3500 continuous, rhythmic bounce on concrete highway

[JKSchnoo]

I had an 07 Mega Cab 3500 . It had a real bad hop over expansion joints . My son made a couple of rear traction bars ( nothing radical) they made a huge difference keeping the back wheels on the ground .

Thanks, any brand you recommend? I did some googling and found others that recommend rear traction bars too. Anyone else have luck with these?

 

[JKSchnoo]

Just called a truck mechanic in castle rock. Guy laughed immediately when I told him my issue. Said all the guys in their shop have the same issue in their HD trucks and that nothing has worked to lessen it

 

[Aketay]

This thread made me laugh, the longer the truck the better the oscillation. Try to find a speed that reduces it. Just the nature of the beast.

 

[Buckrub]

New to the thread, skipping over most.....but having pulled a 16,500 lb camper all over America, there are roads all over the place that do this. The worst I've found is a 12 mile stretch of I-55 north of Memphis in N.E. Arkansas around Blytheville. First time I hit it, I assumed I had a flat. I usually just slow way down and piss everyone off.

What I don't understand is that the big trucks whiz by me and don't have the issue (I assume). Also, the road leading up to the I-55 bridge over the Mississippi River is same way. I feel like a porpoise. Letting air out of tires is not an option, pushing 26,000 lbs total combined weight.

 

[CharlieL]

I can’t stand it, so frustrating. When I look at other similar trucks on the highway it doesn’t look like they are bouncing at all. Wondering how it’s possible to haul a TT with your family in the cab and not have everyone puking and complaining. Literally worried I can’t put my new baby in a car seat in this truck.

I have to agree it's the road. Back in 2010 I was driving my V8 2004 Dodge Dakota pulling a 21" travel trailer southbound on I-25 from northern CO border to home in Albuquerque. The truck had an aftermarket dual exhaust. The awful road and continuous harmonic bouncing actually broke a bracket holding on one of the exhaust pipes. I made a temporary repair at a rest stop using a wire coat hanger. Since then I've traveled I-25 north to south (& back) through CO a few times. The last trip (this summer) was towing our 5th wheel, which has a king pin weight of about 1,700 pounds. Had zero problems with any portion of the interstate. Kept speed at 65 most of the time (which is what my wife prefers I drive while towing). Of course lots of driving was well under that due to construction and traffic.

There is a section of I-40 heading east just out of Albuquerque that has a strip of the terrible concrete. Every time I go on that section its bone-jarring, but it's just a few miles long.

Sorry to hear your daily route with your new 3500 will be over the terrible stretch of road.

 

[Buckrub]

Albuquerque, Flagstaff, somewhere in there........Arizona I-40 people apparently gave up fixing that road and put up a big permanent sign.........it's been a couple of years, but my memory (old and bad) says that the sign read something along the lines of "Interstate Road Bad next 40 Miles" or some such. Stopped for fuel and a trucker and I got to talking about it. He said "Don't follow a Semi Truck too closely through there; they tend to drop into the potholes and disappear".

 

[Nick]

Thanks, any brand you recommend? I did some googling and found others that recommend rear traction bars too. Anyone else have luck with these?

Just made them out of round bar stock . He is a pretty good fabricator . Wish I would have taken a picture. I will ask him how he made them .

 

[Nick]

Albuquerque, Flagstaff, somewhere in there........Arizona I-40 people apparently gave up fixing that road and put up a big permanent sign.........it's been a couple of years, but my memory (old and bad) says that the sign read something along the lines of "Interstate Road Bad next 40 Miles" or some such. Stopped for fuel and a trucker and I got to talking about it. He said "Don't follow a Semi Truck too closely through there; they tend to drop into the potholes and disappear". Kingman to Flagstaff drove it last spring . The worst section of Interstate I have ever driven and I have driven about 3 million plus !

 

[Brutal_HO]

I don’t believe the bags helped or hurt. I remember my 1996 regular cab long bed 2nd Gen towing with leaf spring in the rear no bags riding like a bucking bronco going through there as well.

I had bags on my 04.5 2500 Cummins and have factory air on my 3500. Makes little difference. These (and many) concrete sections just suck for a long wheelbase HD truck.

 

[jsalbre]

Concrete is great in a passenger car and until the OTR trucks have their way bangin it for a few months. That stretch of I-25 is and has always been, regardless of how many times replaced, a giant turd sandwich.

The way it's grooved is also rough with some high performance car tires - tramlining like a MF with a set of Pirelli P Zero on my A6. I couldn't get the replaced fast enough. Pilot Sport 4S are great for the summer.

I’ll be dragging the TT over that section of 25 in a few days. I always forget just how bad it is until I hit it again. At least the skinny construction lanes are gone.

 

[Nick]

Too bad they don't make air ride cabs like the class 8 trucks . Years ago Bose developed an electronic seat that counteracted every bump so you actually felt nothing . It was 5 k at the time . I don't think it ever took off because of that .

 

[BikePilot]

I actually live in centennial. I commute to castle rock every day to teach. That stretch of highway is what prompted this post.

The day I got my truck I revved the engine a bit while it was in park, and it rocked side to side a bit. Made me wonder if there was something wrong from day 1.

Just to confirm, it's I25 between Centennial and Castle Rock that causes the issues? I've driven that section probably a dozen times in my 3500 SRW and haven't noticed any issues or bouncing at all. Mine is a Megacab, so maybe a wheelbase difference if you have something else, but 37s and Thuren front suspension made my truck ride like a whole different vehicle. It's smooth. Even the factory back end isn't bad with the big tires (Thuren doesn't yet have anything for my factory air assist rear end or I'd have gone with them all the way around).

 

[Chuck754]

I had extreme hopping with a Canyon diesel 6’ bed with Timbren stops on the rear pulling a 6000 lb trailer. Happened only on concrete roads and smoothed out on asphalt. I concluded that it was a combination of tongue weight and light truck bed weight aggravated by Timbren bounce. I ended up upgrading to a Ram HD 2500 diesel with 6’ bed and it completely eliminated the issue. I believe it’s related to the weight balance between vehicles which is directly related to payload capacity. With this in mind, HD heavier diesel trucks should over come hopping to a point—at some point a TT may just be too long and heavy for the vehicle and an upgrade to a 5th wheel (transferring weight forward) will solve the ride issues. Just my two cents.

 

[Nick]

Not to belabor this thread but it has always been my experience the longer the wheel base the smoother the ride . Short wheelbase class 8 trucks were much rougher when it came to the ride .

 

[AH64ID]

Not to belabor this thread but it has always been my experience the longer the wheel base the smoother the ride . Short wheelbase class 8 trucks were much rougher when it came to the ride .

This is generally true, aside from concrete expansion joints.

 

[phatboy64]

Not to belabor this thread but it has always been my experience the longer the wheel base the smoother the ride . Short wheelbase class 8 trucks were much rougher when it came to the ride .

That is true with boats also..

 

[Barryg]

I have been driving that stretch from castle rock to lone tree ever since they upgraded the highway to concrete and added the lanes through there 20 some yeas ago. I have had a diesel long bed the entire time. For my trucks it is usually only the north bound lanes or at least they are far worse. The right two lanes are worse then the left two lanes. Tire pressure may be some difference but nothing near getting rid of it. Carli pintop suspension minimal difference, added their replacement leaf springs, better but no nowhere near gone really only a minor improvement. Traction bars no real improvement with them either. Just the nature of the beast I suppose. Part of it at least for that stretch is the fact that it is just about all uphill and so the truck is constantly under power maybe adding or intensifying the harmonics.

I have definitely run across the same harmonics on some other concrete roads but not sure I have ever had it as bad as that stretch

My wife hates riding in the truck through that stretch, won’t do it if she doesn’t absolutely need too.

 

[BikePilot]

I drove from Denver to Co Springs and back yesterday, empty on the way down, two trials bikes in the bed on the way back. Smooth both ways. Maybe the Megacab wheelbase is just different enough that it's not impacted? Thuren suspension and 37s don't hurt either.

 

[arx237]

Maybe the Megacab wheelbase is just different

Nope mine bounces like crazy. Even with the tt hooked up.

 

[thecastle]

I've driven those Colorado highways many time and have had some luck in upgrading my truck. 1st) I removed my un-leveling kit that made a huge difference in reducing bounce, don't add a leveling kit, it really increases the bounce 2) lowered my f/r tire pressure to 65 when unloaded. 3) have a camper shell adding weight to the rear, 4) added sulastic shackles to my rear leafs (huge difference), 5) replaced factory dampers with bilstien. 6) switched tires. Now the truck rides better unloaded than loaded. rides great on concrete freeways no problems in the houston area which are all concrete practically and Colorado. In fact it rides so much better, that I find myself driving at 80+ on concrete roads as they barely disturb the truck. Which is a 3500 megacab as well. The biggest changes were adding the sulastic shackles, ditching the leveling kit, and lowering air pressure in that order. The shocks made the least difference. I'd suspect reducing unsprung weight would help, more advanced shocks that are frequency selective damping instead of singe valved, getting rid of solid axles....