I'm looking for some direction.
I currently have a 6.75" lift on my truck which was pieced together over two years. It all started off with a 4.5" Tuff country lift, followed by an additional 2.25" coil spacers and custom control arms from Top Gun Customz in the front. The rear end is a combination of 2" lift blocks and a Superlift soft ride add a leaf.
The shocks are a new set of Bilsteins, which didn't really do much differance compared to the shocks that came with the Tuff country lift kit.

Now I've been running this set up for almost two years and the ride quality has always been horrible. You can feel every bump in the road that can rattle your teeth loose. I'm now starting to develop a bad steering wonder to a point where my wife doesen't want to drive the truck anymore,(usually that would be a good thing, but with the only vehicle in the house being the truck, I need to fix this.) Combine this with the rough ride, and I'm really starting to have a problem.

I completely rebuilt the front end in May of 2007 when I bought the truck, but perhaps it's due for another front end job, but this is a separate issue which I will correct as well.

Now I know this is a Ram 2500 Diesel heavy duty truck and not a Cadillac, but I really would like a better ride as I drive 98% on the street.

I was looking to going to a long arm lift like a BDS or a Pro-Comp, staying around 6". I was thinking that the ride quality might have something to do with the angle of the control arms. Has anyone been in similar situation?
Any advice is appreciated,

Thanks,

JR

 

Other than looks is there any reason that you have over 6" of lift? Generally the higher that you lift the truck, the worse the ride is. If you really want the truck that high, then you have to do it the correct way with a long arm suspension.

I am not sure if you are aware that you can fit up to 37" tires on a stock truck, so you really do not need the lift in order to fit the tires. If you have the lift for the increased suspension travel, then the 4.5" lift provided by the Tuff Country suspension should be fine.

I would remove the coil spring spacers, remove the add-a-leaf and just stick with the Tuff Country suspension. You will enjoy the ride a lot more.

 

Well I took my truck to my friend's shop to have a good look at the front end last night.
What I found was this:
1. There is about 1/16" play in the pitman arm ball joint.
2. The frame side bushing of my Thuren track bar has about a 1/16" play side to side.
3. 5 out of the 8 control arm bushings have back to front movement when turning the steering wheel.
4. There is a clicking in the steering shaft between the column and the steering box.

So, I think i've got several issues here I have to correct starting with replacing worn steering components.

My plan is to do the following.
1. Replace the worn steering joint.
2. Install new bushing in the track bar.
3. Finally get around to welding the track bar drop bracket to the frame.
4. Pull the steering box, inspect and adjust.
5. New steering shaft from Borgsen
6. Install the long arm kit from Pure Performance
7. Install 6" coil springs from Top Gun Customz, ditch the spring/spacer combo.
8. New alignement to specs provided by XLR8

Hopefully this stops my truck from going where it wants to on it's own. I'll update when all is complete.

JR

 

Changed the worn tie rod end last night, that tightened things right up. I'd say it's 60% better.
Welding of the track bar drop down bracket, replacing the track bar bushing as well as the removal and adjustment of the steering box this week-end.

JR