The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts First two real drives; questions on ride quality!

Hi All,
I've had my first couple of drives > 1 mile and noticed around 40+ there is a seesaw sort of bounce the front and back seems to get into. While they are doing my kingpins and tightening up the steering, I thought I might ask if anyone has experienced this; what it is? Its like the truck is hopping a bit down the road. Is this something that welding in some shocks would smooth out? Thanks guys!

Edit let me add, i dont mind a “truck” ride at all or hard ride on bumps. This is more of a fast bouncing..shaking going Down the road. In general I think the less shaking the better for a vehicle. But maybe this is just how they are.

Mine is a 54 1/2 ton and I notice what I call a shiver like you to experience when your are cold and try to shake it off.

Are your tires round? large diameter and out of round will cause it to hop. It might be the road also, my '57 rides well, my 2011 2500Hd crew cab 8 ft.bed will bounce you out of the seat on certain seamed concrete highways. Wheelbase, tires, suspension, road surface will all have an effect.

Bias ply tires, worn out suspension parts, worn out steering components. All can cause the symptoms you are experiencing.

Tires are all radial, good quality. Steering being tightened.. tie rod/kingpins now.. I am wondering if it just rides like this without load.. I read putting some sort of teflon strips in between the leafs helps. I dont know what the process is for taking a leaf off and doing that or if it makes enough difference. Dont mind hard ride/bounce; dont want shimmy shake going down the road= bad for components. Will see after gets out of shop I guess.

Are the castor wedges on the front axle?
Tie rod ends could be worn out.
Shocks will tame the front axle from bouncing.
Weight in the bed will help make the springs work. Without weight the springs don't.
Having the tires trued will smooth out the ride.

Thanks Wayne, I dont know what castor wedges are. yes the tie rod ends are being replaced now. Cool; I will look into adding shocks! Any suggestions on what kind or the type or strength of the shock?

38's came with lever action shocks. I changed mine to tube shocks for a early 50's truck. I had to buy the upper mount and drill the frame.
Castor wedges mount on top of the axle below the springs.

There arent any shocks on this truck.

Here is a photo of mine with the lever action on it.

I live in Florida and the tires on my 46 2 ton are bumpy every time I get it out until they warm up, the colder the bumpier. I put new tires on the front years ago and was told no need to balance them. I had a little shimmy at top speed, about 45 MPH. I got the front tires balanced and the shimmy was gone. Balancing really helped! I like to keep mine as original as possible, it didn't have shocks in 1946 and it's not going to have them now.

Yea interesting on the top speed. With the driveline I have in this truck it will probably do 100mph. I was doing around that speed 45 when I noticed more bouncing. I will never need 5th and barely 4th..

I thought yours was pretty much original, Wrong. What kind of drive train do you have?

It is but for a few items:
1. 292/nv4500 trans
2. dana60 rear and rear drums
3. radial tires
4. tilton dual master/pedal setup
5. frame/ suspension.. cab/ etc.. no shocks - original .. eh converted to 12v too..

With all that, maybe you should look for modern front axle

Yea, I really dont want to take away any more from it at this point; I will prolly add shocks. I didnt like changing that much but closed DS among other things forced me; when I *thought* it was important to go over 45mph - NOT.. learning as I go...

You haven't said that you've checked tire balance. Like Chris's 46 mentioned, it can make a big difference.

the tires are new. yes they have been balanced (ive only driven the truck like 8 miles) . what brand or model of shocks are recommended? front AND back? EDIT - with shocks, will it make the truck safer, smoother and potentially driveable in all conditions? even snow? thanks guys.

Yes, shocks should help. What they do is reduce rebound on the springs which helps keep the tires on the ground. You might imagine that a tire leaving the ground doesn't have much traction.

Didnt thinkabout tire pressure but @ 80# on the 19.5 rims and.
radials

Don't forget to check the drag link and steering box. Weak springs could be a issue. Are the front shackles nearly vertical, or splayed toward the front? I had the similar issue until I had the springs re-arced. If this is a working truck I'd go with new springs. My 41 sometimes sits for 2-3 weeks and it takes 10 miles or so for the flat spots in the tires to work out.

Were 1.5 tons ever equipped with shocks? I don't think so. Even a slight bit of looseness in the tie rod ends or a poorly adjusted steering gear preload will cause "shimmy" at certain speeds, and a tire a little out of balance will make it noticeably worse. Unless you've driven far enough to get the tires warmed up fully (10 miles, maybe?) you've probably got flat spots in the tread. These old rigs were designed to haul max gross weight loads (or more likely big overloads) around all day at 45 MPH . Trying to keep up with traffic on the highway without a load on the bed makes them pretty uncomfortable to drive. "You really can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but it makes the pig look funny and it doesn't hear very well afterwards!"
Jerry

[its being aligned, new tie rod ends, new king pins. Steering box and the rest is good according to shop. I will take a pic of shackles and post up. #1 on the 10 miles. Ill hv time to drive it pretty far tomorrow. Yea 40mph seems just right. I dont know how anyone is driving these 1.5 ton unloaded @ 60-65 .. without any shocks. What does splayed mean? Tilted top forward or back?

My '57 2 ton LCF has front shocks as a factory original part, the conventional cab models did not spec front shocks. Mine does not porpoise and I have not replaced the shocks.

38 1.5 ton In the olden days you would take a tire iron and pry the spring leaves apart and put inner tube in there. Then just hack off the excess with your knife,this wasn't a beauty aid. If the ends of the leaves wore into the leaf above it would help that. Also you didn't notice these too bad cause they would be covered in frozen gravy mud !!!

Whew, ok.. learning.. I drove it 60 miles 2day.

1. My dana 60 rear has shock mounts. Shocks are going on the rear. The coolness factor of a bumpy ride becomes dangerous when the tires leave the ground as y'all mentioned. I learned real fast to watch every single bump in the road. Wow.. some of these MD roads and bumps pulled the hood side ;latches right out or their locked position!
2. No power brakes, steering and slow braking took some getting used to, and still will.. Gearing down is key.
3. The truck ran 55 smoother than 25. There is a shimmy @ 35-43 that bouncing the truck all over the place even after all front suspension and alignment was done. My guess is the shocks will help, not sure.
4. I planned my route as I went. NO WAY I wanted to go down steep 40+ mph decents with a light at the bottom..
5. Can the harsh bumps HURT the suspension at all? or does it just take it? I doubt it can be knocked out of alignment as easily as cars..
6. I was wrong, the 5 speed is the right choice. Much lower idle and smooth at 45-55..

Put some weight in the bed. Enough to make the springs start working. This will soften the harsh bouncing.
Gearing down and anticipating stops is the key.
It doesn't get up to speed in a hurry and it won't stop in a hurry.
The suspension is quite robust and can take the abuse of road driving at normal speeds.
Front shocks should help with the shimmy.
Tire truing will also help with smoothing out the ride.
Do you know if the king pins are in good shape? Worn king pins will contribute to the shimmy and wobble.

Definitely agree with tires getting flat spots and needing to warm up to smooth out. My truck has front shocks on it, and the front behaves pretty normally. The rear does not have any shocks, and it can have some pretty big bounces. One big bump might get two or three bounces out of the rear; unloaded. No significant shimmies or vibrations though and everything is well broken in.

Looks like Jerry is correct. If you have shocks on your truck, it is not a 1.5 ton

Here is a pic of the shackle.. springs toast? Or ok?

Looks like a good angle to me, but I'm not an expert. I did sleep at a hotel recently!

You have greased those shackle pins, yes?

And just to foot stomp what's been said before .... that truck was not designed for more than 50 mph (as originally built ...) with that in mind, I think it would be imperative for you to completely redo your front suspension and steering. Replace the tie rod ends (if you can find some). You said you will be replacing the king pins -- good! And rebuild the steering box. Also redo your drag link, if there is a kit available to do that. I did mine on my '49 1.5 ton. None of this will likely fix the hop (I'm guessing that the suggestion to put some weight on the truck is spot on ...), but it will keep you alive if you hit a pot hole or a stick or wiggly grooves in the road at 60 mph.

Back to the hop .... Again, to reiterate what's been said above -- that truck was designed for carrying weight around. Empty, it will have a *really* stiff suspension that will not be fun to drive on, especially on bumpy roads. Before getting too crazy, put some weight back there -- at least enough to deflect the springs a little. Make sure your load is secure and check your tire pressures again. Then go see if the ride improves.

Always check the easy, stupid stuff first. (my paraphrase of Occam's Razor )


John

38 1.5 ton Do your tires say "nylon" on the side,if so may be humping till they warm up. Big loaded trucks setting overnite will hump pretty bad especially in cold weather. Our old trucks that set around a lot will do it,it's why you need to drive every day LOL ! Daily cruzer is best coffee shop run,donut shop,gas station,go to work,you know any reason to cruise !!

The radials tires I just put on mine made a world of difference in ride, handling, noise. And these are 10R-22.5 14 ply rated on the rears, metric RV tires on the front that are very close to the 8.00-22.5 original size.