Help: Horrible freeway bounce in San Diego

[lunneborgc]

So we bought our truck in Virginia, drove great, life's good, move back to San Diego and, WTF is with this bucking action happening!! it's a violent bounce I guess is the best way to describe it. I don't know if it's not as bad with a short bed but it's ridiculous. We've dealt with it for quite a while but we're working on having kids now and this isn't going to work out as planned. I HAVE to fix the way this truck drives or it might have to part with it, which would crush me. So I'm asking for help, what can I do? Add an *** ton of weight to the bed with an extra gas tank? Sand bags? Is there an option to buy leaf springs that'll be softer? We don't plan on adding a lift, but is there an option out there other than a kelderman air ride that'll help? TIA guys. - Chris

[Restoman]

Have you checked your shocks?

[lunneborgc]

I'd be more than willing to replace the shocks if there's a set that for sure that can help, but we brought the truck out here with somewhere around 20 - 30k miles I doubt they're bad. As a side note, I don't have the FX4 package. It's just the sectioned concrete roads out here are F'n horrible.

[smotrs]

My guess, nothing wrong with the truck, it's these crappy roads in So. Calif.

What suspension do you currently have installed?

['92Powerstoker!]

it would help if you provided more info. does it do it all the time? is only when you hit bumps? does it do it on flat ground?

[lunneborgc]

Without a doubt it's the crappy roads. There's nothing wrong with the truck, it's a stock F-250 CCLB, it's worse on certain parts of specific freeways, but pretty much all of I-5 through Los angles is the same. As soon as I hit about 50ish it starts, at 65 it's ridiculous all the way up to 80. When I hit 80 it all smooths out, the only problem being the speed. As soon as I start slowing down from 80 the truck falls into the rythm. It's like the front of the truck is going down a section of concrete when the back is just hitting the bump. Maybe i'll take the video camera out for a drive to better explain. Anyway, it seems the only option is to soften up the rear suspension or load it down. When I have my heavy motorcycle in the back it rides much much smoother, with my dirtbike in the back it still bounces like crazy.

[sportsdad]

Welcome to Cali. It's not the truck as you have surmized. I've owned several different configurations of F250s and each reacts different to the same sections of highway. I have an Expedition and I currently drive an F150 shortbed. Believe it or not, the regular cab short bed F150, although the ride is not as good as the F250, handles those sectioned concrete freeways better than the big boys. It's all about wheelbase. If you find a way to solve the problem, patent it and then publish it. Then you can afford to build your own freeway couse you'll be loaded. Good luck.

[lunneborgc]

Originally Posted by sportsdad

Welcome to Cali. It's not the truck as you have surmized. I've owned several different configurations of F250s and each reacts different to the same sections of highway. I have an Expedition and I currently drive an F150 shortbed. Believe it or not, the regular cab short bed F150, although the ride is not as good as the F250, handles those sectioned concrete freeways better than the big boys. It's all about wheelbase. If you find a way to solve the problem, patent it and then publish it. Then you can afford to build your own freeway couse you'll be loaded. Good luck.

LOL, that's encouraging. I wonder if Excursions have the same spring weight as the 250's? Maybe I could swap those on. I really don't haul a lot of stuff so I'm not worried about changing the springs. The wife and I have driven a couple of X's and we can still feel the bumps in the roads but it's not obnoxious, and we wouldn't have to worry about "shaken baby syndrome". I wouldn't be surprised if they had the same springs though and just ride better because of the weight distribution. There's gotta be an option somewhere....

[PolarBear]

Ya the SoCal roads are great huh? my 05 Supercab short bed rode terrible out here for sure and my Dad's 02 F350 crew cab dually wasn't much better. The best that any Superduty I've riden in in SoCal was when I was pulling a 5th wheel camper. They just repaved the road outside where I stay in Pomona and it is 100% ROUGHER than it was before they ever touched it!

[PS/Fan]

Look into carli,alot of dodge guys run it and the dodge rides alot harder than ford.It's not cheap but they claim it's worth it.