Hi performance handling adjustments?

[JDMills]

As I was driving home tonight the thought occurred to me that may be the truck's handling could be improved. Any one ever attempted to improve the cornering abilities of these trucks?



I have noticed that the newer models have a rear sway bar. does that help? My goal might be to produce a ride that does not suffer as much body roll, and may be some thing that will not push quite so much in the turns. All that being said, I have not a clue as how to do it on a 6500lb. truck.

May be this is asking too much?

Jason

 

[Stomp]

I ran 33x12. 50's on my pickup they seemed to help. Body roll? Maybe try different shocks. I have rancho 9000's and they ride pretty stiff, but I don't think that I have a lot of body roll. Could also be the tires you are running.



We need more info on what you have.



Stomp

 

[sparks57]

Better shocks, anti-roll bars, wider tires. That's about it for cornering, unless you want to go extreme. Slam it maybe? 4" drop?



To make your suspension better in just about any situation:



•Airbags

•Ladder Bars

•Anti-roll bars

•Rancho 9000 shocks

•Better leaf springs



That would make your suspesion about as good as you can get it.

 

[JLEONARD]

I'll second the tire issue.

Mine handles soooo much better with the new tires.

Old tires still had plenty of tread left, but new ones grip better, no more wheel hop, no back end slidiing.

Jay

 

[JDMills]

Tires:

Better tires? Bigger, wider, or High performance (In load range 'D' ) and how wide can one go with dual rears?



As it is now, the truck is stock. I replaced the front shocks with some monroe units... not too impressed with them. the tires are a bit of a mixed bag. They are LT 235/75-16s



Jay what tires do you have now on your truck?



CB What will airbags do for the front end?



And now that I am thinking of it, the rear suspension seems to hit the overload leaf when driving around empty. . does that imply that the main springs are worn out?



basically the truck is set up as it came from dodge. I am looking to make upgrades as I go along and not make the mistake that I did when putting monroe shocks on the front... .



then enter in a autocross, and find out how badily the old goat really does corner.

Jason

 

[JLEONARD]

Better tires? Bigger, wider, or High performance (In load range 'D'

Better tires.

I did a lot of research and ended up putting on 4 Yokohama Geolanders HT-S 265/75 D rated on the stock steel rims.

These tires rated way better in both performance and treadwear than Goodyears, Bridgestones, Cooper, Michelins, anything I could find in an all season/highway tread.

These tires are also really quiet so I can hear the Cummins without distraction.

These tires are a little wider than the stock 235/85s, but the real difference is tread pattern and tire quality I believe.

I think the D rating helps as the sidewalls are a little more pliable... I don't tow or haul mush so I won't get hurt by the rating change... . they are still rated for 3000 # per tire... very close to my stock size tires.

At $90 they were a great deal I thought.

Hope this helps.

Jay

 

[paccool]

I've been considering ordering a rear sway bar for my truck. Has anyone put one on and did it help much? Did the ride get harsher than it already is?



I have quite a bit of rear lean at lower speeds, even with the 5000 # airbags. I only have about 5PSI in the bags when the tuck is empty to keep the ride a little better.



Is it possible the front sway bar is loosing some of the spring it originally had and causing the truck to lean more?



Damn, now I'm starting to sound like CB!



Stan

 

[DKasper]

Just for what it's worth, I've got airbags(firestone) on my '93 D350. They made the ride rougher than stock, even with no air in them -- the bag must be stiff enough to transmit some load/vibration from the axle even with no air. It firmed things up a bit in the corners, but I prefer the ride without them.



I heard someone say they moved their shock mounts to a more outboard position and that helped a bit with the roll/sway factor.



Stan -- I don't know about on the 1st gens, but on the '99 I had, disconnecting the rear sway bar did soften the ride up some.



Cheers!



Dave

 

[cerberusiam]

Correctly installed and setup sway bars should not enhance or detract from the suspension operation. They are designed to stop or reduce horizontal weigth transfer while letting the vertical suspension travel stay the same. Putting a sway bar on worn springs, shocks, etc won't gain you anything but a lighter pocket book. They may seem to stiffen the suspension but only if the obstruction is uneven. Given a bump the same under both wheels the sway bar adds nothing. A bump under one wheel will cause the sway bar to spread the travel evenly across both sides instead of one side moving up or down and causing the body roll.



The stock front sway bar looks to be about half as big as needed given the weight there but seems to work OK for damping most of the roll. I don't think I would like to run a canyon at 90 mph with it but for normal driving it seems OK. I must be lucky cuz I don't have problems with side roll, just problems with suspension being too stiff and beating things to death.



I have given up on the Monroe shocks. They don't work well and don't last on rough roads. The Gabriels I have now do a much better job of taming things down. How they last is another story.

 

[sparks57]

Cerberusiam nailed it on the head about the sway bars. You've got nothing to loose unless you 4 wheel a lot.



Airbags? They level the truck when the rear end is weighed down so you're truck does not start steering funny... I said for "all" conditions, meaning towing, daily driving, etc...



Oh and I was talking about rear airbags.



Airbags, and anti-sway bars are the biggest help while loaded. The sway bars, ladder bars, and wider tires help during launch and cornering while empty.

 

[dpuckett]

I would recommend against air bags in front. Father has them in his 92 (he removed the swaybar to put the bags in); with the bags all around, it still rides rougher than the 93 W350 I had or the 92 W250, both of which, I might add, had 2-3X the miles, but that is another story.



I'm not impressed with the Monroe shocks. I put some in Mom's pickup, and it made no difference whatsoever in ride quality, and the ones I took off had 100K+ on them.



The 93 W350 (kick myself in the butt every morning for letting it go) would corner almost as well as a Camaro. I could take the s-curve on southbound 287 through Loveland (about 3blocks north of US34- posted of r20mph) at 42mph- no sway, but stuff slid across the dash. I actually like the handling of the trucks I've had vs say, half ton Chevies, or the Celebrity Mom has. Much more control in corners, curves, etc.



I'd say put the sway bar in front if you dont have one- that is where most of the weight is. Can you get a sway bar for the front of a 2wd?



Daniel

 

[JDMills]

Daniel,

Your '93 w350 handling is just what i am searching for.



Thanks for giving me a benchmark. If I get it running right I will try the road you speak of, next time I visit my sister in Dillon.

Jason

 

[dpuckett]

Where's Dillon? ANyway, the 93 dont handle like that now; it needs a Borgeson shaft something firece.

I think having the duals helps a LOT; my 91 handles almost as well, with worn out shocks. I think tight steering has a lot to do with it, too. I can take curves in mine that I have to go 15mph slower to take in Mom's due to the increased slack.

The jog in the road I spoke of is only south bound... ... I'll give you a report on the 91 next month.

-DP

 

[sparks57]

Airbags up front? I never said that. Airbags in BACK to level the truck under load so steering doesn't go to crap and your truck doesn't look stupid.

 

[JDMills]

CB, I was asking for clarification. (airbags that I think if, go inside the coil springs) But the general opinion is that they are counter productive. I dont need them in back, as the leaf springs do Ok, and I am rarely loaded.



Daniel, Dillion/silverthorne/frisco just of I-70 1 1/2 hours west of denver? I am assuming that Loveland is not to far from Loveland pass? I have always been the cheesy tourist type and zoom by in the tunnel, with out taking the scenic route. Now your mentioning the steering... May be that is the best place to start. Although it seems to be tight, no point in fixing other parts with out looking at that first.

Jason

 

[dpuckett]

Ok, I know where you are talking about. Loveland and Loveland Ski Area are about two hours apart in good weather. Loveland (the town) is 10mi south of Ft Collins. They pretty much run together anymore, though. I remember when there was a good 6 mi between FtC and Loveland.

 

[MRickard]

The nices tires that handle real well are ones with a low aspect ratio, as they have more rim than tire. Most around these days are just for "me cool" and do not offer any weight capacity . I would recommend a 19. 5 rim, and pick from the common 70 series roundup, depending on height. I would get 225 for lower ones, or 245 for taller ones. I run the 245's as I like tall tires. They carry high loads (4545), are 34 inches tall (33 to 33. 5 if not capped), and are of a 70 aspect. The only hard thing nowadays is finding rims - mine are from when UPS had them on their one ton delivery vans. They are not made anymore unless custom order.

 

[JDMills]

UPS had 1 ton delivery vans that use rims that will fit on a dodge?? Are those the rig's that used to be powered by the 250 Chevy or 300 ford Inline Six moters?

 

[MRickard]

They still use the inline sixs today for their lighter deleveries but they used to have an old er one ton single that had 19. 5. Nowadays they got an aditional offset single. I would love to get that axle setup for some of my trucks!

UPS had 1 ton delivery vans that use rims that will fit on a dodge??

Ford & Dodge will fit all 3, Chevy only on a chevy, as they have a weenie axle hub. Only diff. between the rim is mostly from how they wanted to mount the caps on them. Hard to find the rims nowadays. They are either dual, or wrong bolt pattern.