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Smoother ride,,, my kidneys hurt!

lenny

lenny

formerly known as PokeyYJ
Location
Bountiful, UT
After bombing up Skyline drive last night to help a friend that was stuck, I quickly realized that my 79 Toyota truck is quiet possibily the WORST FREAKING ride in the world!! It felt like the axles were welded directly to the damn frame! :rofl:

I had pulled a very thick leaf out of the rear spring pack on saturday trying to make the ride quality better for everyday driving, and I was somewhat successful seeing that I can now drive the truck around and not have my vision blurred by the bone jarring ride.

I noticed that my rear shackles are almost vertical when the truck is at resting height. And they are actually at a slight angle with the bottom of the shackle being closer to the front of the truck than the top of the shackle.. Like this <---- / the arrow points to the front of the truck. I can't imagine that this is helping my ride quality. And seeing how I am extremely cheap (read,, poor), I am thinking of repositioning the shackle mount closer to the front in order to get a proper shackle angle of 25-30*.

Any negatives of doing this? Keep in mind that I am saving for some longer, smoother springs, and this is just something to hold me over for a few months.
 
gijohn40

gijohn40

too poor to wheel... :(
Location
Layton, Utah
not an expert but...

I would think that you want the shackles to slant the way yours are... this way as the spring straightens out it will move the shackle backward and out giving you more travel with the spring... if it was already slanted out there isn't much room for the spring to flaten out and possibily breaking a spring or hanger down the road...

Get better shocks and it will help your ride more...

My cj7 had a very hard ride... then I found out that the dip sticks sold me the wrong shocks... they were for a 3" or better lift and mine is stock... so the shocks were pretty much compressed all the way in giving no help... once I corrected this issue by getting shorter shocks my ride was allot more smoother.
 
L

leorn

reset
Location
Roy
post a real pic, but if i understand correctly your shacke angle is backwards which would cause a rough ride among other problems.
You could also swap for a longer leaf.
Good shocks make a big difference. I love my bilstein 5150s. worth every penny
 
Rot Box

Rot Box

Diesel and Dust
Supporting Member
Location
Smithfield Utah
what's your tire PSI? I run my 79 pickup at 18 PSI around town, and that makes for a real nice ride.

Oh and shocks will make all the difference too. Soft shocks that is..... like OME or Bilstiens ect... Stay away from Pro Comps-their nice shocks if your running them on a dump truck ;)
 
BlackSheep

BlackSheep

baaaaaaaaaad to the bone
Supporting Member
Location
South Carolina....no public land
gijohn40 said:
I would think that you want the shackles to slant the way yours are... this way as the spring straightens out it will move the shackle backward and out giving you more travel with the spring... if it was already slanted out there isn't much room for the spring to flaten out and possibily breaking a spring or hanger down the road...
Click to expand...

unfortunately, your thinking is backwards. You have to think about the direction of the forces that are being transmitted to the frame. when the shackle is at the angle described, the forces from the road are transferred directly into the frame. when the angle is reversed (i.e. the bottom of the shackle is further away then the top of the shackle - relative to the front of the vehicle) the ground forces are not transferred to the frame. Unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to draw a diagram, but trust me on this. you want the shackle angle to be opposite of what it is. Longer springs, or a shorter distance between the frame side mounts will accomplish this for you.

Recognize that if you change the frame side mount to a different location, it may not be optimized for when you finally buy longer springs. Perhaps I don't need to say this, but if you go that direction, don't cut the existing mounts. Keep them in place for when you do get the longer springs.
 
lenny

lenny

formerly known as PokeyYJ
Location
Bountiful, UT
BlackSheep said:
Recognize that if you change the frame side mount to a different location, it may not be optimized for when you finally buy longer springs. Perhaps I don't need to say this, but if you go that direction, don't cut the existing mounts. Keep them in place for when you do get the longer springs.
Click to expand...

I am fairly sure that I would have to relocate the spring hanger position anyways when I installed the longer springs. From what I have read, the forward and rearward spring hangers need to be changed for longer springs.

My thinking is that I won't have the time/funds to switch to longer springs for a few months, and I would like a smoother ride before then :D

The truck currently has Rancho 5000's on it, which I do not believe have enough rebound for the springs, but again,,, I am cheap and they seem to work ok. I am not sure what PSI is in the tires, I have been meaning to check it, but everytime I think about it, I am not near the truck :rofl:
 
L

leorn

reset
Location
Roy
new leafs can be cheaper than shocks. study up on your junkyard swaps. I like my homebrew junkyard pack up front better than my $500 rear springs.
 
waynehartwig

waynehartwig

www.jeeperman.com
Location
Mead, WA
x? Get better/different shocks. Get some Bilsteins, OME, Edelbrock...There's probably more, but those are what come to mind. Even some Rancho 9000's would be better, because they are adjustable - somewhat.
 
wr250

wr250

insert lame comment
Location
hurricane
was the spring pack riding on the overload leaf ?

like so:
dc22.jpg


if so you need a new leafpack or something like this.
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
I'm telling you, a set of springs from Marlin Crawler, All Pro or Trail Gear will make that old Toyota feel like a totally different vehicle. I am constantly amazed by how well my 4Runner rides. Get the longest spring any of those guys make & you'll love driving that truck.

It'll flex very well, too!

100B2970+_Medium_.JPG
 
lenny

lenny

formerly known as PokeyYJ
Location
Bountiful, UT
Greg said:
I'm telling you, a set of springs from Marlin Crawler, All Pro or Trail Gear will make that old Toyota feel like a totally different vehicle. I am constantly amazed by how well my 4Runner rides. Get the longest spring any of those guys make & you'll love driving that truck.

It'll flex very well, too!

100B2970+_Medium_.JPG
Click to expand...

Greg what springs are you running? Marlins?

I will buy springs in the future, maybe 1-2 months, but I am looking for something I can do now.
 
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