Freeway expansion join bounce with Bilsteins?

[Dr.Kayak]

Does anyone out there running Bilsteins shocks feel they eliminate the harmonic bounce cause by expansion joints on concrete freeways? I have been running Rancho 9000s for 2 years and do not like them. The local 4x4 shop said Bilsteins are much better.



I’m trying to find an alternative to spending $3,500 on a T-rex system. I do not need to go 80mph on Baja roads. But, I can not live with the way my truck rides.



Thanks for any advice,



Chuck

 

[Cooker]

I spoke with Kent the other day at T-Rex. He memtioned something about a Duestech (SP?) shock that they sell. I'm sure it is less than the King shocks sold with the T-Rex kit. Maybe you can give him a call and see if they will help solve your problems?

 

[Bova]

Doc , other than T-rex , you can't beat bilstiens. I run them on my truck and I'm in NYC every day.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Oh no doubt Scince I tossed in my Bilsteins Route Seven twards danbury from I 95 is NOW harmless as before It would rattle your teeth out (3 miles of BAD BAD paving due to constant construction) As for expansion Joints I think I know what you mean and To tell you the truth ... . I think either two things happened 1: they somehow removed every one of them on I-95 or 2: The truck eats em up

 

[Batman]

I've had them on all 4 corners for about a year, definate improvement.

HTH,

George

 

[RustyJC]

Pardon me, but I'm still headscratching trying to figure out why you couldn't come up with an acceptable setting with the Rancho 9000's. We have the old 5-position 9000's, and settings of 3 front/2 rear empty and 4 front/5 rear towing (13,500 lb 36' 5th wheel) work great for us. A tremendous improvement over the junk factory shocks (replaced at 2000 miles).



Just wondering... ...



Rusty

 

[Dr.Kayak]

I have a long-bed and have tried all setting with no help. Personally I think the 2 year old Ranchos are worse than stock. I watch other trucks on the freeway and they do not bounce like mine does.



JROBINSON2 - Posted this "On some concrete freeways (like I 215 from I 15 to Henderson) I get a severe rhythmic bounce between 65 and 75 mph that no amount of knob turning on those Rancho’s will help"



Recently 2 of my adjustment knobs will not even turn. I bet heat has wasted the internal valve.

 

[RustyJC]

It certainly sounds like something in the Ranchos isn't functioning correctly. With settings of 3 front/2 rear, our truck (long bed as well) rides like a Lincoln (my wife likes it that way) with none of the continuous front end bobbing or rear end kicking experienced with the stock shocks. With settings of 4 front/5 rear when towing, the constant rear end bouncing we experienced with the stock shocks is snubbed down tight.



Based on our experience, if you can't feel any difference in ride after making substantial adjustments on the shocks, there's something wrong!



JM2CW



Rusty

 

[johnrv4]

I have to agree with Rusty

I recently installed the Rancho 9000x's on my '01, and they definitely improve the ride over the expansion joints. Empty, I run the fronts on 3 and the backs on 1, and the ride over the bumps are greatly improved over stock... Towing, I run the rear on 7 and front on 4 and the bounce on the rear is eliminated... I did forget to change them once when I was done towing(left it on 7), and you could feel every little bump in the road . But I agree with Rusty, there has to be something wrong with yours.

 

[mediccummin]

IMO

The bilsteins bounce me around much more than my Rancho's. I think the expansion joint bounce has more to do with your wheel base than your shocks. Although the shocks do make some difference. I've driven the 101 in my area in many different trucks and wheel bases and each has it's own bounce. The 101 here is horrible to the point you can't hardly put a drink in your cup smoothie. I noticed in the longer extended cab truck it's much worse than the short bed, shorter wheel base. I found that the Chevy long wheels base was the worst and stiffest out of Chevy, Ford, Toyota, and Dodge.

 

[jrobinson2]

Rusty

Have you followed the "racing suspension" thread?https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=79066&perpage=15&pagenumber=1 kentkroeker

posted an explanation of the dynamics of the bounce problem there. Is your truck a 4x4? Does the rhythmic bounce occur on 2wd trucks, I don't have much experience with 2wd trucks but have never seen this problem in a 2wd Dodge. When I bought my truck new it had a severe cyclic bounce between 65 and 75 mph on southbound I-15 from Vegas, this is a nice new piece of concrete freeway, at 60 mph dead smooth, at 80 dead smooth in between not just rough but unbearable. I changed to the ranchos and for the most part no more bounce on any setting on that road, however now I have a more severe bounce (definitely cannot leave a drink in the smoothie) at any setting on the I-215 to Henderson. I tried many combinations of settings and never found anything that was very helpful. The only thing that seems to help is loading about 1000lbs or more in the truck. Even on fairly rough normal roads it rides good. When I first installed the Ranchos around 45K miles I ran the fronts on 3 and rears on 2 empty, when loaded to 9000 lbs, fronts on 4 rears on 5. Now at 99K miles the fronts are on 5 all the time and are a little soft even there, the rears seem to be holding up fine. The adjustments are definitely working on the shocks, if I forget to reset the rears after I remove the camper the back of the truck will hardly stay on the road over the 5 miles of washboards I drive to the pavement. A couple months ago I had to drive 15 miles of washboards and had some extra time so I made several adjustments to the fronts, they are basically useless below 3 now, to stiff for washboards on 5 and to soft for higher speed highway driving on 4, but still better than the originals

I don't want anyone to think I'm anti Rancho The rears made a HUGE difference with the Camper loaded, with no ill effects empty on the lower settings and the fronts were an improvement when new.

Jared

 

[QRTRHRS]

The type of tires and pressure you run may contribute to the bounce as well. I have one area that I get slap from going either direction. The Bilsteins had helped dampen it but I noticed it to be a bit more since putting the Michelin ATX's on.

 

[Dr.Kayak]

Originally posted by jrobinson2



I changed to the ranchos and for the most part no more bounce on any setting on that road, however now I have a more severe bounce .....

I would agree completely with this. My Ranchos did great when they were new but they seem to have gone bad in only 20k miles.



Guess for my use I need a bigger shock. The local 4x4 shop recommends a coil-over shock from Fox. The price was about the same as a T-rex system.