New pick-up Ford RangerXLT, add shock absorber for a softer ride??

[jumbo]

I bought a Ford Ranger XLT but I find the ride a bit bumpy.

I want to know if adding 4 stand alone shock absorbers will make the ride softer or is there a better way?

Can I remove one leaf spring and then place the shock absorbers?

I do not use the truck for heavy loads...

 

 

[transam]

First, have you checked the tyre pressures, sounds daft but on my ol' truck it made a huge difference to the ride.

If the ride does not have fancy suspension settings, you may be able to source adjustable shox to set on soft.

 

On my Toyota truck I had to replace the rear shox, I put on some recommended after market ones, the ride quality was cr_p, they were so stiff the suspension was near gone, a week later I put some cheap replacements, all OK again.. 

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, jumbo said:

I do not use the truck for heavy loads...

As trans says check tyre pressure if you do not do it yourself the rear pressure is given on the assumption your be loading the truck as many Thais do. 

 

I use mine truck as for want of better words a car now, I put the same pressure in rear the same as the front, that alone makes some difference.

 

I'm off to Cockpit when I've save enough to change the heavy duty shocks to something softer like they put on SUV's or whatever they suggest for a softer ride. 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Kwasaki

[seedy]

Ride quality and load carrying is determined by the spring rate.

All the shock absorbers do is dampen the movement of the springs.

No problem removing a leaf or 2 or 3. Best bet is Air Bags - add air to carry load, remove air for a soft ride.

[jumbo]

1 hour ago, transam said:

First, have you checked the tyre pressures, sounds daft but on my ol' truck it made a huge difference to the ride.

If the ride does not have fancy suspension settings, you may be able to source adjustable shox to set on soft.

 

On my Toyota truck I had to replace the rear shox, I put on some recommended after market ones, the ride quality was cr_p, they were so stiff the suspension was near gone, a week later I put some cheap replacements, all OK again.. 

What would be the best tyre pressure, I remember on the VIGO i had 31, does that sound OK?

[Kwasaki]

The Vigo I had in our local Toyota dealership it was 55 all around and changed it to 29 all around when I had finished bouncing home. ????

[Moonlover]

What I don't understand is why people buy a truck if what they want is a good comfortable ride. Let's face it, their reputation does go before them by a considerable margin.

[G Rex]

your Ranger will give a better ride , and be less jiggly or bumpy, if you put some weight in the tray.

not the best thing for fuel economy I know!  - but half a dozen bags of sand in the back will change your ride! 

[Cake Monster]

11 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

What I don't understand is why people buy a truck if what they want is a good comfortable ride. Let's face it, their reputation does go before them by a considerable margin.

I suppose it makes them look and feel Macho to ride in a Truck that they probably have never owned or driven before coming here.

[jumbo]

6 minutes ago, G Rex said:

your Ranger will give a better ride , and be less jiggly or bumpy, if you put some weight in the tray.

not the best thing for fuel economy I know!  - but half a dozen bags of sand in the back will change your ride! 

Heard about that too....thanks

[JAS21]

42 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

I suppose it makes them look and feel Macho to ride in a Truck that they probably have never owned or driven before coming here.

Actually we had an Isuzu V-Cross for three years, one of the very first. Found it to be very useful.. would carry four sets of golf clubs, four people and their luggage. Did put an electrically operated cover on the rear … worth considering.

 

Also very useful for collecting equipment/ building materials for DIY around the house etc. 
 

And it was quite quick! Service was cheap and I can understand why many have a PU for everyday use.

 

Sling a bag of cement in the back and the ride was much better.

 

Looking back maybe it didn’t have enough air bags for Thailand use …..

[RafPinto]

54 minutes ago, G Rex said:

your Ranger will give a better ride , and be less jiggly or bumpy, if you put some weight in the tray.

not the best thing for fuel economy I know!  - but half a dozen bags of sand in the back will change your ride! 

Yes. Load your wife's family in it and your ride will be much smoother.

[transam]

1 hour ago, jumbo said:

What would be the best tyre pressure, I remember on the VIGO i had 31, does that sound OK?

There were differences in tyre pressures on the Vigo, and most cars depending on rim and tyres size.

My Vigo had 265/60x16 tyres, the door jamb sticker for this size tyre was 29 psi all round, loaded or unloaded. Different spec Vigo's were way different...

[Cake Monster]

4 hours ago, jumbo said:

Heard about that too....thanks

On the subject of Fuel Economy, cover the load pan.

As much as 9 % can be saved on the fuel consumption by doing this, as the Tailboard does not act as a wind anchor.

 

[HauptmannUK]

You have bought what is essentially a small commercial vehicle where ride comfort would have been somewhere down the designers' list of priorities.  Leaf springs (as opposed to coil springs) are used because they have a high load bearing capacity, but they provide poor ride comfort when unloaded.  Changing the shock absorbers (dampers) is unlikely to help very much.  Tyre inflation pressure and sidewall stiffness will impact on high-frequency ride disturbances.  Run your tyres at the recommended pressure for the load you are carrying otherwise you will run into other problems (wear, grip and handling issues). Different brands of tyre tend to have different sidewall stiffness - e.g. Bridgestones always seem to be hard and Uniroyal quite soft - so changing tyre brand might potentially improve matters, but its a bit of a gamble.  Putting some load in the back will definitely soften the ride somewhat, but it will be a matter of trial and error.

Having driven pickups quite extensively I never found one that was comfortable to drive over a long distance - they make a lot of sense in rural areas with poor roads and prone to flooding, but definitely not so good in the city or for touring.

[jumbo]

14 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

On the subject of Fuel Economy, cover the load pan.

As much as 9 % can be saved on the fuel consumption by doing this, as the Tailboard does not act as a wind anchor.

 

It is covered, thanks

[jumbo]

6 hours ago, HauptmannUK said:

You have bought what is essentially a small commercial vehicle where ride comfort would have been somewhere down the designers' list of priorities.  Leaf springs (as opposed to coil springs) are used because they have a high load bearing capacity, but they provide poor ride comfort when unloaded.  Changing the shock absorbers (dampers) is unlikely to help very much.  Tyre inflation pressure and sidewall stiffness will impact on high-frequency ride disturbances.  Run your tyres at the recommended pressure for the load you are carrying otherwise you will run into other problems (wear, grip and handling issues). Different brands of tyre tend to have different sidewall stiffness - e.g. Bridgestones always seem to be hard and Uniroyal quite soft - so changing tyre brand might potentially improve matters, but its a bit of a gamble.  Putting some load in the back will definitely soften the ride somewhat, but it will be a matter of trial and error.

Having driven pickups quite extensively I never found one that was comfortable to drive over a long distance - they make a lot of sense in rural areas with poor roads and prone to flooding, but definitely not so good in the city or for touring.

Thanks, we are planning to live rural outside of Cha am, land inward... hence the pick-up

Thanks again for the advise......... noted..

[Kwasaki]

3 hours ago, jumbo said:

Thanks, we are planning to live rural outside of Cha am, land inward... hence the pick-up

Thanks again for the advise......... noted..

The 2 door trucks as said are basically commercial vehicle and give a recommended tyre pressure but if you are using truck now just as car usage as we do,   my advice is you don't run 41 psi in the rear tyres with an empty rear tray you run same as front.

An example is most 4 door trucks are bought for car use e.g. Toyota 4D 4x4 29 psi all round.

Changing the shock absorbers rear on my Vigo 4D 4x4 made a noticeable difference similar to the SUV.

[jumbo]

31 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

The 2 door trucks as said are basically commercial vehicle and give a recommended tyre pressure but if you are using truck now just as car usage as we do,   my advice is you don't run 41 psi in the rear tyres with an empty rear tray you run same as front.

An example is most 4 door trucks are bought for car use e.g. Toyota 4D 4x4 29 psi all round.

Changing the shock absorbers rear on my Vigo 4D 4x4 made a noticeable difference similar to the SUV.

Did you change or did you add shock absorbers, and if you changed what did you replace with what??

 

[transam]

Just curious, what are the tyre pressures printed on the door jamb sticker, is there a loaded and unloaded figure..? 

[jumbo]

Just now, transam said:

Just curious, what are the tyre pressures printed on the door jamb sticker, is there a loaded and unloaded figure..? 

I will have a look

 

[Kwasaki]

54 minutes ago, jumbo said:

Did you change or did you add shock absorbers, and if you changed what did you replace with what??

 

I don't know names shocks,  as I said before I'm going to Cockpit to change our Isuzu 2D spacecab air shocks which are great for load stability but changing them to what I got changed on my Vigo 4D 4x4 which was already a good ride as far as trucks go.

 

I left it to the Cockpit manager as he understood exactly what was wanted.

So the Vigo 4D 4x4 the front

& rear were changed to a similar shock but better quality than OEM and rear additional side angled shocks.

The leaf springs were just greased up and left OEM. 

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, transam said:

Just curious, what are the tyre pressures printed on the door jamb sticker, is there a loaded and unloaded figure..? 

On my Isuzu 2D I haven't got or needed 8PR tyres.

So the 2 sizes my truck comes with 245/60/16 pressures are 29f - 41r.

255/60/18 pressures 36 - 36.

There is no loaded or unloaded recommendations.

 

I have 265/60/18 and find 30 all around fine. 

The air suspension is good with heavy loads but not doing that anymore. ????

[Liverpool Lou]

On 12/7/2021 at 11:00 AM, Moonlover said:

What I don't understand is why people buy a truck if what they want is a good comfortable ride. Let's face it, their reputation does go before them by a considerable margin.

Because they're big...and cheap! 

[transam]

1 minute ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Because they're big...and cheap! 

Perhaps, but I would have thought it was because they were robust...

 

Which was the reason I bought one when I first came to live in LOS...☺️

[Liverpool Lou]

20 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

On the subject of Fuel Economy, cover the load pan.

As much as 9 % can be saved on the fuel consumption by doing this, as the Tailboard does not act as a wind anchor.

 

A widely debunked theory (except by tonneau manufacturers and sellers) apart from, at one specific high speed, 136kph, when it saved 1mpg.

[Liverpool Lou]

5 minutes ago, transam said:

Perhaps, but I would have thought it was because they were robust...

 

Which was the reason I bought one when I first came to live in LOS...☺️

You're the exception that proves the rule!  My theory is that everyone else likes them because they're big and the drivers think that they're intimidating.

[Ralf001]

Go around the 4x4 shops and see if they have any Wildtrak leaf springs from an owner who upgraded.

Wildtrak springs are slightly softer and give a marginally less harsh ride.

[Kwasaki]

10 minutes ago, transam said:

Perhaps, but I would have thought it was because they were robust...

 

Which was the reason I bought one when I first came to live in LOS...☺️

You did the same as me though bought top of the range Vigo 4D 4x4 auto which was not what many Thais would buy way back then. 

They were a good ride as good as many cars in Thailand at the time IMO.

The Isuzu truck we have now is no comparison.

 

[transam]

3 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

You did the same as me though bought top of the range Vigo 4D 4x4 auto which was not what many Thais would buy way back then. 

They were a good ride as good as many cars in Thailand at the time IMO.

The Isuzu truck we have now is no comparison.

 

I bought the 4x4 because at the time it was the only Toyota truck with auto trans..

Plus, Toyota was the only brand truck I was going to buy, at that time... ????