Newbie question concerning ride quality

revsdiesel

New member
Feb 25, 2016
28
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west coast central Florida
'06, Silverado 2500, LS, 330K miles - rides bouncy constantly. I put new shocks on when purchased, still rides bouncy. Is this because of the truck's size (2500 vrs 1500?). We tow a camper with it, and with the camper on, the bounce is greatly, if not completely gone. I have yet to check the air pressure in the tires, I am assuming they are what they are supposed to be, but will check. Are there better riding tires? Is it just the nature of the beast? Is the high mileage the issue (bushings and such)? Thanks much
 

roxyfever

New member
Feb 11, 2016
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terrell tx
Means that the front is the same height as the rear. Normally there is a rake of about 2 inches and the angles in front are not flat when cranked up.

What shocks did you use?

The bounce going away towing is normal. Also if your empty and your running tire pressure at 80psi(assuming you have stock 245 tires) that would cause it to ride a little rougher.
 

roxyfever

New member
Feb 11, 2016
191
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0
terrell tx
Yeah the axles in the front. There are bars that go into the lower control arm. Follow those back and you will see a bolt going into a key. You take a 15mm(i think thats the size) and loosen it till your at the desired height. Make sure you jack the front up first so the suspension is hanging. An keep track of your turns on the bolt. Also after you do this you need to get a alignment. There is one bolt per side.
 

TheBac

Why do I keep doing this?
Staff member
Apr 19, 2008
15,346
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Mid Michigan
when the truck is empty, 70lbs in the tires all the way around will cause a lot of the problem.Since it gets better with more weight on the rear, then maybe experiment with lowering the rear tire pressures when empty and see if that helps.

I run 55 front, 45 rear when empty. 265/70/17 size tires, too.
 

revsdiesel

New member
Feb 25, 2016
28
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0
west coast central Florida
Lowered the tire pressures, and much of the hard bounce is gone. Tires are down to 50 on the rear, and 58 on fronts. Will drop the rears more tomorrow as well as the fronts. Did not mess with the bolt on the lower a-arms. Actually the only bolt I could find was located on the rear side of the lower a-arm, and attached to it was some "half moon" shaped thing. It is hard to visualize how this controls the tension on the sway bar or whatever to lessen the bounce. I assume this is the correct one. Thanks so much for the help.
 

Awenta

Active member
Sep 28, 2014
4,090
2
38
CT
And it goes to a long bar? If you're are looking at the right thing it's a torsion bar. The metal twisting acts as a spring if you could picture the lower arm moving with the frame as a pivot.

Tightening the screw adds preload to it basically. The more preload the stiffer it will be. Plus it brings you closer to the bump stops so you could be hitting on bigger bumps.

I air up the rears some depending how heavy I'm towing.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 

TheBac

Why do I keep doing this?
Staff member
Apr 19, 2008
15,346
1,630
113
Mid Michigan
Considering the bouncing youre concerned with is coming from the rear, IMO you shouldnt have to worry about your front suspension on your stock truck.
I would check that the yellow lower control arm bumpers are in good condition and either very close to or touching the lower c-arm, though.
 

Lance m

New member
Apr 30, 2016
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The "half moon" you were looking at is used while aligning the truck, do not loosen or touch that. If you look at the lower a-arm you will see a bar that goes into it with a hex shape, follow that bar about halfway back the truck and you will see where the bar ends perpendicular to a cross support, look under this support on either side and you will see a bolt. When you tighten the bolt it twists the torsion bar more, which in turn twists the a-arm down more lifting the truck. Be sure to jack the truck up when you go to move them, move them evenly also. Once your at desired ride height in the front get it aligned.
 

revsdiesel

New member
Feb 25, 2016
28
0
0
west coast central Florida
I lowered the air pressure as a start, and it drove much better. When I am able to have the front aligned, I'll drop the front of the truck, just a small amount. I finally discovered the location of the bolts that adjusted the torsion bar, at the end of the bar, located in the mid section of the truck. Thanks so much for the all the help.

Also researched the filling of the nitrogen tires and realized that they need not be refilled with nitrogen. And that while nitrogen may have its benefits, it's probably not worth the effort or cost of always having them refilled when pulling our camper. Again - thanks so much for the responses and help. kip