Hi all,
I have a stock 2006 4wd diesel 2500 with a standard transmission. I love my truck but the 4 wd function doesn't (function). Any time the wheels slip it wheel hops so bad it draws attention. Some people just stare ,others turn and run. I am going to break something big and heavy if I keep using 4wd.

Does anyone else have this problem? I'm thinking it might be specific to diesel motors. maybe too much torque for some of the components. I am going to the dealer on thursday so I need some background info before they try to BS me. Thanks in advance for your reply.

Mike in Tacoma

 

What are you doing when this happens? What type of terrain?

 

With no weight in the bed,Crummy stiff springs,too small of a tire,too much air pressure and thats going to happen. I have changed all those things and no more hop.


Bob

 

Traction bars work too. They resist the axle wrap. The Tuff Country ones I have are actually somewhat effective for the price; however some of the more expensive ones work better.

 

I was driving in snow or sand. It hops when the wheels break loose. yes I had high tire pressure- the max. and the tires were stock-small. there was no weight in the bed. however the front was hopping, even with chains on(in the sand).

 

Sand or snow air your tires down. In sand at Johnson Valley I go down to 35 PSI.

 

Do the Tuff Country Traction Bars work for a 3500? I notice they mount above the leaf pack, and was wondering if the overload springs are in the way? Anybody have some pictures of these?

 

Thanks everyone for the info and advice.

 

Snoyes, no they won't. I tried them and they will not work due to the overload springs being in the way. I even shortened mine and tried mounting them differently and that made the ride too stiff. 3500s need ladder bars. My truck is terrible in the snow with the hopping. It's pretty ridiculous.....

 

"ridiculous" comes close to describing it. I would add that my 4wd is 80% inneffective. It works as long as the wheels don't slip.

I would like to see a manufacturers retrofit.

By the way: I will try airing down the tires. They were at 80 psi when I had troubles. I keep them that way to increase mileage. It is dissapointing to think that I have to let air out when I want to park my truck in a snow filled parking space or drive across a patch of sand. Reminds me of lock-out hubs, only worse.

 

It seems that some trucks shudder regardless, but the dual mass flywheel, pinion angle, and long soft rear springs apear to be the biggest contributing factors from what I've read. I don't recall my front wheels hopping. How's the shocks and front end components? Are the ujoints binding?

For the rear, some have found that weight in the back reduces the hop. That may simply because the pinion agle is better. Some have installed wedges to improve the unloaded angle. Ladder bars can work, but they did not eliminate my shudder when backing up. Do a search on shudder as well as hop, its a topic of much discussion. Ladder is another good search term.

 

I am trying to find a set of Ladder bars that will work without having to remove my airbags. So far, no luck. The Tuff Country were the only thing I thought I could get to work, but thanks to the good info, someone just saved me alot of time, money, and aggrevation. I'll keep looking, and if anyone has a system that works, I would love to see it.

 

If you pull your overload springs off then they would work. You might even get away with doing that since you have airbags.
What I did was to cut the traction bars and instead of them mounting to the spring mounts I mounted them to the Overload bumper mounts. It looks great and I just thought I was too smart for figuring it out but as soon as I went for a ride I realized it was a mistake. It was basically like I had a solid rearend! I never even got to try it in the snow to see if it worked. They are still on the truck but I loosened the mounts up so the ride is back to normal....