truck hops

[CumminsE263]

New dodge owner. When im in any sand, dry dirt or try to spin the tires not that I do that a lot, the tires hop like crazy. Its like I have a ten inch lift with no ladder bars. Bone stock. Is this normal. BF goodrich rugged trail t/a Thanks

 

[Bob4x4]

The easiest,and also the cheepest fix is to air down the tires.



Bob

 

[JDiepstra]

I have had my truck do this in deep snow.

 

[Coalsmoke]

Jeff, its been my experience that hopping in sand is normal for a stock truck, you think its bad in yours, try it in a Class 8 tractor.

 

[Schelle]

Jeff, This seems to be normal for the Dodges. Mine (2006, 6 spd, stock) does it in sand and in snow (even when not deep). The "limited slip" doesn't work all that well, and it hops alot. My 2001 Ford F350 never hopped like this thing does. I'm hoping the tires (same as yours) are part of the problem, but I don't expect it to go away with different tires.

 

[CumminsE263]

I expect it in a tractor or dump truck but not a pickup. So I guess the dodge just does this, thats strange has any body figured out why or have a cure. Id like to smoke the tires once in a while.

 

[TAbbott]

Traction Bars are about the only fix. The little cheapie Tuff Countrys from JC Whitney helped my '06 a bunch! It went from being a helpless POS off-road to actually being pretty good, all things considered.

 

[KWilkinson]

I'd imagine its just something to do with the spring rates of our trucks. All its caused by is axle wrap. My 01 didnt hop near as much as my new 07, but traction bars are about the only way to cure it.

 

[Bob4x4]

The springs are a comprimise in design,they are long to improve ride but to cut cost they cut the number of leaves and then made them thicker.

My Carli spring pack has done the trick for me.

I don't need or want traction bars cutting my ground clearance. I have excellent control in the sand,dirt and on pavement.



Bob

 

[PKnoerzer]

Ditto for spring packs - only mine are from KORE. The arched leaves support the main leaves, while the stock O/L doesn't come into play. I haven't noticed hop in deep sand or snow.

 

[Baja_Mike]

Also proper shocks and shock valving help this problem as well... ... .

 

[TAbbott]

Bob: FWIW, the Tuff Country bars mount above the springs and don't interfere with ground clearance at all. They won't work with the stock overload springs on a 3500, however. Only the 2500's w/o overloads can run them.

 

[Bob4x4]

Bob: FWIW, the Tuff Country bars mount above the springs and don't interfere with ground clearance at all. They won't work with the stock overload springs on a 3500, however. Only the 2500's w/o overloads can run them.

Back in the day... ... ... ... ... .

I used to lift a LOT of 1/2 ton Dodges,p-ups and Ramchargers by request for a cheap shop. They wanted 4" of lift. This REQUIRED using a bar arangement similiar to the tuff country. The rear ride was terrible Very little travel ,it is still just a cheap fix for one problem to make more problems.

To have a good ride on and off road you NEED travel.



Bob

 

[Baja_Mike]

That and anybody that has taken the time and effort to take the rear spring pack down to a mono leaf and really cycled the rear suspension will tell you that you can't completely get rid of the bind you will get. This is because the leafsprings do not follow a perfect arch like the link bar does. So any leaf spring you will see that it cycles back as it goes up but at the top it starts to go forward as it goes up. Most desert race trucks with trac bars wind up getting as much of the bind out as they can but they still have to deal with some bind. Now these trac bars on these race trucks are built by very talented fabricators where most of the off the shelf trac bars are universal and have quite a bit of bind and will often times bind so much that they even hold up travel. Just some food for thought... .....

 

[bsappington]

If ground clearance isn't such an issue then you could always do this.

 

[Baja_Mike]

That would be fine as long as you don't need wheel travel. I can already tell you that there is quite a bit of bind in that setup which is fine for a street truck but would not work very well for off roading... ... .

 

[bsappington]

You are absolutely correct, that is why I run a 4 link on my jeep. :-laf