rear) but, thankfully, it does not seem to sqaut anymore than it did before, when loaded.


I 100% agree with Bronco in regards to better shocks, lower tire pressure, and added weight. While I feel the velvetrides helped, lowering my tire pressure to 50 PSI (unloaded), adding Bilsteins and running with 300-600 lbs. in the bed really smoothed out the ride.


- Mike

So BlackMax, Sir-Col and sloth,


Was the effort and price of these worth it???

As for me , yes , .....The Velvet Ride are not real expensive and it only take a hour and half, or so , to do the install. Also, it can go back to 100% stock real easy. I might think different if it was a real pricy mod, etc. etc.


Sir-Col

I decided to try the shocks first, since I know the OEM shocks are crap, I'll see what happens after that, Any problems with Tire Wear when you lower the tire psi? Thanks all for the info.

SteveNorCal-


I do feel it was worth it but I can see why many say they did not notice a difference. The change in ride, at least for me, seems to only be noticable under very specific road conditions which obviously vary region to region. I definitely enjoy them on worn highways. While I said that I do not notice a difference with larger road hazards at speed, they definitely helped with large bumps at low speeds like coming off curbs and driving on unimproved (rocky dirt) roads.


- Sloth

Just installed the Velvet Rides this weekend on my '04 Dually.


Measured pre and post ride height. I lost only 1/2 inch. Same as on my F350. Not sure where folks are getting the reported 1.5 - 2 inch drop.http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Ermm.gif Anywho, it didn't seem to make the same huge difference as on the F350 , but the ride is better on certain road conditions. It is a very noticeable improvment on slower speed large bumps where the rear really hit hard before. For expansion cracks at high speed it is also better. Seems equal or worse on high speed bigger freeway bumps and dips.


One weird thing though, I found that lowering the air pressure in the tires made the ride worse. The rear tended to bounce a couple times over every bump, and you'd feel it through the truck. When I bumped the pressure up to near max, you'd feel the initial bump a little more, but there was no shudder afterwards. maybe this is just on a Dually since there is so much tire for an unloaded rear.


Gonna put on the RS9000Xs later this week. Will letcha know how it rides then.


jeff

I put them on my '04 duelly and it lowered it 1.25 inches. I have air bags/rancho 9000's and 265's all around and I feel that the ride is as good (90%) of my old '02 2500 HD.

KTDURAMAX, Interesting. Did the velvets settle over time. I swear mine only dropped by 1/2 inch. Of course it's only been a few days. Do you still have your helpers on top of the spring pack? With the velvet-rides installed, and a 1.25 inch drop, your helpers must be touching your hard stop (or almost). I'm considering airbags too. Did they help a lot, or was it mostly the other items giving the improved ride?


Thanks for your info.


Jeff