I have an 02 ranger short bed. It is a very hard riding vehicle. While I do not expect a car ride from a truck, I would like to be able to better control the truck over wash boards, pot holes and frost heaves. It was suggested I switch to car shocks, good, bad, other ideas?
Shocks must be carefully matched to vehicle weight, spring rate, travel, and mounting location. You have a common vehicle, so there should be some good name brand shocks out there that will give you a better ride, though for durability, I have found historically that shocks from the Ford dealer are hard to beat. Is it possible that someone has put overload springs on the back? That will complicate your problem.
A few sand bags or tractor wheel weights at the front of the bed would help, but gas prices preclude carrying extra weight.
The front end is just as bad as the rear. I am going to have the vehicle double checked just to see if either the springs or the existing shocks for some reason are not original (I bought the truck used).
Thanks for the reply.
Also consider the tires. After the Ford/Firestone tire recall I put BFG all-terrain T/A on my 92 explorer. BAM BAM ! Although they are rater for 52psi I had them aired to 32psi but still…geez, a rock of a ride. After a year of that I swithched the tires out for a much lighter rated tire ( more firestones ) and the rusulting ride is obviously better. You don’t say what type of tires are on your truck and most people don’t realize how much of your suspension is in the tires, but look at that angle too.
Thanks. I put Michellin MTX’s on. They replaced Firestones. I had not noticed a difference between those two varieties, but it is another variable that needs to be checked.
What about an air ride suspension? You could adjust it to your preference. You could also use the system to lower the truck for easy loading and raise it when you need a little extra ground clearance.