bobva

How many miles in those 5yrs.

The springs on these trucks are like brakes the fronts wear out faster that the rears.

rattlerbob5.9

Jim my mistake i did see that the first time i read ALL of this thread but had forgotten it today.

Jim Lane

Hey I just checked my mileage and although I didn't think I went anywhere I find I went 14,449 miles last year and most of them were of less than 200 miles round trip, a lot of trips into Los Angeles/ Hollywood for my daughters ortho appointments so figuring on the light side I put on about 72,395 miles in the last 5 years.

Although I might have lost some of the spring rate it does not appear to have lost any height and since I am always looking at my truck I notice things like the height. I have bottomed out the front end a few times but i remember where and when.

Maybe if I added about 8 more AGM batteries in the rear it would level out.

Jim

NJTman

I say go for it..

Install a transformer which would convert the battery power to 400 amps DC, and electrify the outside of the truck.

This way, the next time someone tries to take your stuff, they won't make it out alive....


T.

Jungle

Nice springs!!!!!!!!
Jim

DJ Turbo.

I like that idea hehe

Jim Lane

With all of my batteries I already have over 4000-amperes of DC current available,

My ideas are more along the line of a warming welcome.
This way I can reach out and touch someone.



This is perfecty legal in South Africa cool.

Or I could get one of these for my truck.



Jim

NE frmhnd

YES! The trunk monkey!

I'm wondering if I could call them up and say "I want what you made for Jim Lane"? Being I have a 250 the 500 pounds of capacity you lost probably wouldn't be a problem for me, but I wonder about the ride height.

Jim Lane

Update Update

Ok,
Here is an update on what I have done to improve the ride on my D-350 Dually.

You last remember back in 01/15/2012
I had a new set of rear springs built and installed for the rear of my truck,

I also had them remove one main leaf from the custom pack to help with the ride.

This reduced my spring rate by 800# and offered a softer ride but it was also easier for me to bottom out when I hit a dip, to overcome this I run about 35-40 PSI in my Firestone Airbag 35-40 PSI increase load at 10 lb/psi = by 350# - 400#

So fast forward a few years, I am sure the springs have settled in by now, and a lot of miles have gone under the bridge.

Southern California is working on a new project,
Screw up every road and make it as rough as you possibly can.

And I am still on my quest for a better ride.

The latest and greatest addition to my suspension, Shock Absorbers

And now you say, hey, that is not so special, everybody has shocks on their truck,
no big deal.

But yes,
This is a big deal, you see all of these years I have been asking but nobody made them, the biggest disappointment to my ride ever was when I installed my new shock absorbers back when I bought my truck, like everyone else I bought GAS Shocks,

These immediately destroyed my ride.

For a suspension to work properly, every component has to work in harmony with each other, vehicle wheelbase, length of the leaf spring, diameter of the tire, nothing was left to chance, everything has to be in resonance to work.

Race cars have a tuned suspension and they are actually tuned to the individual track.

Back to what I was saying, out trucks suspension were designed around a Hydraulic shock absorber, NOT a GAS shock absorber; they did not exist back then.

So finally after a few years of asking everyone I knew and searching specifications on every shock I could find, I by chance walked into a new 4 Wheel Parts Store in my neighborhood specializing in Off Road trucks and Rock Crawlers and was looking at their displays.
www.4wheelparts.com

After telling the friendly counter person what I was looking for he said I think I might have them.

ProComp EXP #314517 ES3000 Hydraulic Shock
EXP #315517 ES3000 Hydraulic Shock
ProComp EXP #324509 ES3000 Hydraulic Shock
Including 4 Free shock boots

$167.96
$15.12 tax
$183.08
.
Yes these are Hydraulic Shock Absorbers, if you were to compress or extend the shock,

IT STAYS THERE

I have been trying to find a set of these for years.




Here you can see them compared to my old 10+ year old Gabriel Gas Charged Shock, yes still holding a charge.



This is a view of how much suspension travel that I had in the rear, interestingly though I when I hit any dip in the road it would be like I was hitting bottom, and the truck would bounce like I was hitting my bump stops but there were no marks on the axle tube or on the bump stop until I came to realize I was hitting the internal bumpers inside my airbags,
by adjusting the air pressure I was able to eliminate the rebound.



Here are the shocks for the front; I had to return the original ones they ordered for me and get these that are 1 inch longer.



The front are where the story gets interesting, for about the last year my front end has felt like the ride was getting harsher, I would have to slow down on some roadways because it felt like I had no suspension, if you have ever torched springs to make a low-rider, you know how they feel, no springs, but against the bump stop, I have had my suspension checked by different alignment shops and they all said, you are in perfect alignment, you just have an exceptionally tight suspension but it was getting unbearable to drive for any distance, all throughout Southern California they have our freeways torn up and are adding HOV lanes to suck money off the motorist and the CalTrans workers have found a way to turn Slip Form paving into the worst botched up washboard road at every expansion joint, so my truck bucks up and down as I drive.

I could push down on my truck and the truck would dip and the suspension would feel like it was getting stiffer so it was good that I was finally going to replace my shocks, and since I replaced the rear shocks first and they were fine I figured it was just the matter of the gas vs. hydraulic shock.

Ok so I have the truck up in the air and I remove all of the nuts and bushings for the old shocks, and as I removed them I am now wondering, what is going on?

I find that BOTH of my front shocks have been severely overheated, the hardened shafts are burned Blue the entire length of the shaft.

Also they both still have a gas charge and were real hard to compress BUT I was only able to compress them about 1/2 way by leaning on them, only one stroke down and then the shock would seize up solid and take a few minuets to bleed back out.

This is why the front end was so rough..




Ok,
What do you think might have caused my truck to burn up both front shocks?

What I think has happened is because my truck is so heavy on the front end, and the roads here are so bad, (if you ride next to any other vehicle you can watch the tires violently pounding up and down as the tires follow the road and the soft suspension is absorbing the rough ride to make the car ride smooth) where my truck is heavy, because of the mass the truck body tries to ride steady while the tires and suspension are trying to absorb the shock so my shocks are constantly being pounded to death,
I have had my suspension checked numerous times and other than some of the bushings needing to be replaced, it is in perfect alignment.

Impressions about the new shocks and the ride,

They have made the best improvement to the ride of the truck of anything I have done to my truck next to the installation of the new springs,

The sound level had dropped dramatically, now at freeway speeds I can actually use my speakerphone on my Android, the ride while still tight and rides like a truck is a lot softer, I was afraid I was going to sacrifice high speed stability and while it feels like it is starting to float if you hit a dip it still feels solid,

It just rides a whole lot better than it ever has and has put put a lot of fun back into driving it.

I always knew in my mind the gas shocks were causing a rough ride but I have never been able to find a good hydraulic replacement that would be heavy enough for the truck.

Yes, I am very happy with the latest modification to my truck.

When I get the time I will try and shoot a short video from inside the cab for all to see and hear.

Jim

jerseybud

Thanks for posting about the shocks. I don't know a thing about how they work, but am looking for a pair for my 92 and will try these based on your rec.
I agree 100% with your theory. Never seen a shock burn like that before.....

peckens

Good to know about the shocks, they are much cheaper than gas too.

oliver foster

I am not sure if you are talking about the 4x4 in your signature.
I would guess the 4x4 shocks are different to deal with the added height of the lift blocks the 4x4 use on the rear axle.

jerseybud

Rears are the same. Fronts are way different

EDIT: NOT. Just noticed there are NO lift blocks on Jims truck. But no biggy, specs for shocks are on the net and I'll just cross reference based on the compression and extension

oliver foster

Right, no lift blocks…
I would order different rear shocks for a 4x4 than for a 2wd.

Jim Lane

Check with the company, they actually check and get all the specifics on your truck and give you the part numbers for the correct shock but can adjust for any additional needed + or - length.

Suprised me.
Jim