So this truck has been a money pit from day one... and thats about a month ago. Truck rode great for the first two hours before blowing the tread off the front right tire at 85mph. Afterwards I got a set of used 35's from a friend that rode so so until you got on the freeway. The whole truck bounces really badly and at a very quick rate. Thats only at certian points on the freeway. Sometimes its smooth as butter, other times it bounces enough to distract me when the wife is in the passenger seat. And just incase this matters its a QCLB 4x4.

So $3500 dollars later I get it back from the mechanic and the truck still bounces the exact same. He replaced the rear driveline, every single u-joint, tie rod, upper and lower ball joints, hubs, and a few other things. That was just worn parts.

Trying to get rid of this annoying problem I have reciently bought installed,

-BF Goodrich Rugged Trail T/A in a 'E' load range and stock size and had them installed on stock Dodge rims
-steering box brace
-replaced track bar bushings with Moog bushings
-Adjusted the preload on the steering worm gear
-skyjacker steering damnpner

The brace sorta made the steering better, not a $120 better though. After installing the bushings and dampner it made a huge difference. But the annoying spuratic bounce is still there. The tires and wheels made a small difference also. What else can I do to get rid of this problem. Im moveing from Washington to Virgina this October and I dont wanna have a truck that bounces for 3000 miles!

Any other suggestions? Ive been thinking about new shocks and putting sand inside the tires. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Im running out of options and money.

 

my uncle owns a well known shop around my area he says the sand is a joke my buddy has it in his and his vibrates bad i would just geta good balance job another buddy of mine had to replace the shock bushings after pretty much all the stuff u replaced and helped none came down to shock bushings good luck these kinda things can be a real pain

 

Is it more of a vibration?

 

equal tire balancing powder works awesome on tires 35 an bigger, at least for me. never used it in anything smaller than a 35, an not sure if you really use sand but that just seems like a bad idea IMO

 

These are brand spankin' new tires that were installed and balanced not more than 2 weeks ago. Ill take a look at the shocks and bushings next.

Note really, the truck just bounces really fast when it does bounce. Its definitly an up and down motion. Ive had out of balance tires that shimmied before and that made the steering wheel shake back and forth. You cant feel a thing in the steering wheel.

Im not talking about goin down to the beach and getting sand. The guys at the the shop called it Equal. It came in a decient sized pouch and they just threw the pouch into the tire. Its supposed to find the low spot on the tire and chill there when your driving. So everytime you take off it re-balances your tire. The guy at the shop swears by this stuff. He said it made a world of difference in his dually.

 

You need better shocks. Change the tires like that, you bought BFG's is first big mistake, and it changes the way the shocks work.

 

Does it bounce this way when you are driving the same road? Try another road and get it up to speed and see what happens.

Does it do this when you drive on concrete or asphalt?

Lift up each corner of the truck and spin the tire, looking at the tire, look for bumps in the tread. If you see this, you have a broken belt, if on the front of the truck, immediately put it on the back or put on the spare, and go get a new tire.



Now comes the fun part, I have a QCLB 4x4 and when I was in Arizona, there were sections of the highway where at 55 - 65 mph, the truck would bounce. Go slower and it would go away, go faster and same results. It was the road causing the problem. The road will set up a harmonic and bounce you in the cab and not knowing what is up, you would think it was the driveline or tires.

 

There brand new highway tires that are stock sized and have the 'E' load range. I figured it would help, And it did a little.

It does it on most roads around here. Back roads and freeways alike. Its does it a LOT worse on I-5. Its a crappy freeway though. The back roads arent nearly as bad. It only bounces a little bit.

About tires with a broken belt... I had 35" bfg mud terrains and it did it horribly. I went out and bought brand new bfg all season highway tires that were the stock size that dodge called for and 'E' load range. It made a small difference but the problem still persists.

I reciently got Moog track bar bushings for $21 and installed them myself. I also got a skyjacker steering stabilizer and threw that on. It made a huge improvement but the truck still mildly bounces on a good portion of the freeway and bounces horribly on some of the rougher sections. Ive had a bunch of vehicles before and none have ever done anything like this. This is my first vehicle with a solid front axle though.

I might have to go get some new shocks just for the hell of it. Or admit defeat and take it to the stealership. Im hopeing for more good advise from ya'll since I dont have a job and cant afford to admit defeat. Thanks for all the brainstorming so far guys. I really do appreciate it!

 

I have an 03 QCLB and it bounces on this one section of concrete highway. It's so bad you can't talk properly - the bounce adds an inflection to your voice.

The truck is fine everywhere else. Rides fine on washbord dirt roads etc.

 

try getting rid of the equal and get tires spin balanced. equal can cause the problems that you are describing.