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Side to Side Rocking

fuchsroehre said:
Be careful with removing the front sway bar. What happens is that now you increase grip on the front and cause more oversteer.
That makes the vehicle less controllable under extreme conditions. Its easy to cause an accident that way.
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With IFS absolutely not with a Solid axle
 
dieselscout80 said:
Yes that is all I have done so far.
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Thats very odd i would put airbags or sumos on the rear before trying anything else. I have been removing my front swaybar on every solid axle vehicle i have owned for over 30 years never had any bad feeling or ill effects
 
H3LZSN1P3R said:
With IFS absolutely not with a Solid axle
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Hard to read your comment :-). And I thought its only me who does not write the best......
does not matter what axle type. Sway bar is unloading the inner tire and therefore loading up the outer tire while driving through a corner. That has the effect that the outer tire can take less load than 2 tires could do without a roll bar.
 
fuchsroehre said:
Hard to read your comment :). And I thought its only me who does not write the best......
does not matter what axle type. Sway bar is unloading the inner tire and therefore loading up the outer tire while driving through a corner. That has the effect that the outer tire can take less load than 2 tires could do without a roll bar.
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The axle type does matter some but we are also talking about 8k trucks not 3k racecars. After running over 30 years problem free including emergency maneuvers i truly say its a non issue
 
My issue is the side-to-side rocking when at low speeds. When I disconnected the factory sway bar it helped mitigate the side-to-side rocking when at low speed, however it sways more at speed (empty and loaded) now which I don't want.

COAs are:
Thuren sway bar
Shocks, but which: Bilstein 4600/5100, Fox 2.0, Rancho 9000s or another.

I wonder which to go with first I think the shocks.
 
dieselscout80 said:
My issue is the side-to-side rocking when at low speeds. When I disconnected the factory sway bar it helped mitigate the side-to-side rocking when at low speed, however it sways more at speed (empty and loaded) now which I don't want.

COAs are:
Thuren sway bar
Shocks, but which: Bilstein 4600/5100, Fox 2.0, Rancho 9000s or another.

I wonder which to go with first I think the shocks.
Click to expand...

9000s really improved my always heavy PW…White Knuckles, rear bumper, shell, firewood, full job box and tool box, she pushes the limit all the time let alone when actually getting out of town with gear and the trailer. They definitely calmed down the rear end imo, still playing with adjustment on the front a bit but run them on the softer side.
Not saying that they will help your true HD’s swaying though, just that my rear end felt unsettled or “squirrelly”, it was upset by road imperfection at speed..it’s not now. I too was looking at all the high dollar suspension stuff, but stopped because she drives dang good.
 
I'd saw Thuren rear track bar first. And check air pressure in the tires. Talking to a few companies, they said to increase the tire pressure.

I'm going with a Thuren track bar as my first upgrade.

For shocks, the truck already has 2" shocks, so if you/I upgrade, we should go with 2.5" shocks. Got told that as well from a few companies, which makes sense.

However, talking with Accutune, they said Fox is about a 6 month wait and King is about a year wait as of right now. Then they have to tune them to the weight balance of my truck. I gave them the weights over each axle.
 
Crusty old shellback said:
I'd saw Thuren rear track bar first. And check air pressure in the tires. Talking to a few companies, they said to increase the tire pressure.

I'm going with a Thuren track bar as my first upgrade.

For shocks, the truck already has 2" shocks, so if you/I upgrade, we should go with 2.5" shocks. Got told that as well from a few companies, which makes sense.

However, talking with Accutune, they said Fox is about a 6 month wait and King is about a year wait as of right now. Then they have to tune them to the weight balance of my truck. I gave them the weights over each axle.
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I guess I should have stated the low-speed side-to-side rocking issue I have is from the front axle not the rear, so I doubt, but don't know what a rear trackbar will do.

I notice the side-to-side rocking when in fields/pastures and two tracks.
 
OK, then a rear track bar is not going to make a diference on the front I don't think. My issue is in the rear.

What are you running for tire pressure? Front end of my truck weighed in at 4280 lbs.
 
Crusty old shellback said:
OK, then a rear track bar is not going to make a diference on the front I don't think. My issue is in the rear.

What are you running for tire pressure? Front end of my truck weighed in at 4280 lbs.
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Right about 50 PSI. I need to weigh my truck, but it's a 2500 Hemi CC with a rambox.
 
Mines a Power wagon 75th. no ram boxes, so I might be a little heavier on the front end and you a little more on the back.

Front: 4280
Rear: 3080
Total: 7360

50 PSI should be OK. I'm running 45 hot.

Maybe try different pressures up front. Say drop to 45. The maybe 40. Also go up to 55.

See if any of that makes a difference.
 
The Thuren front sway bar makes a huge difference. Way less rigid than factory, but more stable than running no bar at all if you find that uncomfortable.
 
I should also add that I have 69k miles on the factory shock.
 
I am leaning towards starting by replacing the shocks and likely with Bilstein 4600s. I may start with just the fronts but will need to do all four.

How often does the rear power hop shock need to be replaced?
 
I would suggest the Thuren front sway bar and if you're going to do shocks without doing anything else suspension-wise look at the standard fox 2.0's for non lifted trucks. I did the swaybar on mine when I installed my synergy box brace (a bit of a pain in the ass to install both at the same time) and it helped quite a bit with my stock Off Road Package truck.

The easiest way to simply describe the difference between Billsteins valving and the Fox 2.0 valving is that the Billsteins give a "sportier" feel while the Fox's are a bit "softer". It all comes down to how the shock is valved being digressive vs progressive, but do keep in mind part of the rougher ride is due to the stiff, short factory front springs. Having run both on multiple vehicles I'd say the Foxs are what you're after.

The shocksurplus video does a good job describing them :

I honestly wouldn't spend much more on shocks beyond that without doing anything spring wise. On all of my builds with custom valved 2.5"s, etc I always started with a 5100 or Fox 2.0 until I got my springs right for my payload/towing/daily static weight needs and desired ride then spent the money on the big boy shocks.
 
dieselscout80 said:
The Fox 2.0 shocks sound great until you hear they only last 30/50k miles and while rebuildable it cost the same as the 5100 new.
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The Fox that came new on my Ford were rebuilt twice and in need of a third in 50k, but I definitely used them…and it was more than twice what 5100s would be.
 
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