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91 suburban rides too rough / what to do?

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urbanmx

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I have a 91 suburban with a 4" rancho lift. It rides terrible way too rough, what can I do to keep the 4" height but get a softer better ride? I'm willing to spend 1 to $2000 for suspension upgrades any suggestions, links to sites, or phones number would be very helpful.
 
How much work do you want to do? If not much run tuff country springs up front and an ord shackle flip out back. If you want to get a little more involvedrun 63" rear springs out back from an 88 and up ifs truck & a shackle flip and 52" rear spring in the front. www.offroaddesigns.com and check the front page for the 52" swap.
 
You can fix it for WAY less than $2,000. :cool1:

Swap out the Rancho springs for a 4-inch set of Tuff Country EZ Ride springs or BDS springs. You can get the Tuff Country springs from Stephen at Off Road Design , one of the sponsors of this site. :waytogo:
 
I took out the second leaf from the bottom of mine, rides firm, but not nearly as "rough" as it did,

It did however let the front drop just a hair, not much though.
 
is the sway bar hooked up ? if so and you want to keep it get the ord sway bar disconnects . that is all i have to add .
 
What tires are you running?

A lot of ride quality can be gained just by a tire swap or pressure adjustment.
 
ok the first time i read this thread i thought 4" TC ez rides... and a shackle flip... then it got me thinking; $2000 of suspension on a straight axle truck to make it ride as smooth as possible. here is what i came up with, and it would probably ride better than stock.

REAR:
4" shackle flip out back with stock 52s... cant beat that

FRONT:
2" TC EZride leafs, 1" zero rate, 2" extended shackle (for 1" of lift). its a bit more components, but it would ride even smoother than a 4" spring.

then buy some bling new bilstein 5150s, ride super smooth, self adjusting, piggyback resevour, and decently priced compared to other resevours shocks.

just my .02
 
Thanks this is just the kind of info I was looking for, how do you find TC's web site or does TC stand for something?
 
I have quick discos on my sway bar as well, when i run with them disconnected, it DOES ride smoother,,but the sway in my truck is crazy, just driving down the road, it likes to rock from side to side, like i'm having a syncronized (sp) orgy goin on in the back or something, and taking corners???
I actually had a friend following me once, and called me on his phone to ask the question " IS YOUR SWAYBAR HOOKED UP? " he could tell it wasn't :doah:

BTW, i have the Rough Country E-Z rides on the front of mine, and blocks on the rear, and STILL runnin all four shocks on the front axle.
Alittle more than firm on the big bumps, but all around nice ride while crusing down the freeway with the current leafe removed.
 
urbanmx said:
Thanks this is just the kind of info I was looking for, how do you find TC's web site or does TC stand for something?
Click to expand...

http://www.tuffcountry.com/ TC stands for tuff country. I have 4" TC front springs and an ORD shackle flip in the rear with whatever shocks ORD sent me and my truck rides really good, I also have the swaybar disconects which help your ride even when the sway bar is hooked up since they raise the sway bar and it doesnt bind up as much. This is all on an '89 Jimmy.
 
If I was putting new springs in my truck today, I would disassemble them first and put strips of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (?) in between them to keep the friction down over the life of the spring.

There is also an article or two floating around on here that tells you how to put in longer springs, which improves the ride, but it is a lot more work. After that, you are pretty much looking at coil-spring conversions to get better ride or (gasp) run IFS.

I also vote for the sway bar disconnects. Lift springs are generally longer than stock and this causes binding unless you have the extra pivot point provided by the disconnects.
 
Too Rough

WHEN I HAD MY RANCHO LIFT ON MINE IT HAD THE RS5000 SHOCKS ON IT. AFTER HAVING 2 BACK SURGERIES I WAS ABOUT TO SELL IT BECAUSE IT RODE SO ROUGH. NOT HAVING MUCH MONEY I WENT AND FOUND THE CHEAPEST SHOCKS I COULD FIND (USED FROM A GUY THAT WENT TO A BIGGER LIFT AND NO LONGER NEEDED THEM) AND THE RIDE CHANGED DRASTICALLY. BOUGHT ANOTHER VEHICLE WITH THE 5000'S ON IT AND HAD THE SAME PROBLEM UNTIL I CHANGED THEM.

JUST A THOUGHT ANYWAY :thinking:
 
Thanks again, here's what I'm using the suburban for, 14 hour road trips down to Baja and then driving on Baja roads. Even though I'm willing to spend 2 grand on suspension I would like to spend less.

I've talked to some people and taken your info and here's what I've come up with:
The tuff country springs have been mentioned a few times but nobody seems to know if they will actually ride better than the rancho lift I have (if anyone has done this swap from rancho to tuff country please reply).

I was also told that the dual shocks up front from rancho are not that smooth and going to one shock or a different shock would be better.

Last I was told a tapered spring up front would help the ride.

One more thing, disconecting the sway bar sounds a little dangerous for street driving is this true? Unfortunately the suburban will driven mostly on the street.
 
urbanmx said:
One more thing, disconecting the sway bar sounds a little dangerous for street driving is this true? Unfortunately the suburban will driven mostly on the street.
Click to expand...


Not so much dangerous, unless you are in an evassive manuever, but mostly just "weird" as i said with mine, it rocks side to side real bad, and leans pretty good around the corners. But as long as you are aware of the handling characteristics with it dissconnected, it should be ok..

My thoughts personally,,,,run with it,,,some way or another. :waytogo:
 
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